tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post3345291590904850877..comments2024-03-02T00:44:55.128-08:00Comments on Pleiotropy: Professional writing for academic cheatersBjørn Østmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859177313382114917noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-33769327000748558472010-11-22T09:22:10.072-08:002010-11-22T09:22:10.072-08:00I will make roughly $66,000 this year
Oh, nevermi...<i>I will make roughly $66,000 this year</i><br /><br />Oh, nevermind. I assumed he was getting rich.<br /><br />Why would somebody that intelligent ethically compromise themselves for such a mediocre salary? He oughtta be a spammer at least...James Sweethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17212877636980569324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-41955690321648955632010-11-22T09:18:10.667-08:002010-11-22T09:18:10.667-08:00Assuming a 48-week work year, 5 days/wk, the guy w...Assuming a 48-week work year, 5 days/wk, the guy would need to average 21 pages per day to meet his claimed 5,000 pages. If I had all the research and sourcing done for me ahead of time, plus a proofreader -- abso-fucking-lutely. And I'd love it.<br /><br />Man, maybe I should switch careers... how do you break into the ethics-destruction business anyway?James Sweethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17212877636980569324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-39190177965112724902010-11-22T09:15:50.027-08:002010-11-22T09:15:50.027-08:00It seems to me the guy is probably exaggerating so...It seems to me the guy is probably exaggerating somewhat about his own personal output, but I am not surprised about a company of 50 doing this kind of work. <br /><br />As far as why he doesn't get a different type of job if he is that talented, I dunno, I can sort of understand... I am able to turn out a whole lot of reasonably well-written text in a fairly short amount of time, but I am too lazy to do a lot of sourcing and whatnot. Let's say I had a staff to do all the sourcing and basic research -- which I wouldn't if I had any of the jobs you mention as other possibilities for this guy -- I am certain I could churn out a whole lot of passable bullshit.<br /><br />Remember that the professors grading these papers have the very same students who are such poor writers that they turn to this service. My point is, standards are low.<br /><br />I remember for an Economics class in college, the professor wanted us to write some sort of dialog on some topic. I thought it was a corny assignment, but I knew he also wouldn't grade it too harshly. So I grabbed some Guinness, got shit-faced, and churned out 15+ pages of corny bullshit. After grading our papers, he highlighted mine to the rest of the class as what he was intending that people do.<br /><br />Standards are low, and being prolific while reasonably coherent and moderately accurate with your grammar and spelling -- that's enough to get an A most of the time.James Sweethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17212877636980569324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-79694621449164481272010-11-19T19:19:03.711-08:002010-11-19T19:19:03.711-08:00Yeah, the big company thing actually makes the sto...Yeah, the big company thing actually makes the story a little suspect. But who knows?<br /><br />As for people who pay for the service, I think they're just desperate (dispret?), and will do whatever it takes to finish school. I can understand that, but it does so sorely disappoint.Bjørn Østmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08859177313382114917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-10045306570177895972010-11-19T17:28:49.860-08:002010-11-19T17:28:49.860-08:00Good grief! I didn't see that part--an entire...Good grief! I didn't see that part--an entire company that cheats for people? ....<br /><br />Please excuse me--I'm dusting my jaw off. It fell on the floor. Is this for real?! Clearly it never occurred to me as a student to pay someone else to write my papers (or, for that matter, play hookey in high school). What do people who pay for that kind of "service" think they're going to do when they get an actual paying job? Spend half the money they earn paying someone else to do their writing for them? Wow. Just--wow.yokohamamamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17098212549844656652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-49455418118322032612010-11-19T06:09:18.831-08:002010-11-19T06:09:18.831-08:00He could at least easily take a few scholarly degr...He could at least easily take a few scholarly degrees.<br /><br />On top of the hours he spends, consider that he mentions the company has about 50 employees.<br /><br /><i>my company's staff of roughly 50 writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who will pay for our work and claim it as their own.</i>Bjørn Østmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08859177313382114917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989966954446423670.post-48530701704329898762010-11-19T01:50:55.569-08:002010-11-19T01:50:55.569-08:00I find this man puzzling, too. If he's a good...I find this man puzzling, too. If he's a good enough writer to be able to make a (*very*) decent living ghost-writing other people's term papers and business proposals, that implies that he's a good writer to begin with. Anyone could undertake to write a few term papers for a couple of college classmates (probably how he started himself)--but to make an actual living at it means you have to be good enough to earn repeat business and word-of-mouth business. And if he's doing as much writing as he says he is, he can't be doing much of anything else--there simply wouldn't be enough hours in the day. So if he's telling the truth about his hours and earnings, he's a good enough writer to earn a living writing honestly--under his own name. It just seems really odd that he wouldn't prefer to have his writing recognized as his own and earn a living that way...yokohamamamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17098212549844656652noreply@blogger.com