Bear's Dilemma

[4Knee Kate]

John Bear Wrote:When Allen Ezell and I submitted our manuscript for Degree Mills: the billion-dollar industry that has sold more than a million fake degrees to the publisher Prometheus, we included an appendix listing our database of, then, about 2,600 non-GAAP schools. While we made it clear that we are not calling this a list of degree mills, and that degrees that are legal in one state can be a criminal offense in another (the usual arguments, blah blah blah), the publisher chose not to take the risk of including that list.

In the ensuing four years, the data base has grown by 576 new entries (about three new fakes per week!), and I'm still not sure what to do with it. Yes, I've looked into libel insurance, and it is fearfully expensive, especially for someone who has already been sued six or seven times. Very large deductible, and very high (like tens of thousands of dollars) premium.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

http://www.degreediscussion.com/forums/v...=15#p46071

Poor John Bear!  His list of competitors (er, I mean, "fakes") has grown so big he doesn't know what to do!  How can Bear put his competition out of business but still start new mills himself without people getting wise?

Interesting that Bear equates "non-GAAP schools" with "fakes."  How about a list of legitimate but unaccredited schools that doesn't include any fakes?  Oops, that's right, he's already tried that, but somehow nearly all of his past "good choices" (including the ones he operated) turned out to be current "bad choices."  

We wouldn't want any innocent students getting burned by bogus information, would we?  Or at least not any more than the thousands who paid Bear good money for useless advice in the past.  What's a con artist to do?

[DR ANATIDAE]

4Knee Kate Wrote:Poor John Bear!  His list of competitors (er, I mean, "fakes") has grown so big he doesn't know what to do!  How can Bear put his competition out of business but still start new mills himself without people getting wise? Interesting that Bear equates "non-GAAP schools" with "fakes."  How about a list of legitimate but unaccredited schools that doesn't include any fakes?  Oops, that's right, he's already tried that, but somehow nearly all of his past "good choices" (including the ones he operated) turned out to be current "bad choices."  
We wouldn't want any innocent students getting burned by bogus information, would we?  Or at least not any more than the thousands who paid Bear good money for useless advice in the past.  What's a con artist to do?

JB certainly appears to be suffering from 'old-timers disease' as in the 1970's he was the leader in the supply of completely fake degrees - and made a lot of money out of it. He also founded a number of independent, private, and successful non-GAAP DL schools. The best thing JB can now do is retire and keep his BS/MS/PhD to himself!