From: Scott Morris (smorris@ipexpert.com)
Date: Fri Jun 13 2008 - 15:10:31 ART
I don't pretend to agree with everything he's stated, and as you point out,
I don't see how he "tied his strings together" at all.
But in the purist sense (as I do point out) there are some valid arguments
there. I just don't think crucifying Ethan was the method by which to do
it. On the flip side though, it definitely got plenty of people's
attention! :0
Scott
PS. Welcome back!
-----Original Message-----
From: Darby Weaver [mailto:darbyweaver@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 2:04 PM
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gigi.ccie@gmail.com; luan@t3technology.com; bmahaffey@pelco.com;
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Anthony_Sequeira@skillsoft.com; ccielab-groupstudy@mazehill.co.uk;
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Subject: Ethan Banks and the "Keystone Cops"
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let's review the facts as they are presented to us:
This is from Network World by the CEO of Certgurd (I wonder how their D&B
Raing is these days).
===============================================================
I was perusing the internet this afternoon and I came across a short blog
post congratulating Ethan Banks on his (then) recent passing of the CCIE R&S
written test. As I'm reading the comments left by various individuals, I
see:
I reviewed some of the older TestKing material during my final review,
although it wasn't a major focus. The good news is that the TK stuff has a
lot of the concepts you need to know. But if you're looking for actual
questions that will show up on the exam, I didn't see that in any of the TK
material I looked at.
Comment by Ethan Banks - August 2, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
My first thought was "did this guy just admit to cheating on his CCIE
exam?"; then I visited this page on Ethan's site and found him preaching
about how "If you've taken a Cisco test before, you know that if you violate
the terms of the non-disclosure agreement, Cisco will kidnap your family,
seize your financial assets and probably conscript you as an employee to
work at a trade show for the rest of your life." Ok, so Ethan doesn't
believe in violating the NDA that he had to sign umpteen times to get where
he is now, but he's promoting the use of Testking (a well known cheating
tool) to "study" for his CCIE.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/28444
===================================================
From this assertion by the CEO of Certguard he is basing the "alleged fact"
that Ethan Banks used Testking from a post on another person's blog with the
name of "Ethan".
Was this our Ethan? I mean our Ethan Banks, the same Ethan Banks who spent
countless hours writing about how to pass the CCIE Lab the first time by
simply doing it right the first time.
Anyone could have posted as "Ethan" on August 7th 2007 on "ANOTHER" persons
blog.
It is for this fact that I say that Certguards foundation of their facts are
flawed and flawed they are.
Did they prove this was truly posted by Ethan Banks or just some anonymous
"Ethan" who purported to be Ethan Banks.
Well?
Did they?
I never read that they did their homework on this matter, did you?
Scott did you see where they tied the strings together, I did not.
Anyone else?
Sorry, I know Ethan Banks and I for one do not believe he would have needed
any aid to pass the CCIE Written Exam in its current incantation, or any of
the 3 CCIE RS Written exams that I have taken since 2001.
He's got the skills, I've read them on his site and I've seen him work
(sitting right next to me for some 60 hours one week in February at Narbik's
Bootcamp). I was as close to his keyboard almost as he was.
Ethan would not need any illicit help or assistance to pass any CCIE Written
exam.
Not the Ethan I sat next to and know.
However, could someone else have posted at someone named Ethan?
Hmmm...
This is called plausible deniability. Someone would have to prove this tro
me before anyone mentioned stripping such an able CCIE of his well-earned
credentials.
I denounce Certguard, the CEO, and the other employee as being wrong for at
least their methods if not their madness.
They seek fame at the expense of one who is well regarded and well respected
in our little community of some 20,000 CCIE's and maybe 40-50,000 hopefuls
at any given time.
I fault Certuard for not gathering the facts and presenting them in their
entireity.
1. Prove it was Ethan who posted the quote they refer to. (It was on
someone else's blog in the first place and not Ethan's blog).
2. If Ethan (our Ethan Banks did post it) how can you prove it?
- Did he buy it?
- Did he create it?
- Did he copy break the NDA and sell his rendition of his exam to Testking?
- Did he even use it?
- Did he download it somehwere?
I mean to take away someone's hard earned investment (most of us spend in
excess of $30,000.00 US) over one comment that may not even be made by the
accused is wrong and inept.
This is wrong. I think we all know it.
Tell the editor at Network World that we, as a community, will not accept
this sort of "Witch Hunt" or "Inquisition" by some wanna-be "Keystone Cops"
who parade as mob...
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