PayPal to reject essay-writing firms

Could this be the beginning of the end?

"Last month, UK Education Secretary Damian Hinds called on PayPal to stop processing payments for such firms, in a bid to beat academic cheating. But this will not be an "overnight ban" - as there will be debates over which services are helping students to cheat and which are offering legitimate tutoring assistance. This is a business that operates across national borders - so PayPal says there will need to be an international response."

bbc.com/news/education-47800531

Where has "the main problem with (most) ESL writing" come from? The issue was regarding the need to proofread and why some writers ignore it. ESL writers (and not all of them) just happen to be a subset of some of the writers who don't proofread. Whether or not their efforts at proofreading would be effective is also not the point. I was addressing discipline to take time to proofread, and @writer4life's fault of assigning lack of this discipline to ESL writers.

Then that LIE is what makes them a scam

I'm not quite sure I agree with you there. Proofreading a paper is a matter more of discipline and professionalism than of country of origin. Every country, including the US and the UK, has some writers who are too lazy to check and correct for these inconsistencies you mention. Laziness and/or lack of discipline are not attributes to easily assign geographically. It is true that most ESL writers can't deliver papers of required standards. The reason for this, however, is a different one

Shocker


How does an address look unreliable?

What's strange about a site for writers being mostly frequented by writers?


That's true. $1.5/pg for a 24hr-deadline paper is equal to no pay

What error?


Now you see why someone might find it hard to believe @Write Review has been writing professionally for more than a few years, let alone for 2 decades as he claims

If this is really what you think, then your opinion, on this and most other matters, should not be trusted. Country of origin, in and of itself, does not make any company a scam in any industry

No offense, but do you seriously consider yourself a professional academic writer?

Really? Are you suggesting that this "network" can't be contacted via online channels?
Anyway, if the writer can't address those "intricate requirements" without consulting a network of contacts, then they should probably drop professional academic writing and pursue other interests.


Is this a complete sentence?


Rarely does an academic writing assignment really require the writer to actually be in a specific country. Please understand that.


Being in a country is NOT a qualification.

Where did you get this from?

Are you suggesting that paraphrasing exempts the students from in-text citing?

Grammar does not really give away anyone's physical location


Now this is what you can tell from someone's grammar

Consider yourself very lucky then, that you don't need to go online to advertise an online service


You have a point, but this "misunderstanding" you refer to represents a very small fraction of the whole set of problems the industry faces. Actually it is so small as to be negligible in the grand scheme of things


This is not a very sustainable model, and its scalability is limited to some extent, IMO. This is especially given that there are other less complex and already proven methods

Count yourself among the lucky few who don't pay the ultimate price

This protection is only available to students who know better to use (and request, in the case of writing companies) the same writers for all their papers. Sad truth is that most essay writing companies post available orders on a bulletin board for every manner of writers to bid on. An innocent yet clueless student could submit two consecutive papers miles apart in coherence and overall quality


Actually, it is hard to believe


There's nothing hard at all in claiming


This is almost impossible to prove.
But more importantly, the professor doesn't need to PROVE anything. It is upon the student to avoid raising any suspicions whatsoever

Huh? I fail to see the causation link here

There are many students averse to this form of test for various individual reasons.
But even if they went through with the test, it is still not foolproof. Assuming the innocent intention of the writer to deliver (and this is a big and risky assumption), one who can prepare a quick 2-page is not necessarily able to adequately deliver on a 50-page dissertation. The skill sets are not identical. This is just one of several factors rendering this test imperfect.

The only sure-fire way of utilizing this proposed test is to (redundantly) order a paper that matches the specifics of the actual piece needed. Students willing to go through this are rare


Then this makes the whole exercise of demanding a sample pointless, doesn't it?

Like has already been pointed out, a knowledgeable student should know that any samples needed, no matter how relevant and specific, can be easily downloaded from the internet by the said 'writer' within a matter of minutes

Some writers with sufficient reputation may find this exercise of providing samples unnecessary and time-wasting. Apple doesn't need to use gimmicks to draw sales. Can't say the same for a new questionable telecom or smartphone manufacturer with a dingy background yet to prove itself in a market whose top players are already known

This is very true, but not for all the ESL outfits. Like I had mentioned above, there are several companies (I know of one) that have "upped" their game above the notorious average standard to employ 'professional editors' to oversee quality


This is atrocious. It is beyond me why any writer would tolerate this


Beyond barbaric

@Write Review
WOW!!
You DO know a lot about how these fake companies operate. I mean, you have a deep insight of their tactics and underhanded strategies

For most service providers, it's obviously an issue of flexibility. A paper whose deadline is 2 weeks away leaves room for the selected writer to take in other more pressing orders in between and get back to it whenever he has free time.

For many ESL companies, there's a huge disparity between how a 2-week deadline paper is discounted and how cheaply the writer who'll complete it is compensated. They employ incompetents who'll work for $2/pg. So, no matter how low the price charged to the client (as a gimmick to lure more clients), the writer will receive relatively way less, leaving the company with close to the same margins as for urgent orders. It's a game of numbers for them.

Remember these are companies run by people who aren't writers and barely speak English. Their rationale for pricing differs from that of someone who actually understands that it takes the same effort to complete a 10pg paper due in 2 days as it does one whose deadline is a week away

How can you seriously expect to get any quality work at such rates?


It is kind of hard to sympathize with a victim, such as yourself, who rushes in while fully aware of this forum's utility


Not unreasonable


Some of them genuinely believe they can provide the service you seek. Whether they can is a different issue altogether


I doubt it. Writers worth their salt know where to go. Lions don't scavenge where the dogs hunt.


Wise decision

Depends partly on the definition of short and long term. The average student needs essay writing services for under 5 yrs


NO. In my response, there was no reference to a 'rabbit'. I only indicated that the snail (Russian/Ukrainian) hires the slightly faster turtle (Indian/Pakistani/Filipino). This was to address @killo's wonder of how Russians who barely speak English can write papers in the language for students.


Really?


This is too far-fetched IMO. Don't you think the BBC has better and more unquestionable avenues of earning dozes of multiples over the amount they'd get from such a contemptible source? This is a mild response to your suggestion, BTW

I'm not quite sure this works against them. They get some valuable airtime and recognition that lifts them to within the eye-shot of thousands of potential customers


The companies don't necessarily have Russians/Ukrainians doing the actual writing. They hire writers from mostly ESL countries like Pakistan, Kenya, India, and Philippines, though some also hire from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada

GEEZ! Now that's true dedication to your calling. I hope that student bought you a small car

This is one reality most students are normally stunned to learn. Given that they pay for the service often days in advance, they'd like to believe that every day from payment to the deadline is dedicated to preparing their paper

I think he/she did use the service actually. There was desperation in the post, as the paper was needed the next morning.


It is not safe to assume that. Major's post came a month after the OP had inquired

In numerous cases, professors have dozens of students in the same class, and barely know the academic/writing abilities/styles of even a handful of their students. It wouldn't be that easy for them to sniff out a bought paper

Wrong, once again. Professors "definitely" know? If that was the case, this industry wouldn't be filled with so many players shoving each other for space

This is true. But there is at least one Ukrainian outfit that has heavily invested in the recruitment of a somewhat dependable "Quality Assurance" team. This tier of "experienced writers" thoroughly proofreads, edits, and marks the submissions of lower tier writers, then sends back the paper with comments for amendments. The fuel driving this "team" may be wrongly discharged (they are paid cents per detected error), but these quality managers seem to know their stuff, at least as compared to their average writer

Wrong

@DND2012
Well, if you were ever in their employ as a writer then the quality of their papers definitely sucks

@paradox4real probably runs his own academic site. It is very unlikely that a student would go around placing orders on scam sites over and over yet they have access to and frequently post in the forum that can guide them to the right service providers

Seems like you already got your answer

@FreelanceWriter
Lol....nice catch there

@largecontainer94
You shouldn't rely on email replies to ascertain legitimacy

Ignoring, for a minute, your notorious habit of reviving extinct threads....


They often don't know, even though they ought to


Perhaps they don't trust the criteria for those recommendations


Tread carefully here bro


Really?


Which lazy student wants to get their hands dirty using all these tools? They'd rather just pose a question and hope one 'experienced handyman' answers

We can imagine how much both your clients will need this. It's sad that this kind of blatant disregard for forum rules still goes on here

@RandomRandom
Most scammers are either too lazy or too dim-witted (often both) to put that much effort and thought into their scams

@Major
I think it means they sell to writers access to the orders and briefs that clients place with them. They sell the job opportunities they create for writers. Some companies actually create writer profiles then place them up for auction where writers bid to buy them. The irony is that the sites notorious for this are the ones that barely pay anything worth a competent writer's efforts

@user_354
How much are they paying you to come post here? Or are you the owner?