Thread: I'm thinking about cheating..

I will say this: If something like that had been available when I was in school, I probably would have used it at least once.

No. What's the point of having someone do all my work for me, if I'm eventually going to get a job where I've got no idea what to do because I didn't learn anything initially? The smarty pants who will be profiting should already have a decent job (although I admit the market can be a bit rough depending on where you live) even if its only a retail job.

As for the students themselves, they should actually be doing their own work and if they should get it wrong, work to correct their mistakes instead of paying some stranger across the net. Even if these don't bother you, I doubt you'll get much business.

Most students aren't all that great with money (though exceptions exist), so it may come down to having a decent meal or having their work done for them, depending on prices. I'd like to assume that most students are intelligent enough to realize that having someone do the work for them ultimately achieves nothing, other than emptying their own pockets and filling someone elses. Also, most teachers, lectures etc. (at least, where I live) tend to check for these kind of sights and subsequently block them if discovered. If you get any decent amount of visitors, you'll be found. This will limit your potential customers to desperate or uncaring students, typically with more money than sense who have decent internet at home and a willingness to entrust their future to absolute strangers.

Or I'm tired and have missed a joke somewhere.

Hmmm... no, I wouldn't. It sounds illegal and too risky. But good luck.

Originally Posted by Jeff777

I'm well aware of the moral fiber issue...[/B]

Oh please...

Morals are for wussies. Who needs em?

Morals, shmorals!

There are already sites for this...

Teachers seem to be taking plagiarism and cheating more and more seriously over the last few years. If a site like this existed, and became popular enough that it would work, teachers/professors would be checking it to see if any of the assignments they've assigned end up there.

For this reason, I don't think it would work well unless the subjects were very vague. Maybe "an essay on Shakespeare" or "12th grade math homework" would be non-specific enough to put the two people in contact. Then after that they'd only contact via e-mail for specifics. But uploading pictures of the assignments themselves would just be asking to get caught.

Also, doing all of your homework in this way would never work, so it would have to be used sparingly if necessary, like if you need it done and will fail a class otherwise, and really do plan to learn it later but the deadline is too soon and you're swamped in other homework. If you're actually not planning to learn it... if there's a large discrepancy between homework and exam scores, it will be obvious to the teachers. In most post-secondary courses I've taken, this is such a big deal that exams are always intentionally worth at least 50% of the final grade.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

Teachers seem to be taking plagiarism and cheating more and more seriously over the last few years. If a site like this existed, and became popular enough that it would work, teachers/professors would be checking it to see if any of the assignments they've assigned end up there.

I don't think the finished assignments would end up on the page for everyone to see. Only the person who paid for it would be able to access them. Or maybe I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by Empedocles

I don't think the finished assignments would end up on the page for everyone to see. Only the person who paid for it would be able to access them. Or maybe I'm wrong.

Yeah, but the OP said people would post assignment questions or instructions. A teacher may just scan the site for those.

Like Dianeva said, you can get caught doing that. All a teacher has to do is use one of those programs that crawl websites for paragraphs matching either already written articles or other people's essays (they do have these and have even been used to catch cheaters), and now you are at best getting an F on the assignment. At worst...well, here at UAF if you get caught doing that, you'll get expelled! So, if I were you, I wouldn't do that. Is risking expulsion worth writing a few pages?

Incedentally, I will say I agree our education system is pretty messed up, alot of times focusing on things that are not necessary in life, period. We focus too much on things that they say is supposedly to make us more "well rounded citizens." I say the schools are just trying to give themselves well rounded wallets. For example, why do I need to take a freaking art class to get my degree in psychology? I am never going to be asked about the history of art/music/theatre in my career. In life, it isn't necessary that I know all of the big time names in the art world, most of which I've already forgotten anyway. It was a waste of time and money that I could've spent actually learning something pertaining to my degree.

That said, cheating is still cheating, and you're risking a lot if you get busted, which is very possible. The teacher inputs your essay into her program which tries to find articles that you plagiarized from, and now you're day just got really, really bad.

~SilverWolf~

No, I would not use the site.

No thanks, I'm already a tl;dr machine, especially in essay writing, in fact, I would ask you if I could be a partner for this company. I'd make you rich Jeff.

After talking it over with a few more people and reading the replies in here, I've decided to forgo further exploration into this model. Thank you for your honesty, concern and time.

Meh, I'd probably use it once in a while in case of emergencies.

I think it's a fantastic business idea, but it's been done already, I'm sure I've seen it before.
As for any moral issues, they don't bother me too much. Most teacher's would recognize a significant improvements in a students work. The students who use it will undoubtedly not get very far, and I like the concept that if they choose to cheat they will be worse off the in the end.

I don't know if it is true or not but all my teachers claim they can easily papers for those sources. In most schools you will get kicked out if caught cheating even once, so it isn't worth it. That said those kind of sites do exist, so clearly there is a market for it.

Yes, birches ain't shit but hoes and tricks.

oh.... oh ok. No.

Originally Posted by TheSilverWolf

Like Dianeva said, you can get caught doing that. All a teacher has to do is use one of those programs that crawl websites for paragraphs matching either already written articles or other people's essays (they do have these and have even been used to catch cheaters)

I think it's called "google"

I have a lot of experience working in education, and I am adamantly against stuff like that. To anybody who is thinking about creating a cheating service: Please don't help make the U.S. even more ignorant. We have a very serious problem on our hands already. The upcoming generation is a nightmare. They will eventually be running things, and I dread it big time. Let's help make them as smart and educated as we can. They're in trouble, and therefore so are we.

Why not create a business with Associated Content and Article Writing instead Jeff? Even though there's tons of sites that would pay freelance writers for that, it would be more broad than just satisfying just one niche involving school-related aspects with teenagers in high school and college.

I got so good at writing essays in college that I thought about making money doing this once or twice. I sort of miss the feeling of having a complete essay to turn in.

I don't, LOL. I hate essay writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at it, but it's not something I enjoy; I'd rather be cooking up a good novel or Fan Fiction.

Originally Posted by TheSilverWolf

I don't, LOL. I hate essay writing. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at it, but it's not something I enjoy; I'd rather be cooking up a good novel or Fan Fiction.

Same with me lol. I hate writing essays. I'm a perfectionist with that type of thing and find the process of organizing it all, coming up with proper sentences, etc. frustrating. But once they're done they end up being amazing.

Well maybe it would be fun to write about a topic I'm interested in, but I've never tried to do that, and any pre-defined topic will be boring.

I don't really see any ethical problems with this, actually. When pressed for time on a paper, everyone, (even the holier-than-thou angels riiiiight here "l o l" ) has cheated with sneaky shortcuts and small little omissions when writing that they can easily justify to themselves as ethical.

The first two years of university are dedicated to "General Studies". Regardless of your intended major, everyone must take 60 hours of maths, sciences, English, History, Humanities - etc. Every. Thing. Why am I mentioning this? Because while my strengths are in literature and arts, others strengths lie in the sciences and maths. Some people are simply not good at writing, and don't care, or want to be. That's fine. My roommate last year was a "science" type and an "awful at comprehending, understanding, and appreciating literature and the fine arts" type. He would never have to "do" literature again after the "General Studies" program - so he paid me to write his English papers. I can not find a problem with this scenario. He would have failed the course if I hadn't helped him. He'll almost certainly never have to write a paper at the collegiate level ever again. There's no problem with this kind of "teamwork" that I can see.

I would certainly use the site to write papers for others. As for the potential problems the "popularity" of the site could cause, i.e. Dianeva thought teachers might check the site to check for their assigned essays. I can think of four or five very simple workarounds to prevent professor interference, if it ever became an issue. I think you should reconsider your idea, Jeff. This is a really interesting idea. A shame there's apparently sites like this already. I think the worst part of the internet is thinking up an amazing ideas for a hit website - googling it- and realizing there are about a half dozen successful sites already.

UM makes a good point about the possible detrimental effects to the upcoming generation's literacy competence levels, but I really think it depends on the context. Some cases of ghost writing an essay might be wrong, but I doubt most would be unethical. Besides, if someone is willing to pay a stranger to write an essay for them, they're prroooobably going to cheat no matter what. But how often would that be the case? Besides, sites like this are only a drop in the water. There are much bigger problems in our education system.

Someone should post these "write my essay" sites. I want to see how they work.

ps. good to see you around again, Jeff.

Originally Posted by Grod

UM makes a good point about the possible detrimental effects to the upcoming generation's literacy competence levels, but I really think it depends on the context. Some cases of ghost writing an essay might be wrong, but I doubt most would be unethical. Besides, if someone is willing to pay a stranger to write an essay for them, they're prroooobably going to cheat no matter what. But how often would that be the case? Besides, sites like this are only a drop in the water. There are much bigger problems in our education system.

I totally agree with you, I once read a quote that went something like "where there is an opportunity for bad, it will always be utilized to it's max" (obviously a lot more profound). People will always try to make profit out of these things, tackling the problem won't achieve anything like tackling the cause of the problem would.

My son tells me that they have a program at his high school. It works like this,,, all papers must be submitted typed in a standard font. All papers go through a check program. The program will bring up any matches on a search engine that are deemed 40% similar to any portion of the submitted paper.
The teacher can then scan the hits and decide if it is plagerism. Any material that is too similar, must have been sited as a refrence or the student is busted.