11. SkillsTrain, 'The Dark Side'

A series of postings, advising potential students not to sign up for SkillsTrain, but to sign up for courses run by a specific competitor, was made by a member posting as 'The Dark Side', claiming to be a dissatisfied student.

SkillsTrain had previously been made aware of a competitor who was e-mailing prospective SkillsTrain students, making allegations and claims against the company and encouraging them to sign up elsewhere.

When the text of the posts were compared with an e-mail from the competitor to a student who had sent it in after a meeting they'd had with a SkillsTrain course advisor, it was found to be identical, the wording and structure of the posting were exactly the same.

It was evident that the'student' postings were being made by a competitor, using the forum name 'The Dark Side' to encourage individuals not to sign up with SkillsTrain. The forum editor removed the derogatory postings.