Gang of Six . .
Leland Milton Goldblatt Ph.D.
.."
The term actually originated with Les Snell, a degree mill operator who runs
Monticello University. The official "Gang of Six," such as it is, consists,
alphabetically, of: John Bear, Dennis Huber, Steve Levicoff, Emir Mohammed,
Tom Nixon, and Chip White.
(Depending on how many people pissed him off in any given week, Snell has
also referred to the "Gang of Three" - Huber, Levicoff and White - and the
"Gang of Four" - Bear, Huber, Levicoff, and White. The order in which he
has listed the names has also changed, depending on the current SPO, or
Snell-Piss-Off Index.)
Unofficially, the Gang of Six has grown to include several additional
people, all of whom have taken a fairly consistent stand for similar
standards in distance education. The additional "members" include Jason
Baker, Russ Blehetka, Steven B. Dowd, John McAulay, Larry
McQueary, Martin Spillane, Marcy Thorson, John Wetsch, and Jonathan Whatley.
The "Gang" represents a wide range of credentials. (If quantity is an
issue, Huber is certainly at the top of the list with 12 degrees thus far,
all regionally accredited.) Some of us earned our degrees
traditionally, such as Bear (who earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State, but
is considered the most experienced authority in distance education thanks to
many years of research and the most comprehensive book in the field); others
earned all of their degrees nontraditionally from regionally accredited
institutions (such as Wetsch, with
Regents/Antioch/Nova degrees, and me, with Edison/Norwich/Union
degrees). A few have not earned any degrees yet, but have established
themselves as authoritative through extensive research (which shows that we
are certainly not bourgeois when it comes to numbers).
There are several additional qualities that we share as a "Gang," the most
notable of which is a sense of humor. Yes, we claim to be expert in the
field of distance education, and I will vouch for any other person I have
listed here as having done his or her research - we do not shoot from the
hip. However, as Chip noted recently, there are areas in which we have
friendly disagreements - we're kind of like the Episcopalians: unity in
those things essential, diversity in the specifics.
And interestingly enough, we have taken the newsgroup past the point of
cyber-community, as many of us actually know each other - I have known
Dennis and John for several years; John, Chip, and I recently met for a
"symposium and laugh fest du jour" in Pittsburgh (we even have Gang of Six
t-shirts from that one); Dennis has met with Jonathan; I have met with
Martin; and several of us maintain contact by phone as well as e-mail.
So the "Gang of Six" started from a joke (and Les Snell was the joke), but
our credibililty, such as it is, comes from the ongoing standard to which we
hold ourselves in terms of evaluating academic and
institutional integrity - we are the ultimate consumer advocates with the
brass huzzangas to tell it like it is.
What we are *not* is the ultimate experts (nor did we ever claim to be),
snobbish about extending the right foot of fellowship to others *nor did we
ever claim to be), nor the keepers of the key to the newsgroup (hell, this
is the Internet). We do not presume to be a "legend in our own mind,"
having earned our initial reputation thanks to a guy who runs a degree mill
(which we consider a great honor - when degree mill operators trash you,
you've reached the top).
We have both fans and detractors, but people hardly defer to us - hell, if
they did, this would be one hell of a boring newsgroup. Now, as to our love
of fine wine and good cigars . . .
--
The Reverend Doctor Leland Milton Goldblatt
With a little research from my very busy schedule proved adventitious!
Shalom,
Leland Milton Goldblatt Ph.D
The Reverend Doctor Goldblatt's **NEW~~email address,
solade...@hotmail.com
The Reverend Doctor Goldblatt's biography,
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/5244/index.html
The Reverend Doctor Goldblatt says:
I will go as far as Martin Luther, where he says, "If any man ascribes
anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of
man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ
rightly." Sermons, Vol. 1, p.395
Steve Levicoff
> Now, for the benefit of newbies, here is the lowdown on the "Gang of
> Six . . .
>
>The term actually originated with Les Snell . . .
While I normally can't be bothered replying to Leland Goldblatt, who
has enjoyed more than his 15 minutes of fame here, I should point out
for the record that the entire original post is one that I wrote
several months ago. Notwithstanding that he obviously doens't have the
intelligence to engage in original writing, however, I'm delighted that
he has finally learned to use DejaNews to do some of his own research.
Perhaps that will keep him busy enough not to feel he has to revise his
entire web site on a daily basis.
,-~~-.___.
/ | ' \
( ) 0
\_/-, ,----'
==== //
/ \-'~; /~~~(O)
/ __/~| / |
=( _____| (_________|
-----------------------------------
Steve Levicoff
levi...@ix.netcom.com
http://members.tripod.com/~levicoff
-----------------------------------
David/Suzanne Law
>
> Now, for the benefit of newbies, here is the lowdown on the "Gang of Six . .
> Some of us earned our degrees
> traditionally,
pertaining to distance ed, apart from what he has picked up from
scanning Dejanews? What a weenie! The only one who has referred to
Goldblatt as belonging to the Gang of Six is Goldblatt himself in this
post.
>
> There are several additional qualities that we share as a "Gang," the most
> notable of which is a sense of humor. Yes, we claim to be expert in the
> field of distance education,
group was very recent (and which asked how to obtain a fake degree)! I
am sure he is getting his jollies seeing responses to his juvenile lies,
but let us not let anyone scanning this newsgroup think for a moment
that this loser is any kind of authority on distance education. Instead,
search dejanews, type in Goldblatt, and get a taste for what this clown
is really all about.
Dave Law
Larry McQueary
It's not QUITE as bad as that - what Uncle Leland has done
here is cut'n'paste a post by Steve Levicoff from a few
weeks ago. Unfortunately, attribution of material doesn't
appear to be his strong suit (nor do a lot of other things).
I don't think he intended this to be read as his own
original words.
Larry
David/Suzanne Law <daves...@sympatico.ca> wrote in
message news:377F99...@sympatico.ca...
Steve Levicoff
>Leland Milton Goldblatt Ph.D. wrote:
>>
>> Now, for the benefit of newbies, here is the lowdown on the "Gang of
>>Six . . ."
>> Some of us earned our degrees traditionally,
>
>"Us"? What "us"? Since when is Goldblatt knowledgeable on anything
>pertaining to distance ed, apart from what he has picked up from
>scanning Dejanews? What a weenie! The only one who has referred to
>Goldblatt as belonging to the Gang of Six is Goldblatt himself in this
>post.
>>
>> There are several additional qualities that we share as a "Gang,"
>>the most notable of which is a sense of humor. Yes, we claim to be
>>expert in the field of distance education...
>What a pitiful troll! This is the same moron whose first post to this
>group was very recent (and which asked how to obtain a fake degree)! I
>am sure he is getting his jollies seeing responses to his juvenile
>lies, but let us not let anyone scanning this newsgroup think for a
>moment that this loser is any kind of authority on distance education.
>Instead, search dejanews, type in Goldblatt, and get a taste for what
>this clown is really all about.
>Dave Law
The asnwer is quite simple: Goldblatt did not write the quoted
material, I did. Goldblatt merely pulled up an old DejaNews archive
and neglected to put the quoted material in brackets, thus making it
appear that he had written it.
(By the way, I do not feel that he did this intentionally; he's clearly
too dumb to have pulled that off.)
Quinn Tyler Jackson
> The asnwer is quite simple: Goldblatt did not write the quoted
> material, I did. Goldblatt merely pulled up an old DejaNews archive
> and neglected to put the quoted material in brackets, thus making it
> appear that he had written it.
>
> (By the way, I do not feel that he did this intentionally; he's clearly
> too dumb to have pulled that off.)
It seems clear from the Goldblatt did not intend to attribute the comments
about the Go6 to himself, but merely overlooked the attribution of the
comments to the original author.
Back in my FidoNet days, there was a fundamental rule of conduct that went
something like:
"Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to the vagaries of the
FidoNet."
--
Quinn Tyler Jackson
http://www.qtj.net/~quinn/
Credo quia absurdum est.
David/Suzanne Law
>
> David/Suzanne,
>
> It's not QUITE as bad as that - what Uncle Leland has done
> here is cut'n'paste a post by Steve Levicoff from a few
> weeks ago. Unfortunately, attribution of material doesn't
> appear to be his strong suit (nor do a lot of other things).
> I don't think he intended this to be read as his own
> original words.
>
> Larry
>
> David/Suzanne Law <daves...@sympatico.ca> wrote in
> message news:377F99...@sympatico.ca...
> > >
> > > Now, for the benefit of newbies, here is the lowdown on
> the "Gang of Six . .
> > > Some of us earned our degrees
> > > traditionally,
> > "Us"? What "us"? Since when is Goldblatt knowledgeable on
> anything
> > pertaining to distance ed, apart from what he has picked
> up from
> > scanning Dejanews? What a weenie! The only one who has
> referred to
> > Goldblatt as belonging to the Gang of Six is Goldblatt
> himself in this
> > post.
> > >
> > > There are several additional qualities that we share as
> a "Gang," the most
> > > notable of which is a sense of humor. Yes, we claim to
> be expert in the
> > What a pitiful troll! This is the same moron whose first
> post to this
> > group was very recent (and which asked how to obtain a
> fake degree)! I
> > am sure he is getting his jollies seeing responses to his
> juvenile lies,
> > but let us not let anyone scanning this newsgroup think
> for a moment
> > that this loser is any kind of authority on distance
> education. Instead,
> > search dejanews, type in Goldblatt, and get a taste for
> what this clown
> > is really all about.
> > Dave Law
reading of Goldblatt's "quote" makes my assumption a reasonable one, I
think. I accept the suggestion that what has taken place here is simply
a failure to quote a source, but I would think that one with Goldblatt's
"academic credentials" would be able to quote material properly,
whatever the format. ;-)
My concern is that someone might take this clown to be knowledgeable on
distance ed.
Dave Law
Larry McQueary
David/Suzanne Law <daves...@sympatico.ca> wrote in
message news:377FFE...@sympatico.ca...
[ snip ]