byarcadia.org Reviews 8

CAUTION: Arcadia is one of many attempted scams by Doğukan Ejder, a failson from Istanbul, Turkey (and *not*, as the organisation claims, a non-profit based out of Switzerland, Geneva). Avoid at all costs, as they have no competence and offer no experience in the industries they claim and will only attempt to either immediately or eventually ask you to pay into a Swiss business account that looks suspiciously like, and in fact *is*, a Turkish personal account (Doğukan Ejder, 34750 Istanbul, Turkey; BANK: QNB Finansbank; IBAN: TR73 0011 1000 0000 0110 5269 11; SWIFT: FNNBTRISXXX). Obviously, do not do this, and instead simply avoid and report everywhere you can for fraudulent practices (beginning with the Swiss Ministère public, Fedpol, and other authorities with the ability to prosecute fraud, including online scams, in or extending into Switzerland).

A very advanced way to scam people. After reviewing the feedbacks on the Trust Pilot, I decided to cancel 'the membership' from Arcadia. They have send me an email, where I should be able to cancel the membership from. I did, and the response I got is: "Dear Recipent, Please be advised that Arcadia will no longer be using this email address as of 11th May 2024. Any email sent this address will not be be viewed by Arcadia's team nor will be responded. Yours sincerely, Arcadia HR Team".

They are totally scamming people. Do not apply, do not pay anything, do not donate not even a pennie.

In spite of their adverts, this is absolutely not the place to look for legitimate writing, editing or publishing experience, nor is the training they offer applicable to any legitimate publisher.

Part of the issue is that Arcadia aims to publish ‘academic’ articles, but doesn’t set in place the appropriate timelines, procedures and resources for this, instead demanding ‘academic’ writing and editing at a rate of 14 days (at 8.5–10.0 hours per week) from inception to publication. In practice, a writer proposes, drafts and writes an article within 12 days, then two editors who have been allocated to the writer (and who therefore know exactly whose work they are reviewing, and do so every two weeks) review and edit it over the following two days (doing so consecutively rather than simultaneously, taking one day each to review up to seven different writers' articles, allowing a little over an hour per article). If the editors find the article suitable for publication after a read and the couple of cursory edits possible within the little time they have, it then immediately goes into publication; if they advise revision and resubmission in order for it to meet its full potential, this is considered a ‘failure’ for the writer (who is generally put on probation after two such 'incidents'). If the second editor finds more than ten ‘errors’ of any particular kind when editing after the first editor, the article is also considered a 'failure' for the first editor (who is generally put on probation after one such 'incident'). The errors are divided into broad and often overlapping and debatable categories (without any real guidance on what constitutes a clear and distinct error), so that the error 'count' is all largely up to the editors' own discretion. This all creates an environment in which, in order to collaborate, the writer and editors are simultaneously asked to abandon any real 'academic' standards, yet are also asked to report one another whenever the limitations of the process predictably fail to produce 'academic' material.

Of course, the larger issue, and the reason 'academic' or even 'popular educational' publishing is effectively rendered impossible (and the reason that Arcadia simply cannot deliver on any of the training it promises), is that upper management, beginning with founder Doğukan Ejder, simply do not possess the qualifications necessary to effectively run a publication, not are they willing to delegate to anyone who does. Ejder himself serves as both Arcadia's 'Chief Executive Officer' and its 'Chief Academic Officer', which would already be a demanding combination of roles to consistently meet the demands of even if he were qualified to act in either, which he is very obviously not. On the executive end, to avoid getting into all of the different aspects of his lack of professionalism, it is probably enough to say that it does not appear that the company is even appropriately registered in Geneva, Switzerland, where it claims to operate from (Doğukan Ejder instead uses his personal bank account, registered to Istanbul, Turkey, as the company account; his personal phone number as the company number; and a generic gmail address as the company email address). On the academic end, it appears that Doğukan Ejder’s chief qualifications are an undergraduate degree from a for-profit university in Turkey, enrollment in several for-profit summer courses, and no experience in academic or educational publishing whatsoever (unless one is generous enough to count Arcadia itself, which I am, alas, not).

Honestly, spare yourself the disappointment and just open an account on Medium, Tumblr or a dozen other platforms where you can publish your own material if you're tempted to take them up on their offers — you will inevitably get more, and more useful, experience out of it. And if it's already too late for you to completely avoid them, it's never too early to start — they may talk a lot about 'breaches of contract', but they know they absolutely do not issue legally enforceable contracts, nor do they ever expect to uphold them themselves.

I had an interview yesterday and theh didn't attend neither they answered my emails. They just wasted my precious time.

But seeing the other reviews I am glad it didn't Happens as it seems to be SCAM.

In a word, illegitimate. They present themselves as a non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, but are actually a scam based in Istanbul, Turkey. They pretend to offer academic and professional training and opportunities for affiliates to compile a portfolio in illustration, writing or editing, but they don't deliver and instead just ask affiliates to pay between 10 and 300 Euros into the personal accounts of Doğukan Ejder, the person they claim is the chief executive officer of this non-existent organisation.

A scam. Advertises itself as an NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland, but is actually based in Istanbul, Turkey, and not an NGO. It does not have its own accounts, and does not pay its writers, editors and illustrators, but tries to scam them into paying for non-existent training, development, so-called breaches of contract when they don't do enough unpaid volunteer work for the company etc. directly into the CEO Doğukan Ejder's personal bank account.

After a shockingly short interview with two individuals from HR who had absolutely zero knowledge about graphic design I was then asked to pay €10 after which I would be allowed to sign a contract to work for them. I was being requested to pay my potential employer for the right to a voluntary job.

The interview was clearly a lacklustre onboarding process into a scam. Many other reviews across the web highlight that they threaten a €300 termination fee if you leave the position after a year. To reiterate, this is a voluntary position. Even CEOs of major multinational corporations do not pay termination fees when leaving their employer.

It seems like a good opportunity only because of the potential to network. There is nothing else that is good here. Avoid.

My recent interview with ByArcadia Organization was a concerning experience. I want to share this review as a warning to others who may encounter similar issues.

During my interview conducted via Zoom, there was a glaring inconsistency in the representation of the interviewing team. When I initially reached out to ByArcadia, I communicated with HR representative Iva Mihaylova from Bulgaria. However, during the interview, Iva was introduced as Alexandra Chlorou from Greece. This abrupt change raised red flags, as it became clear that Aleksandra had misrepresented her identity during the introduction.

Transparency and honesty are fundamental in any professional interaction, especially during the interview process. Such inconsistencies in representation can only lead to doubts and concerns about the organization's integrity.

My hope is that ByArcadia Organization rectifies these issues and ensures a more reliable and ethical interview process for future candidates. Until then, I must express my dissatisfaction with this experience, and I caution others to exercise extreme caution when dealing with this organization.

This review reflects my sincere disappointment and serves as a reminder to prioritize transparency and professionalism in all interactions with potential employers.