Careful What You Say

[Someone]

Thirty years ago being misled in good faith was very likely, much as it is unlikely today, after the internet made information really fast and cheap.
Decades ago one had to buy 'guides', relying on the biased opinion of the author, or phone/write agencies, without receiving a reply.
Today I can just visit say detc.org ...i no longer need to write or buy books.
So do people want a fast'n'dodgy degree that looks impressive, say to impress dates or to bolster self-esteem (or other reasons)?
Fine, but please it isn't Oxford.

Well, before the Georgia teachers scandal and the official announcement by the Liberian authorities (the same authorities that previously confirmed St. Regis accreditation) that followed soon after, St. Regis degrees were accepted in most places as equivalent to U.S. RA. Examples, most state and federal agencies, education authorities, the military, professional organizations - such as the APA etc., state universities - e.g., Univ. of Georgia and others (this was discovered by G. Gollin, remember?).

If organizations such as the above thought St. Regis was a legiimate and accredited institution and they accepted its degrees, why should we expect ordinary individuals to be able to discover so easily that St. Regis was a fraud? Sure, it's easy to say that in retrospect, but the only people who disputed St. Regis legitimacy at the time were posters at certain forums. However, only a small minority of people visit those forums. And even those who visited forums like degreeinfo, etc., why should they listen to what anonymous posters were saying when the Liberian embassy and MOE confirmed St. Regis accreditation? When St. Regis degrees were acceptable by employers, private and public, acceptable for membership of prestigious professional bodies, and even acceptable for graduate studies at RA universities?

[Someone]

I know this forum is generally hostile to George Gollin and his friends, but I have to say this here.

Many, many cudos to George Gollin and his friends for helping expose the most dangerous mill of them all.

St. Regis was not like other mills, it was an almost perfect fraud operation, but only people who have had a direct, first hand experience with them will be able to fully understand what I mean.

George Gollin and friends performed a public service and this should be acknowledged. Dixie and co. have done great harm to many people.

[ham]

My point is that some of these people were not aware that they were actually buying a degree. They had no idea that they could have obtained the same degree by just giving their credit card number and not presenting any work whatsoever.

Hard to believe in today's world but possible.

They were of course aware that St. Regis is not Harvard or Yale, but it was cheap, fast, and accepting limitless work done elsewhere.

one more reason to be suspicious.

And, most importantly, it was - or rather appeared to be - accredited by a MOE. We all know that it doesn't matter if an institution is accredited in Liberia, Uganda, Malaysia or any other country, degrees from MOE accredited schools are accepted almost everywhere.

I don't think so...and anyways that was not a bonafide Liberian school, but an 'American' or whatever school boasting an accreditation from Liberia; it never served the population of Liberia the way say DETC accredited foreign schools serve their domestic population. In other words, say UNISA's primary target are South-Africans, then you get others...with 'exotic accreditation mills' it is the other way round: they only cater to people foreign to their country of accreditation, probably to avoid stirring trouble.

Some people transferred and/or completed work they had done or started at other (often legitimate) schools. They thought it was a unique opportunity to complete their studies interrupted for various reasons and get an accredited degree. It was obvious that it was fast, cheap and easy and not according to the standards of North American or European universities, but still had nothing to do with purchasing a degree.

As I said, 'fast'n'easy yet not THAT fast'n'easy'... ought to make people suspicious...

I know this forum is generally hostile to George Gollin and his friends, but I have to say this here.

Many, many cudos to George Gollin and his friends for helping expose the most dangerous mill of them all.

St. Regis was not like other mills, it was an almost perfect fraud operation, but only people who have had a direct, first hand experience with them will be able to fully understand what I mean.

George Gollin and friends performed a public service and this should be acknowledged. Dixie and co. have done great harm to many people.

degreeinfo and degreediscussion pundits are clueless idiots.
How do I prove it?
I made an effort to expose ECOLE SUPERIEURE ROBERT DE SORBON as soon as it appeared, with its fancy exotic acronyms, accreditation double-talk and deceptive tactics.

If you go back to degreeinfo you'll see my effort being hampered and sabotaged and ultimately attention being diverted to an immature character assassination campaign against me. See gay teen pornographer, school dropout & enema salesman Thomas Chip White, massage parlor addict Gregg Deselms, fraud uncle Janko and other pundits shift the focus on my 'credibility' and 'integrity' ...so that they could keep discussing the mill: selective advertising ( good press, bad press IS press nonetheless ).
So you see these 'crusaders' are highly selective in their campaigns...much like John Bear is known to have 'traded off' with millists to engineer entries in the 'guides' to their liking...

[Ben Johnson]

I know this forum is generally hostile to George Gollin and his friends, but I have to say this here.

Many, many cudos to George Gollin and his friends for helping expose the most dangerous mill of them all.

St. Regis was not like other mills, it was an almost perfect fraud operation, but only people who have had a direct, first hand experience with them will be able to fully understand what I mean.

George Gollin and friends performed a public service and this should be acknowledged. Dixie and co. have done great harm to many people.

I want some of want you're on. Maybe not. Seems like Gollin butt odor.

St. Regis was an amateur operation that was nowhere near the biggest and certainly not the slickest. It pales in comparison to Almeda. They got caught because they didn't move the server and records out of the US.

How could Dixie do great harm when they sold maybe 1% of fake degrees. All the rest are still operating just fine. Hell I might start one myself, outside the US. Maybe I'll call it London Institute of Applied Research and Medicine. Gollin is an instant expert prima donna and nothing more.

[Ben Johnson]

I made an effort to expose ECOLE SUPERIEURE ROBERT DE SORBON as soon as it appeared, with its fancy exotic acronyms, accreditation double-talk and deceptive tactics.

If you go back to degreeinfo you'll see my effort being hampered and sabotaged and ultimately attention being diverted to an immature character assassination campaign against me.

I was attaking St. Regis long before Gollin found his hobby. It was so blatantly obvious it was a degreemill. I had many forum battles, probably lots of them with the Randocks. I've attacked my share of degreemills in my life.

What really ticks me off is when the dickless crusaders start attacking real schools as being degreemills when, in fact, they have no personal knowledge of the subject, relying simply on personal mental impressions.

[ham]

What really ticks me off is when the dickless crusaders start attacking real schools as being degreemills when, in fact, they have no personal knowledge of the subject, relying simply on personal mental impressions.

the problem is that the public and authorities are even bigger jackasses.
If I put a claim forward, no matter how well-researched, I am a phony internet alias...people won't gain 20kg rock-hard muscle simply by whispering doctor Gollin or our international distance education expert doctor John Bear.
If I called the press, they'd label me a mythomanian; if they receive a letter with prestigious university letterhead, they are all ears...if someone has sold 100.000 'guides', he must be an 'authority'... L.I.A.R, Millard Fillmore...hell, that's stuff for archaeologists and evil does, even if featured in the prestigious TIMES...

[Little Arminius]

I made an effort to expose ECOLE SUPERIEURE ROBERT DE SORBON as soon as it appeared, with its fancy exotic acronyms, accreditation double-talk and deceptive tactics.

If you go back to degreeinfo you'll see my effort being hampered and sabotaged and ultimately attention being diverted to an immature character assassination campaign against me.

I was attaking St. Regis long before Gollin found his hobby.  It was so blatantly obvious it was a degreemill.  I had many forum battles, probably lots of them with the Randocks.  I've attacked my share of degreemills in my life.

What really ticks me off is when the dickless crusaders start attacking real schools as being degreemills when, in fact, they have no personal knowledge of the subject, relying simply on personal mental impressions.

Many of them are incapable of intelligently forming their own opinion. Instead the sheep just take Contreras, Gus Sainz, Bear or one of the other self-appointed expert's word for it. After all, if (name of favorite "mill buster") says it's a mill, it must be a mill.

[DR ANATIDAE]

St. Regis was an amateur operation that was nowhere near the biggest and certainly not the slickest.  It pales in comparison to Almeda.  They got caught because they didn't move the server and records out of the US.

You are certainly right about Almeda. I believe their emailed newsletter goes out to well over 100,000 alumni. Over recent times they have expanded their range of 'degrees' offered - including religious degrees - and according to alumni comments on the Almeda website Almeda degrees are widely accepted.

[Someone]

Quote:
My point is that some of these people were not aware that they were actually buying a degree. They had no idea that they could have obtained the same degree by just giving their credit card number and not presenting any work whatsoever.

ham wrote:

Hard to believe in today's world but possible.

As I said in a previous post, it's difficult to understand how the set up operated unless you've had a first hand experience with them. But, anyway, there's no need to go into that, the hard evidence that a number of St. Regis "graduates" - most probably a tiny fraction of the total number - did not know they were actually purchasing a degree is the existence of the works they submitted to the outfit. This is a verifiable fact since these works are in the hands of the authorities and they should be also retrievable through the web time machine.

Quote:
They were of course aware that St. Regis is not Harvard or Yale, but it was cheap, fast, and accepting limitless work done elsewhere.

ham wrote:

one more reason to be suspicious.

Why? You expect different rules to apply when dealing with different educational systems. What about the French VAE? Limitless work done elsewhere is accepted throught VAE, isn't it? And degrees are obtainable through VAE within a couple of months from any French public university.

Quote:
And, most importantly, it was - or rather appeared to be - accredited by a MOE. We all know that it doesn't matter if an institution is accredited in Liberia, Uganda, Malaysia or any other country, degrees from MOE accredited schools are accepted almost everywhere.

ham wrote:

I don't think so...and anyways that was not a bonafide Liberian school, but an 'American' or whatever school boasting an accreditation from Liberia; it never served the population of Liberia the way say DETC accredited foreign schools serve their domestic population. In other words, say UNISA's primary target are South-Africans, then you get others...with 'exotic accreditation mills' it is the other way round: they only cater to people foreign to their country of accreditation, probably to avoid stirring trouble.

Degrees from universities accredited by the MOE of a sovereign nation are accepted almost anywhere and that's a fact. Don't forget Liberia is a full member of UNESCO.

St. Regis appeared very convincingly to be a bona fide accredited Liberian school. Nowhere did it appear as an American school or as a school run by Americans. They had a Liberian address and Liberian telephone and fax numbers. Their domain had also a Liberian suffix. Confirmation of St. Regis accreditation did not come only from the Liberian embassy as some people seem to think. People also confirmed St. Regis status by calling and/or obtaining accreditation and all sorts of other documents directly from the MOE in Liberia.

St. Regis "students" who thought they were dealing with a legitimate institution DID NOT RECEIVE their degrees immediately or within a few days after their application. They had to wait for various periods of time for what they submitted to be purpotedly checked and assessed. During this time, they had contacts with people who presented themselves as Liberian "professors", all of whom it was later proven were impersonations by Dixie Randock. The names of these Liberian "professors" included, "Dr" Jallah Faciann and "Dr" Thomas Carper. What you're saying above, you're saying it with the benefit of the knowledge we have today and not with what could be confirmed knowledge at the time.

[Someone]

I know this forum is generally hostile to George Gollin and his friends, but I have to say this here.

Many, many cudos to George Gollin and his friends for helping expose the most dangerous mill of them all.

St. Regis was not like other mills, it was an almost perfect fraud operation, but only people who have had a direct, first hand experience with them will be able to fully understand what I mean.

George Gollin and friends performed a public service and this should be acknowledged. Dixie and co. have done great harm to many people.

I want some of want you're on.  Maybe not.  Seems like Gollin butt odor.

St. Regis was an amateur operation that was nowhere near the biggest and certainly not the slickest.  It pales in comparison to Almeda.  They got caught because they didn't move the server and records out of the US.

How could Dixie do great harm when they sold maybe 1% of fake degrees.  All the rest are still operating just fine.  Hell I might start one myself, outside the US.  Maybe I'll call it London Institute of Applied Research and Medicine.  Gollin is an instant expert prima donna and nothing more.

Almeda and other similar outfits are obvious to anyone that they are diploma mills. There is no way they can pass as legitimate or accredited institutions, and their degrees are probably accepted only by some clueless employers in the private sector.

Despite the campaigns launched against it at certain discussion forums - which very few people visit anyway - for a number of years St. Regis was able to convince not only prospective applicants, but also professional societies, accredited universities, educational authorities and all sorts of employers that they were a legitimate university. No other mill has ever been able to do that, at least not to such extent and so convincingly. And it would probably have continued doing so if George Gollin had not initiated action against it, both in Liberia and the U.S., which led to its eventual demise.

Dixie and Co. were probably one step off from buying the entire Liberian government and all public officials. According to some information, they had started similar "negotiations" with some neighboring African countries too. They definitely had the money to do that. Fortunately, they were stopped on their tracks just on time.