Maria Rainier of onlinedegrees.org – Spammer!

Posted on 15/11/2011 by alexcase

I get dodgy offers of Google searches with some prose added pretending to be guest blog posts from online education sites all the time, but this was worse than most because:

– She couldn’t even be bothered putting my name into the email

– She was offering a guest piece for “teflonet”, which would be a great name for our Irish spinoff site if the owner of TEFL.net had one (“Top o’ the morning from TEFL O’Net!”) , but alas does not yet exist

Please do not accept any guest blog posts from this person, and inform anyone who does put her pieces up what they have fallen for so that they can take them down.

Thanks.

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3 Responses to Maria Rainier of onlinedegrees.org – Spammer!

  1. OUP ELT Global's avatar OUP ELT Global says:
    15/11/2011 at 12:05

    Hi Alex,

    That’s strange, because we’ve had her write for us before and she was perfectly reliable and amenable. Her (only) post for us is here:

    http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2010/11/29/teaching-clil-classroom-benefits/

    Perhaps it’s just a misunderstanding?

    OUP ELT Global

    Like

  2. Alex Case's avatar Alex Case says:
    15/11/2011 at 20:56

    There’s nothing wrong with the post she did for you, though it doesn’t say anything original. I still classify her as a spammer though, because:
    – She obviously sends the same email to everyone offering to guest blog for them
    – She doesn’t have her own blog but rather links to a site that is about online degrees (in your profile page, without clearly saying that she works for them)
    – There is no evidence that she has worked as a TEFL teacher
    – Most other guest pieces she has written are unrelated to TEFL

    Like

  3. Alex Case's avatar Alex Case says:
    17/11/2011 at 20:23

    I’m in touch with Maria and have offered that she can use this blog to put her point of view on whether it’s spam or not. No reply yet.

    Like

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