Difference between revisions of "3160: Document Forgery"

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
  
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{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
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This comic depicts a {{w|diploma}} for a {{w|Doctor of Philosophy|PhD}} in {{w|forgery|Document Forgery}}.  
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This comic depicts a diploma for a PhD in Document Forgery. While the diploma looks official, some things seem questionable. Document forgery is not typically offered as a discipline for doctoral study, likely because of its questionable legality{{cn}}. Moreover, the diploma is offered from the fictitious and exceedingly generic "East State University" (normally an institution with "State" in its name would also specify which "state" the campus is located in).
 
  
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The caption claims that if you hang a diploma like this in your office and nobody notices, you've earned it (ie, the creation of such a credible-looking document without drawing any suspicion shows PhD-worthy skills in forgery).
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Upon completion of many awards and educational programs, graduates are typically presented with a physical certificate to symbolize their achievement. This is almost always true of colleges and universities, and having a diploma hanging on your wall is a way to signal your academic achievements to anyone who sees them. In an earlier era, such diplomas acted as actual documentation to prove a person's qualifications. In modern times, the actual diploma is typically considered to be decorative. Employers and other organizations confirming a person's education are more likely to contact the institution itself, rather than asking to see a diploma.  
  
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The title text says that the diploma comes with a certificate of authenticity; however, since the diploma is questionable, this certificate is also somewhat questionable, so the certificate comes with its own certificate of authenticity, which also comes with a certificate of authenticity, ad infinitum. Of course, all of the certificates would likely be forged, and they really only show that the forger has a lot of time on their hands. Also, the more certificates of authenticates you have, the more suspicious it gets, as if you actually earned it you wouldn't try very hard to prove it, but "proving it" is essential for this forgery phd.
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Having a diploma such as the one in the comic would automatically be suspect, because the holder is declaring that they have the skills to forge a diploma, rather than bothering to actually earn the degree. This is backed up by the diploma coming from a school with the exceedingly generic name of "East State University". Typically (though not always), colleges or universities with the word 'state' in them are named after the state or region they're in. East State University does not exist anywhere in the world, with the closest being {{w|East Tennessee State University}}. It sounds like something that someone would come up with if they were trying to make up a plausible-sounding name for a fictional school.
  
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The comic shows a diploma for a doctorate from the non-existent "East State University", with the unusual program of "Document Forgery". The document is itself a forgery, and the legally questionable program name would lead most readers to look more closely at the rest of the document. The text below implies that if the document is realistic enough that no one uncovers these inconsistencies when posted in an office, then the person posting the document deserves the non-existent degree.
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The paradox is that creating a convincing diploma could act as evidence that you are, in fact, trained in the art of forgery. One could even imagine the final exam in such a program including the creation of one's own diploma. None of that applies in real life. No accredited university offers a degree in document forgery, let alone a PhD. Document forgery typically belongs to the field of either crime or spycraft, and in both cases, the training is likely to be unofficial and done without public recognition. Possibly, this might be the creation of someone who felt slighted that their skill in forgery wasn't publicly recognized, and so used their skills to create a fraudulent diploma.
  
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Many awards and educational programs are represented by a physical certificate presented to the person being recognized for the accomplishment. The creation of a such a document is normally much easier than the underlying accomplishment, so some people wanting the prestige without the effort and cost will forge a document. Fake university diplomas are sometimes used as a marketing tactic for individuals seeking jobs or customers - these are normally realistic to pass scrutiny and are considered fraud. Obviously and in some cases absurdly unrealistic diplomas are used for entertainment, and may be considered unregulated free speech.
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The title text mentions that the diploma comes with a {{w|certificate of authenticity}}, and that the certificate of authenticity has a certificate of its own, and implies that the second certificate has one of its own, and so on, {{w|ad infinitum}}. The joke is that a certificate of authenticity, on its own, is useless in proving a document wasn't forged because, presumably, forging such a certificate is no more difficult than forging the initial document, and simply recursively adding certificates does nothing to resolve this. In real life, certificates of authenticity are meaningful, because they can be verified with whatever expert or organization issued them. If that party is trusted to be able to detect forgeries, and is able to confirm that they issued the certificate, then that does enable verification of the original document.
  
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The title text highlights the unreliability of certificates of authenticity. A product or document may come with an accompanying certificate that states that the product/document is "authentic". Since a certificate can also be forged, another certificate can attest to the authenticity of the first, and so on, because no number of pieces of paper will make the original claim true. Many important and legally binding documents lack any certificate of authenticity, but instead have something much harder to gain: the backing of a recognized and independent witness or organization that can confirm the truth when the paper is in doubt.
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[[Randall]] may have intended a pun on two meanings of the word 'doctor': firstly, as a title accorded to those who have earned a PhD, and secondly as meaning to {{wiktionary|doctor#Verb|change or falsify details on a document (verb #6)}}.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
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:[A panel depicts a diploma that has decorations on the corners and sides, but the corners have more decorations than the sides. There is a lot of illegible text above, amid, and below the readable text that is caligraphically blackletter/gothic in nature.]
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[:One panel, with a PHD certificate that has decorations on the corners and sides, but the corners have more, and there is a lot of text near the big text that is illegible.]
 
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[:Top Text]
 
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East State University
 
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[:Middle Text]
 
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Doctor of philosophy
 
  
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in
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:[Two lines of illegible text. The text below is big.]
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:East State University
  
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Document forgery
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:[Two lines of illegible text, a box with illegible text, and another line of illegible text. The text below is big, except for the "in", which is small.]
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:Doctor of Philosophy
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:in
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:Document Forgery
  
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[:Bottom text. There is a logo in the center with 4 lines with illegible text on the bottom, and on the lines are what seem to be signatures]
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:[A line of illegible text, with a logo/official seal below it in the center. To the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right of the seal are what appear to be signatures, with a line of bold illegible text and a line of small illegible text beneath each signature line.]
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:[Caption beneath the panel:]
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:If you put one of these up in your office, and no one notices, you've earned it.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
 
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
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[[Category:Self-reference]]

Latest revision as of 19:49, 29 November 2025

Document Forgery
It comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a...
Title text: It comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a certificate of authenticity, which comes with a...

    Explanation[edit]

    This comic depicts a diploma for a PhD in Document Forgery.

    Upon completion of many awards and educational programs, graduates are typically presented with a physical certificate to symbolize their achievement. This is almost always true of colleges and universities, and having a diploma hanging on your wall is a way to signal your academic achievements to anyone who sees them. In an earlier era, such diplomas acted as actual documentation to prove a person's qualifications. In modern times, the actual diploma is typically considered to be decorative. Employers and other organizations confirming a person's education are more likely to contact the institution itself, rather than asking to see a diploma.

    Having a diploma such as the one in the comic would automatically be suspect, because the holder is declaring that they have the skills to forge a diploma, rather than bothering to actually earn the degree. This is backed up by the diploma coming from a school with the exceedingly generic name of "East State University". Typically (though not always), colleges or universities with the word 'state' in them are named after the state or region they're in. East State University does not exist anywhere in the world, with the closest being East Tennessee State University. It sounds like something that someone would come up with if they were trying to make up a plausible-sounding name for a fictional school.

    The paradox is that creating a convincing diploma could act as evidence that you are, in fact, trained in the art of forgery. One could even imagine the final exam in such a program including the creation of one's own diploma. None of that applies in real life. No accredited university offers a degree in document forgery, let alone a PhD. Document forgery typically belongs to the field of either crime or spycraft, and in both cases, the training is likely to be unofficial and done without public recognition. Possibly, this might be the creation of someone who felt slighted that their skill in forgery wasn't publicly recognized, and so used their skills to create a fraudulent diploma.

    The title text mentions that the diploma comes with a certificate of authenticity, and that the certificate of authenticity has a certificate of its own, and implies that the second certificate has one of its own, and so on, ad infinitum. The joke is that a certificate of authenticity, on its own, is useless in proving a document wasn't forged because, presumably, forging such a certificate is no more difficult than forging the initial document, and simply recursively adding certificates does nothing to resolve this. In real life, certificates of authenticity are meaningful, because they can be verified with whatever expert or organization issued them. If that party is trusted to be able to detect forgeries, and is able to confirm that they issued the certificate, then that does enable verification of the original document.

    Randall may have intended a pun on two meanings of the word 'doctor': firstly, as a title accorded to those who have earned a PhD, and secondly as meaning to change or falsify details on a document (verb #6).

    Transcript[edit]

    [A panel depicts a diploma that has decorations on the corners and sides, but the corners have more decorations than the sides. There is a lot of illegible text above, amid, and below the readable text that is caligraphically blackletter/gothic in nature.]
    [Two lines of illegible text. The text below is big.]
    East State University
    [Two lines of illegible text, a box with illegible text, and another line of illegible text. The text below is big, except for the "in", which is small.]
    Doctor of Philosophy
    in
    Document Forgery
    [A line of illegible text, with a logo/official seal below it in the center. To the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right of the seal are what appear to be signatures, with a line of bold illegible text and a line of small illegible text beneath each signature line.]
    [Caption beneath the panel:]
    If you put one of these up in your office, and no one notices, you've earned it.

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    Discussion

    Can someone please make a printable version of this, thank you! 216.126.34.139 21:26, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

    Reminds me of the infamous fake certificate with "verify" spelt wrong... 2.98.65.8 21:47, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

    It seems like my summary got added on top of the other one somehow. I don't know if anyone wants to try to merge them... 136.47.216.1 22:04, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

    Here are some famous state university that do not have the state in their name: Kent State U., Adams State U., Athens State U., Jacksonville State U.. More on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_territorial_universities_in_the_United_States --2001:638:807:507:A761:A61B:43F:6CF1 07:59, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

    I'll add that in. --DollarStoreBa'alconverse 13:09, 28 October 2025 (UTC)
    Now you've got me looking for "State" universities that aren't named for geography. Adams State in Colorado is named for a state legislator. Henderson State in Arkansas is named for a local businessman. Gordon State in Georgia is named for a Confederate general. Lewis-Clark State in Idaho, for the explorers. Governors State in Illinois seems to be named after the office, not a specific office-holder. Ball State in Indiana is named after the founders of the company that makes those glass jars you pickle things in. McNeese State in Louisiana is named after a local educator. Nicholls State, also in Louisiana, is named for a former governor. Morgan State in Maryland is named after a reverend. Coppin State, also in Maryland, is named for a pioneer in teachers' education. Ferris State in Michigan is named for its founder. Alcorn State in Mississippi was named for the governor. Harris-Stowe State in Missouri was named for a superintendent of schools and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Truman State in Missouri was named for the US president. Thomas Edison State in New Jersey after the inventor. Shawnee State in Ohio is named for the Native American people. Wright State in Ohio is named for the Wright Brothers. Austin Peay in Tennessee for the governor. Stephen F. Austin State in Texas after the "Father of Texas". Tarleton State in Texas after a rancher. Sam Houston State in Texas after the general. Lamar State in Texas after the president of the Republic of Texas. That's all from the Wiki page, excluding things named after states/cities/counties, state nicknames, and other geographic features. 163.116.254.55 17:47, 29 October 2025 (UTC)
    So what you're saying is that we need to find someone with the surname "East" and name a State University after them, and boom - suddenly it's valid! -- Brettpeirce (talk) 17:38, 30 October 2025 (UTC)
    Or someone with the surname "State", and name two universities (West and East) after them. 82.13.184.33 14:53, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

    Feels like a similar theme to 2756: Qualifications. KelOfTheStars! (talk) 14:40, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

    And ibm_hc_2. Maybe we should make a 'forgery' category. --DollarStoreBa'alconverse 14:45, 28 October 2025 (UTC)
    And this Dinosaur Comics episode 物灵 (talk) 13:08, 9 November 2025 (UTC)

    If Randall really wanted that pun, might he not have made the degree in Document Doctoring? Barmar (talk) 14:57, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

    'Doctoring' implies taking something that means something and (fraudulently) changing it. 'Forging' more definitely includes conjouring it up from just base materials.
    Though I'm not convinced it's intended to ezsentially be a "doctorate of doctoring" (in the non-medical sense), I could see it being an oblique related-pun as suggested, or at least noteworthy that there's a happy unanticipated coincidence spotted by us. 82.132.237.69 15:36, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

    Is "Philosophy" a catch-all in the USA? Since doctoring a document looks more like an engineering/physics thing to me. 2A02:2455:1960:4000:2146:6F26:4294:2A6A 08:12, 29 October 2025 (UTC)

    In both the UK and the USA, Doctor of Philosophy is a thing across the whole range of academic subjects. The term 'Philosophy' doesn't refer to the narrow sense in which it's mostly used today, but its original sense of wisdom / love of knowledge (the sense in which 'Natural Philosophy' used to be used to refer to the natural sciences). In any case, though, forgery clearly belongs within the Art department. 82.13.184.33 09:52, 29 October 2025 (UTC)
    Huh. So PhD is actually short for 'Philosophy Doctor'? Cool! --DollarStoreBa'alconverse 14:02, 29 October 2025 (UTC)
    Technically it's short for Philosophiae Doctor, as opposed to Medicinae Doctor (M.D. i.e. Doctor of Medicine) and Juris Doctor (J.D. i.e. Doctor of Jurisprudence/Law) or Legum Doctor (LL.D. i.e. Doctor of Laws). DL Draco Rex (talk) 17:10, 29 October 2025 (UTC)
    There's also Doctor of Theology, which predates a lot of the others. And a number of fields grant both PhDs and "practitioner" doctorates, such as Doctor of Engineering (DEng or EngD) and Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), where the PhD is for people who do original research in preparation for a career as a researcher, and the "practitioner" degree is intended for people who do advanced scholarship to prepare for professional work in the field, but don't do original research. Jleader (talk)
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