Revisiting "Schoolsucks.com"
Kenny Sahr on the rise of internet advertising, essay mills, and his notorious site.
A few weeks ago, a friend of this stack, Michael Goodine, suggested looking back at some of the history of Essay Mills on the internet and specifically a site called “Schoolsucks.com” (let it be known that Michael has his own amazing substack focused on English Language Tests).
I wasn’t familiar with the site (which is no longer active), but the rabbit hole was certainly entertaining.
A Primer on Schoolsucks.com
For those who do not know, Schoolsucks.com was an early website devoted to hosting and sharing essays created by Kenny Sahr1 and his partner. Think “frat file” but internet-based. Obviously, in 1997, a couple hundred essays hosted on a single website to copy was a huge draw for students looking for a short cut. This pre-dated plagiarism detection and quality search engines so finding some text on the internet was both easy and pretty safe.
As the site (and internet) grew in popularity, the potential for cheating and sheer amount of content increased exponentially—spurring development of text similarity software (Turnitin) and better search options (Google). The story of Schoolsucks.com echoes our current ‘crisis’ with AI, just listen to the following clips from CNN or 60 Minutes from the early 00s and you’ll find commonalities to today:
calls for redesigning assignments
“everyone is doing it”
the focus on grades vs learning as a contributing factor
What’s oddly concerning, especially in the 60 minutes video, is that Schoolsucks.com was advertising Essay Mills. The host, the late Morley Safer, uses the site to navigate to an Essay Mill, shows how easy it is to buy and essay, and then cuts to the creation of Turnitin as if, voila, problem solved.
While passing along someone else’s work as your own is plagiarism. That’s not how Turnitin works (unless you’re using their little advertised stylometry tool “Authorship”). How did Schoolsucks.com highlight the real problem (that we often have no idea whether students wrote the papers they turn in) so well yet the media and broader public accepted a solution to a different problem?
Anyway, Kenny Sahr went on to have what appears to be a wonderful career after being one of the pioneers in internet banner advertising. While it’s too bad the first advertisers willing to pay for placement for Schoolsucks.com were Essay Mills (one of the first in 1997 was EZwrite, which is still in business!), Mr. Sahr was gracious enough to answer a few questions (reproduced without edits).
Interview conducted via email
TIF: What was the original idea for the site? Why did you start it?
I saw other collections of information and content, and it hit me to make a collection of homework. That was the original inspiration.
TIF: It’s impressive how much media you can still pull up about the site from the late 90s and early 00s, how and why do you think Schoolsucks.com became such a magnet for attention in the news?
I think the name helped a lot. School Sucks says it all. And my media appearances probably helped a bit.
TIF: Over time, internet traffic and student needs changed, what aspirations did you have for the site to stay relevant?
We had all sorts of ideas way back when, but the free homework was the traffic magnet.
TIF: You were an innovator when it comes to web site monetization. Could you walk us through the evolution of monetization the site went through?
Sure. I sold my first ad when the site was only a few months old. I realized what I could do with School Sucks. My model was Rolling Stone magazine - selling ads and filling up the website. This was 1996-1998 after all. I had no big websites for inspiration in those days.
TIF: What’s the most memorable story you have about running the site?
One kid called me on my 1-888-sucks-99 phone line asking for a pass to get out of class for the next few days. I told him, “I can’t do that!” We got funny phone calls for a while from kids. Another funny thing is, School Sucks used to get emails from lecturers offering their services to write essays and term papers.
Despite the early 60 minutes piece featuring you and Turnitin, little has been done about “custom papers services” why do you think that is?
On Fiverr, people are paying for freelancers to write books and long documents. It would be hard for a law to distinguish. Where is the line drawn? At the moment the content is turned in at a school?
TIF: Is "School Sucks" a site that left a legacy, or do you think it was wholly of its time? For either answer, why do you think that?
I was enjoying the internet and the entire experience of being young in the 90s and 2000s. Things moved fast in those days. I think our legacy is twofold - a fun website for students and an early example of website monetization, and a lot of advertising techniques that were new then.
TIF: In the early coverage, you’re quite vocal that the site exists because of the lack of quality in higher ed–were you able to see that system change because of the success your site had at calling attention to the issues in higher education? What were they?
The term papers on School Sucks are the result of educators’ work, in a sense. This is what students made out of what was taught to them. I thought then, and think now that education could and should be better. School Sucks put a mirror to the education system from a unique angle.
TIF: “The more things change, the more they stay the same” fits the academic integrity debate. What advice would you have for schools, teachers, and students today?
I think AI is interesting. How does Turnitin.com check for content that really is unique? AI term paper writing is what succeeded School Sucks. I don’t see how essay mills can exist in today’s environment - I was surprised to read on your website that they still exist. I put School Sucks down in 2013 and moved on with a smile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Sahr