[Wikimedia-l] Biggest Fake Conference in Computer Science

[Oliver Keyes]

We are Wikimedians from different parts of the world and conducted a study
on the world's longest piece of spammed mailing list notification, Biggest
Fake Conference in Computer Science, organised by georgepeter at hushmail.com.

We started a mailing list in April 2004, and again in April 2012, that had
numerous descriptors of its purpose. Sample descriptors include:

(1) that this is a "Discussion list for the Wikimedia community and the
larger network of organizations (Wikimedia Foundation, chapter
organizations, affiliates, partners) supporting its work."
(2) that the examples given of possible discussion topics do not, at any
point, include Biggest Fake Conference in Computer Science
(3) that "Participants are asked to remain civil and stay on topic"

Our mailing list descriptor contained many, many examples of contextual
meaning. Despite this, the world's longest piece of spammed mailing list
notification, Biggest Fake Conference in Computer Science, was submitted
without any modifications (and without the sender at any point realising he
was being improper or indecorous).

We MUST say that you should look at the above mail if you want an example
of how not to send warnings out. Our study revealed that such a mail is
without a doubt a ludicrous way to do so that carries a higher chance of
annoying and infuriating mailing list recipients plagued by completely
off-topic emails, despite multiple notes on the page a user must go to to
sign up for the mailing list that reveal the list's topics, restrictions,
and desire to remain within those topics.

Sorry for not including an apology; the author of this happens to believe
that apologies for posting to multiple lists are not so much apologies for
behaviour as they are admissions that the sender /knows/ that what they're
doing is wrong, but plans to do it anyway because *thumbs nose*.

On 12 April 2013 18:34, <georgepeter at hushmail.com> wrote:

> We are researchers from different parts of the world and conducted a study
> on
> the world’s biggest bogus computer science conference WORLDCOMP
> ( http://sites.google.com/site/worlddump1 ) organized by Prof. Hamid
> Arabnia
> from University of Georgia, USA.
>
>
> We submitted a fake paper to WORLDCOMP 2011 and again (the
> same paper with a modified title) to WORLDCOMP 2012. This paper
> had numerous fundamental mistakes. Sample statements from
> that paper include:
>
> (1). Binary logic is fuzzy logic and vice versa
> (2). Pascal developed fuzzy logic
> (3). Object oriented languages do not exhibit any polymorphism or
> inheritance
> (4). TCP and IP are synonyms and are part of OSI model
> (5). Distributed systems deal with only one computer
> (6). Laptop is an example for a super computer
> (7). Operating system is an example for computer hardware
>
>
> Also, our paper did not express any conceptual meaning.  However, it
> was accepted both the times without any modifications (and without
> any reviews) and we were invited to submit the final paper and a
> payment of $500+ fee to present the paper. We decided to use the
> fee for better purposes than making Prof. Hamid Arabnia (Chairman
> of WORLDCOMP) rich. After that, we received few reminders from
> WORLDCOMP to pay the fee but we never responded.
>
>
> We MUST say that you should look at the above website if you have any
> thoughts
> to submit a paper to WORLDCOMP.  DBLP and other indexing agencies
> have stopped indexing WORLDCOMP’s proceedings since 2011 due to its
> fakeness.
> See http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/icai/index.html for
> of one of the
> conferences of WORLDCOMP and notice that there is no listing after 2010.
> See
> http://sites.google.com/site/dumpconf for comments from well-known
> researchers
> about WORLDCOMP. If WORLDCOMP is not fake then why did DBLP suddenly
> stopped
> listing the proceedings after?
>
>
> The status of your WORLDCOMP papers can be changed from “scientific”
> to “other” (i.e., junk or non-technical) at any time. See the comments
> http://www.mail-archive.com/tccc@lists.cs.columbia.edu/msg05168.html
> of a respected researcher on this. Better not to have a paper than
> having it in WORLDCOMP and spoil the resume and peace of mind forever!
>
>
> Our study revealed that WORLDCOMP is a money making business,
> using University of Georgia mask, for Prof. Hamid Arabnia. He is throwing
> out a small chunk of that money (around 20 dollars per paper published
> in WORLDCOMP’s proceedings) to his puppet (Mr. Ashu Solo or A.M.G. Solo)
> who publicizes WORLDCOMP and also defends it at various forums, using
> fake/anonymous names. The puppet uses fake names and defames other
> conferences
> to divert traffic to WORLDCOMP. He also makes anonymous phone calls and
> threatens the critiques of WORLDCOMP (see Item 7 in Section 5 of
> http://sites.google.com/site/dumpconf ).That is, the puppet does all
> his best to get a maximum number of papers published at WORLDCOMP to
> get more money into his (and Prof. Hamid Arabnia’s) pockets.
>
>
> Monte Carlo Resort (the venue of WORLDCOMP until 2012) has refused to
> provide the venue for WORLDCOMP’13 because of the fears of their image
> being tarnished due to WORLDCOMP’s fraudulent activities. WORLDCOMP’13
> will be held at a different resort.
>
>
> WORLDCOMP will not be held after 2013.
>
>
> The paper submission deadline for WORLDCOMP’13 was March 18 and it was
> extended to April 6 and now it is extended to April 20 (it may be extended
> again) but still there are no committee members, no reviewers, and there
> is no
> conference Chairman. The only contact details available on WORLDCOMP’s
> website is just an email address! Prof. Hamid Arabnia expends the deadline
> to get more papers (means, more registration fee into his pocket!).
>
>
> Let us make a direct request to Prof. Hamid arabnia: publish all reviews
> for
> all the papers (after blocking identifiable details) since 2000 conference.
> Reveal the names and affiliations of all the reviewers (for each year)
> and how many papers each reviewer had reviewed on average. We also request
> him to look at the Open Challenge at
> https://sites.google.com/site/moneycomp1
>
>
> Sorry for posting to multiple lists. Spreading the word is the only way to
> stop
> this bogus conference. Please forward this message to other mailing lists
> and people.
>
>
> We are shocked with Prof. Hamid Arabnia and his puppet’s activities
> http://worldcomp-fake-bogus.blogspot.com   Search Google using the
> keyword worldcomp fake for additional links.
>
>
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>



-- 
Oliver Keyes
Community Liaison, Product Development
Wikimedia Foundation