Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Tecacwebmaster/University of Saint David

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the miscellaneous page below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result of the discussion was speedy delete (U1) MER-C 10:18, 7 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

User:Tecacwebmaster/University of Saint David

Hoax article, possibly part of a fraudulent scheme. This was created three times in mainspace and deleted, now indef creation-protected. Per previous revisions, this "university" was supposedly founded in 1955 with its president appointed by the Pope. The infobox currently present claims an enrollment of 10,000 and an endowment of $123 million. But Google shows it has absolutely no existence, and WHOIS tells us that its domain was registered about five weeks ago. The "university" is allegedly accredited by a "Theology Education Council Accreditation Commission" (the "TECAC" of the article creator's username), but that too doesn't exist and its website also was registered in April. Given the very substantial effort that's gone into producing a slick website (http://ustdavid.com, which includes bogus claims like "University of St. David is ranked #1 nationally for the total number of students who study abroad"), I have little doubt this not just someone's goof-off project but an absolute fraud. (It's the second fake university I've seen, in fact; the other was the "University of N&Z West.") In previous iterations, the author has put forth no explanation whatsoever for the obvious fakeness of his university or his perseverance in trying to get it on Wikipedia. Even in userspace, this is a dangerous WP:FAKEARTICLE. Glenfarclas (talk) 06:38, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your suggestion. all this stuff recently online. In the future it will have quote from reliable source. I've marked your trying to find out any discuss and sources about it however it has been online how can I get it for your reference. I hope you don't judge the thing by your own feeling. I really need your help just want to make the world better. thanks u. (KentLA 07:10, 5 June 2010 (UTC))

Dear Glenfarclas, I really I appreciate what you've done so far. Wish you withdraw inappropriate reviews about University of Saint David. Let the others can judge it and competence units will verify in official method. (KentLA 10:33, 5 June 2010 (UTC))

Delete. This has been speedied three times and salted. I would normally be in favour of allowing time for development in user space, but study of the "university" website shows so many improbabilities that there can be little doubt that this is either a hoax or a scam.

The website says it is an "online-degree and campus-base university", refers to "the original UK-Wales campus" and invites you to "come stroll around our garden campus of gently rolling hills", but it does not say where this campus is. There is no location, not even an email address: contact is only by filling in a website form. The draft article says it is in "Cypress, Texas" but the website doesn't say that; deep in the website I found a postal address in Singapore.
The website says the university has "roots that go back to 1955" and claims:

"USD provides a high-quality global education to more than 40,000 students and over 24,000 faculty. The student body includes top scholars and international Olympiad medal lists from the region and beyond."

"Hailing from 67 countries, the university's 3,000-strong teaching and research staff bring dynamic international perspectives and years of solid industry experience."

But searches find nothing, once you filter out references to the real St David's University College, now the University of Wales, Lampeter, shortly to become part of University of Wales Trinity Saint David. It is absolutely beyond belief that a real organisation of this age and size would leave no trace on the internet. It cannot be genuine.
The web-site has the classic hoax/scam feel - glowing generalities, shots of happy smiling people, but nothing solid and definite - compare the University of Antarctica. The English is rocky in places, too.

MfD will give the author a week to come up with reliable independent sources, if any exist. Failing that, we shouldn't give this a home even in user space.

JohnCD (talk) 12:17, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reply: John, thanks for your research on this. Permit me to copy what you wrote on my talkpage, which pretty much seals it:

If there were any remaining doubt, large chunks of the text, including the "gently rolling hills" of the campus, "Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann, founding Director of MIRALab", and the "Global Immersion Programme" offering "international experience of up to a year in two locations" are copied from Nanyang Technological University! JohnCD (talk) 18:16, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

— Glenfarclas (talk) 19:14, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi JohnCD, thanks for all your research about it. May I need for more 1 month to come up with more and more[WP:RS|reliable] and [WP:IS|independent]] source. May be there are some information that I need to verify again. Thanks all of your contribution. The fact that University of Saint David still alive and will moving beyond. As I know the location in Singapore is the subsidiary while the main location is in USA. I will try to get more and more detail about it. (KentLA 12:53, 5 June 2010 (UTC))

KentLA, a university with 24,000 faculty has more faculty than the entire University of Texas System. It is inconceivable that it should take more than five minutes to find a reliable source for an entity that size.--SPhilbrick T 13:19, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Smells like a hoax, or possibly worse. Editors name possibly derived from Theology Education Council Accrediting Comission, which lists University of St David as one of their accredited schools here. At a minimum, editor has a WP:COI. One of the entities listed on their accredited schools list is Raffles International College, which appears to exist, but doesn't sound like a Theology connection.--SPhilbrick T 13:10, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As I mentioned in my nom, I think the "Theology Education Council Accrediting Commission" is just as fake as this university. Please also note (presumably you have already) that the commenter "KentLA" is just the article creator User:Tecacwebmaster. Glenfarclas (talk) 19:14, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi SPhilbrick, thanks for your recommendation. May be all of you are right this time. all of your effort is valuable. In order still keep the prestige for all. I think we should Delete. After I verify and have enough reliable resource, we will discuss again like this. The last sentence. Thanks all of you so far especially ,Glenfarclas,JohnCD,Sphilbrick (KentLA 13:37, 5 June 2010 (UTC))

Comment - it's gone now, but in case it comes back again and someone refers to this, note that much of the "University of Saint David" website is copied from the website of the real Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. JohnCD (talk) 21:15, 5 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks a lot for your reference. I will keep notice about it. (KentLA 06:30, 6 June 2010 (UTC))

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the page's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.