Dee Jay Nelson was one the first of several anti-Mormons to have the legitimacy of their academic credentials challenged.  The phony credentials of both Nelson and Walter Martin have been examined by Robert and Rosemary Brown in They Lie In Wait To Deceive, volumes one and three.  Walter Martin subjected his and his fellow anti-Mormons' credentials to scrutiny when he recommended examining a man's credentials before believing him:

... There are all kinds of people like this running around the country and saying that they preach the gospel.  Do you know what I do when I run into people like this?  I start asking them for their credentials.  I want to know who they are, where they came from, what schools they went to, what their training was, and if they get very testy, then I say, "Look, you can't train me and you can't teach me if you don't know anything, and I want to know where you got what you have."  Well, that pretty generally cuts them off because most of them don't know anything.
(see, Robert & Rosemary Brown, They Lie in Wait to Deceive, III:Preface i)

Other critics have received credentials from various institutions which do not require the rigor of a properly accredited educational institution.  One example would be "Dr." James White and the degree he received from Columbia Evangelical Seminary.  Examples of this non-rigor (which may vary from institution to institution) include:

1. No classes
2. No libraries
3. Little or no study required
4. No tests
5. Academic credit for "life experience"
6. Limited exposure to a divergence of views
7. The acceptance for credit by the institution of work completed prior to entering a graduate program
8. No thesis committee
9. No thesis defense.

Many of these institutions' programs contain additional irregularities.

Some of the institutions promoting these diploma mills are actively using the Internet to recruit "students."  For example, we have received the following e-mail (emphasis ours):

We have received e-mail criticizing us for making an issue out of people's credentials.  We are not the ones who raised the issue of credentials nor are we parading phony credentials.  Some of the critics of the LDS Church are the ones who have obtained credentials that are practically worthless and then paraded them to the world.

Please note how people like Dr. Daniel C. Peterson, Dr. William Hamblin, and Dr. Louis Midgley, who have earned academically accredited advanced degrees, sign their e-mail:

dcp
Bill
lcm

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of how men who have not earned rigorous academic credentials sign their names:

Dr. Walter C. Martin, 
Dr. D. J. Nelson, 
Dr. James White, ThD., 
Dr. John Ankerberg (see FARMS Review of Books, 5 and 8/2).
Dr. Dr. John Weldon (see FARMS Review of Books, 5 and 8/2).
etc.  

If the anti-Mormons don't like us criticizing their guys, we suggest that they let them know what a poor showing they are making for themselves.  As the saying goes, "If you don't want the target shot at, don't raise it."