Dylan Greene dot com

why the hell is such a great site taken down. I base my schedule on the reviews of teachers from this site, which are 95% accurate most of the time

what the hell is that ? such a good site ..helps all

students so much .....this is crazy ...plz try to put it

pressured? by whom? web master you must not give in. please resist whatever soviet style iron fist on freedom of expression that is inflicted upon you with all your might. i rely heavily on your site to choose not only my courses but my desired universities as well. your site is the very testament that students pay attention to their own education.

nooooo... bring the site back! I base my schedule ENTIRELY on this site!

I really loved your site and really relied on it. It was 98 persent accurate. It really helped me to get A's in school and to find decent teachers. I'm really upset that this site isn't here anymore.

Could you bring it back somehow? Or at least show or save the old reviews? I'm not done with my shcol yet and I will definitely want to have these reviews soon...

Best,

Anya:)

Dylan,

While some inappropriate comments were made, as you said, I would think they are heavily out-weighed by the appropriate ones.

This Phoenix will rise again, I am confident.

I would assure you that the professors who read their reviews learn from their short-comings, as well.

I think you will want to set up the policy that a professor can hide the comments made, only after thorough review. Not on some pompous ideal that they have been besmirched. If the comment is undeserved, fix it. If it is deserved, let it stand. After all, the intent of your site is to inform the student, not to coddle the professors.

Poor taste and poor, undeserved disrespect should not be condoned and you should be able to ferret these out and remove them.

Since you had some professors check their reviews and then complain, you have to assume that others are reviewing theirs, as well. Thus, you have had a good bit of the effect you were intending.

Yes, your Phoenix will rise again. And your changes will make it stronger.

One last suggestion: You might offer an opportunity for students to contribute "Donations" to your maintanence of the site.

Good luck and return to the good works when you get it set up the way you want to.

#6 - D. Glen Jackson - thank you for your comments and suggestions.

Here's a Paypal "donation" link, as you suggested:

https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=SaveTR%40TeacherReviews.com&item_name=TeacherReviews.com&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD

If there's a better donation service let me know. Thanks to everybody who wishes to donate. All dontations will go towards improving TeacherReviews.

Hey man, I've been following the site since CCSF fiasco. Really appreciate the work you've done. It's one of the best sites on the net.

It sickens me that there is some non-qualified prof that's bitchin and moaning about the content (which u can't be responsible for) all of which he should be more concern for the class his teaching than what some kid say about him. Personally I doubt he'll be successful in suing, but since being in court is a pain I understand.

I think some of the measure you're going to put in place is fine but how about a voting system to remove crap posts. (say.. 25 votes) The problem of giving the profs too much power is that they can keep out the negative (yet could be true) posts and just leave all the positives. This is censorship and make the site useless.

This site helps thousands if not millions of students to pursuit academic excellence. I'm sure generations of students before me can only wish if they had such a tool when they're in school. So again thanks. No matter what, I'm behind you 110%. Keep up the good work.

Concerning the "bad" comments on the website, I personally do not take those comments seriously. I only consider the commentary that has been carefully written. This site is the best ever. Like many others, I've based my schedule on reliable reviews and its been great! Thank you very much for creating this site and I hope that it will resume service ASAP.

oh no! i have scheduled my classes based on this website and it has NEVER EVER led me astray. I take all reviews with a grain of salt, but 95% of the time they are right on. Darn, please get the sight back up!

This is total bullshit!! But what happen to freedom of speech? There is very little difference from the teacher evaluations students fill out at the end of the semester and teacherreview.com. Of course no one wants to hear bad things about them, but shutting down the site won't prevent anything!! students will still tell each other what they think about certain teachers. The site just made it a lot more easier and efficient. We pay soooo much money for tuition i beleive we should have a right to choose our teachers. Each teacher has a different personality and style and if students have that information, it will just further their learning experience....which is what college is all about!!! hopefully things will work out for the best...Thanks Dylan for the awesome site =)

I've posted details of this ordeal on my message board that tens of thousands frequent.

I hope you get everything resolved. We're all behind you 110%

I have also found the reviews very useful. I enjoyed being able to read about professors and their classes beforehand as well as sharing my own input to help others; it has served me well thus far. Though each student has their own opinion, you can get a good sense of whether the reviewer has some merit to what they're saying based on their review (e.g., are they backing their statements with concrete evidence?)--and that goes for negative AS well as positive reviews. But as some have already noted, a lot of the reviews are fairly accurate.

The changes you're about to make will give professors a lot more power, perhaps, too much. Though I'm not so sure how big a difference it'll make, one thing I wouldn't mind seeing eliminated are the "anonymous" postings. It would also be nice to see a list of reviews that each person has written when you click on the link to their name. By looking at past reviews they've written, it may be easier to weed out bad posters this way. I hope the website comes back intact; I would hate to see it all go to waste.

hell no we wont go! hell no we wont go! hell no we wont go!

I never had call to use your site (been out of school for ten years or so), but it's sad to see it go. You have to protect yourself, but I would hate to see professors have the ability to hide their reviews. That would make the site next to worthless in my opinion. Until we can eliminate tenure, sites like this are one of the few resources that students have.

As much as I love your site I find it frightening that some students base their schedules SOLELY on the recommendations of others. Word of mouth is one thing and blind following is entirely another. I have always checked out reviews AFTER enrolling, just to see what I am getting into. If a bad review is supported by the actions of the teacher in the first week of class then I drop it. However, I would NEVER let something as simple as a review by someone I don't know mold my college education. Think and act for yourselves folks!

Dylan:

The world loves your website, man.

To raise the funds to fight the lawsuit, charge everyone of us a buck or two. I bet you everybody will contribute. I will send you 100 bucks in a second. And many others will jump at the opportunity to chip in funds for the fight. Please do not give up. WE NEED YOU. WE LOVE YOU. LONG LIVE THE TEACHERS REVIEW DOT COM!!!!!!

Yes, I like the idea of contributing a buck or two or five everytime one posts a review. Anyone who believes in free speech will want to contribute money to cause.

this is ridiculous. that teacher has got to understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. if he doesnt like it.. then EAT IT. i love your website. for the past 2 years, me and a great number of my friends have been using one of the internets most useful websites ;D to determine which teacher to take. it saves me a world of problems knowing that i know that this teacher or that teacher is "better" than the other. saves me the trouble of having to goto the other class and take a look, while missing the other one. TEACHERREVIEWS>COM!!!!!!!!! COME BACKKK!!!!!

ATTENTION TO ALL TEACHER REVIEW.COM USERS: DYLAN NEEDS HELP !!!

We are just concern about what we can get from this website but have we ever thought of how we can bring this back ? Dylan needs our help now! He needs moral and financial support from all of us . How about we help Dylan financially in his legal fight against the closure of this site? Teacher Review.com is our way of evaluating teachers's performances. We all benefits by reading the past/current students reviews on professors that we may somehow encounter in the future. I think it just fair that every user shares fair amount of financial contribution to put this website back.

I really hope your website comes back!! I've also used this website since my ccsf days. This professor needs to realize that we do have a right to freedom of speech. Your website has helped me avoid bad teachers. And professors out there need to realize that some of you are BAD teachers... These professors need to realize that maybe if they improved their teaching, they would have better reviews. Simple as that!!

Hey everybody: send Dylan a contribution so he will have money to fight this thing in court! The academic world cannot afford to lose this bastion of free speech! Protect your right to free speech, put your money where your mouth is. Support Dylan. Dylan is our man.

Dylan is a true democrat. He ought to be our candidate. Let us elect Dylan to Congress. VOTE FOR DYLAN.

I need to sign up for a class tomorrow. Came here to look up a teacher and was shocked by the news that The Teachers Review was shut down by some unhappy professor. I cannot believe this possible. Is this really happening? Or is it a bad dream?

Dylan,

I'm sorry to see your site go down. It has been a great tool for me in knowing what to expect from each instructor. I used it in this last class to learn more about the teacher I was assigned. He lived up to the "C" that several students had given him. Now I will be completely lost without your website.

Isn't it a shame when a few jerks ruin it for the majority of us? Unfortunately, I did see a few too many people using the website as a way to get even with instructors for the student's poor performance.

Good luck and I hope you can resurrect the site. As far as the professor that threatened you, I would recommend that he take about 10 milligrams of Olanzepine (Zyprexa) per day as a way to calm down those student-diagnosed disorders. (I'm bipolar with mildly psychotic symptoms) It might help him. LOL

Bradford

Interesting underlying issue of 'internet' life vs 'real' life. Trust. In real life we trust what we hear from others based on our view of them. So we temper the recommendations we hear. On the internet the ratings in this (or any similar scheme) are essentially anonymous, so we don't know to what degree there is malice or simply mischief going on. Don't know how this will be solved - perhaps there will be a 'trustworthiness' register somewhere, where the cumulative trustworthiness of someone will be logged (with of course all sorts of issues.difficulties associated with it). Until then doing the research to decide whether a rating is deserved has the same sort of problems with it as in this post 'Conserving Social Capital' http://www.ventureblog.com/articles/indiv/2003/000214.html

Ive always felt that if the teacher doesnt like the comments students have to say about him/her then perhaps they are not doing what they are being paid to do which is Teach. Hopefully this all gets worked out because its a great service. If you need help with screening the removed entries or with an attorney just let me know Dylan.

Teacherreview is a great site. Students need it to find good sources of teaching and teachers need it to review their teaching style.

Please put it back up. You WILL win in court; this is still America. The ACLU will help you. The fordsucks.com case settled this issue: you are safe. I'm sure there are a lof ot members of the Bar who would help you fight any threats for free. In fact, I would post the name of the professor who threatened to sue.

Yet again there's another teacher unhappy with the reviews on the site. I accept that it may effect the teachers on a personal level but they also have to understand that many student depend on these reviews to start their semester. I can speak for this because I religously dive into the site for the information I need. Hopefully everything goes well. Good Luck!!!!

Title 47 U.S.C. 230(c)(1) states, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

Dylan, as the provider of the system, you can not be held liable for any content so long as you play no role in the creation of the content, regardless of any selection or editorial control. Many cases like this have been taken to the courts in the past, and the courts, dedicated to the further development of the Internet and computer systems, defend the providers--if they didn't systems would no longer be able to operate and free speech would be history. Delete the posts in question, but you have no obligation to remove the site entirely. Don't give into the baseless threats of an insecure professor.

...OK, I'm not a lawyer -- but I think I know how you can avoid the legal ramifications in the short run. I bet the ACLU would give you free advice on it too..

Instead of having written reviews... just create a catagory for people to "rate the teacher's performance in your own opinion" with a number 1-10. Report only the average of the numbers --- with a 2 year, 1 year, 6 month, and 1 month total. That way students do not write in-appropriate things, but can still rate. And teachers who improve will be rewarded with better reviews. - David Taylor, Student at UOP. By the way, IMO what truly sucks is that UOP does show students online who thier profs will be until the day before class.

..oh.. and if you keep the written reviews, instead of letting profs take down the reviews (or anyone else)... why not put a link to "ask for a review of this review". That way we can help you police the junk.

Certainly there will be other review sites:

http://www.reviewum.com

http://www.educatorater.com

These are just two that I pulled up in 30 seconds with Google.com

I noticed at lease one of these has a good legal blurb.

all the comments is true. nothing really bad against teacher if the teacher is not bad, why are they stepping out and defend themselves. the good or bad comment will force students not taking their class. not enough students mean they will be the first one losing their job. sfsu is just trying to mess up their image even more when fewer students is attending in spring 04 semester and a continuation of fee hikes. blame sfsu, not the students. banning this site will not make sfsu popular, it will force more students transfering to other bay area compuses.

I don't think you should allow the professors to take out comments about themselves, or allow them to say that they don't want their reviews posted because that will let them remove only the bad reviews. This is my last semester of school and I can tell you that the most frustrating thing about school for me has been people who have absolutely NO business teaching a class. A lot of times the people teaching will know a great deal about their subject, but the smartest people often make the worst teachers. This site should not be shut down and it is ridiculous that someone is threatening to do that. If there are slanderous comments written about someone, then you can delete those, but everything else should be left alone.

Dude please you must work it out and bring the SITE back...we really, really, really need it!!!

* If in any case you shut it down forever, would you be willing to send by EMAil the reviews of particular classes that are 1 or 2 years old to students. Of course, I will pay for it if you find it necessary. I wish i could've printed some reviews before...OMG...I didnt think about it.

* Please bring it back at least for a DAY, I will be checking everyday.

* By the way I will contribute with some green on Paypal, I just cant imagine chosing classes blind fold it.

Best wishes and good luck for all of us...

Tony A.

***Dylan...please confirm the PAYPAL donation****

I am the volunteer manager of the New Students Lounge at the University of Phoenix Online. We promote this site weekly as a wonderful tool to the students regarding any type of review. We encourage them to post not just the negative comments BUT the positive ones too.

This site is very helpful.

What can be done to help you get the site back up?

You can contact me if you wish to discuss anything

Belle

Thanks, Dylan. It was a great site that has helped me and my friends alot in picking profs. I can offer my moral support (but, being a poor college student, not much money) if (when, please, when) you decide to put it back up. Thank you.

I had a bitch of teacher, never take her JUDE COLLINS, LSC duluth MN. If you find yourself in a class with this bitch leave you cant get a good grade 80% for a C 95% for an A. Who does this bitch think she is.

oh noo!! what happened to teacherreview.com ? That was such a great site for college students, all of my friends use it. and I STRONGLY believe that this website is 98% accurate, it helps students to know which professor is more suitable for them. I understand some time students might say harsh things, I believe professors should take those comments into consideration. Maybe it's really something that they need to improve on. If the professor didnt do anything to the student, theres no reason for them to say anything like that. If the professor want to defend the comments that some of the students put, I believe they should instead of threatening to sue, they should defend the comment in action. Prove to the students that you are a good professor like you believe so. And besides it shouldn't even affect the professor because there are still the students that take their class anyway regardless of what the site say. I'll say teacherreviews.com is a helpful website for not only students but to the teachers as well.

In addition to my last comment, I hope teacherreview.com would and should be back on!

Thank god im graduating in may. I've had access to Teacherreviews.com since the second semester of my freshman year. I can't imagine how impossible it must be to walk into a class blind, especially given what a mine field academia is, with all of the arbitrary and petty profs out there. You have provided a vital service to every student with internet access for many years now, and you deserve commendation for that. I will almost certainly donate to your fund, for the good of everyone who needs your site in the future, as well as the good it has done me in the past.

Hi Dylan,

thanks for the work with teacherreview.com.

is it possible to run the site outside of the US, so that there is no basis for a lawsuit?

btw, let us know who that prof was who threatened to sue you so that we can stone him... :)

I am a senior philosophy major at the University of Maryland and have submitted about 20 reviews on Teacher Reviews. Having searched the reviews at the university, I only ever found one that looked inappropriate and it seems to have been removed. I recognize that not all reviews are accurate, but I still find this site to be a valuable source where I can find information more easily than, say, by finding students who have had the instructor in question. I definitely prefer this site to Terpundergroud, which has not been updated in years and has a less convenient rating system.

As for specific proposals, here are my thoughts:

Instant removal: probably a good idea. It could be misused, but so long as there is a mechanism for returning reviews that were inappropriately removed, I am fine with that. It does facilitate removal of inappropriate reviews.

Professor opt-out: unsure. I think students should be aware when a professor opts out. I think most students would be wary of a professor who does this, and professors, presumably knowing this, would probably be hesitatn to opt out.

hide from Google: not aware of any issues here.

e-mail notification: I know of no reason not to, besides possible technical difficulties (I presume automation would minimize such difficulties.

date separation: sounds like a good idea, so long as older reviews are accessible.

response from professor: unsure. There should be a way to verify it is the real professor (I presume this could be done, for instance, by checking the e-mail address). Once this hurdle is cleared, I see no problem with professors being allowed to add their two cents, provided that it is clearly identified as a professor response, not another review.

Nonanonymous reviews: bad idea. Students may be intimidated into not posting reviews if identified. User IDs would provide only partial protection: someone could figure out, for instance, if the reviewer took an unusual combination of classes, or some other factor. It should be on file somewhere probably, but not for public access.

I am a professor, and I check the site regularly. I have noticed that most students write fair (nice?) reviews, but a few people really hated me and my classes. They made some inaccurate statements, but nothing I would call slanderous. Sometimes it's very hard on the ego, but most comments are pretty entertaining. Sometimes I think professors take themselves too seriously. I don't think professors should be allowed to remove negative reviews. I think a legal disclaimer should be enough to protect the site, but I also think reviewers should be responsible when making their comments.

You have to bring the site back online. If this teacher is putting pressure on you, its probably because they suck. The reviews on your site are acurrate. In fact I was looking forward to giving rave reviews to my current teacher as soon as class was done. There have been many sites like this. I recall Atomic Orange from a few years ago. Freedom of speach is huge in this country. They cant make you take down a web site because they dont like it.

Your site performs an extremely important public service for students, and their professors as well. It would be tragic if you have to shut it down because some idiots post foul remarks and other idiots threaten you with meritless lawsuits. Is there any way to do what newsgroups do to keep from being innundated by spam and fools -- that is, to have a moderated section with guidelines for posting, or moderated sections for the most active schools?

pelase bring the site back soon... there are some really lousy teachers out there and all it takes is one or two of them to totally kill your academic motivation. being able to sidestep these people is SO crucial to a student's success. please, please, PLEASE bring the site back up soon!

FREE SPEECH??????? teachers need to notified if they are not performing up to par. Yes, people can take their comments too far, but a site like this is much needed for the students. How do we know what we are getting into if there is no prior warning. I have used this website for the past year when chosing my classes and i find the site to be around 99% accurate. Getting rid of, or modifying this website will hurt its reputation. Please keep the site, get rid of the immature comments made and leave the rest for the students to decide. STUDENTS ARE THE REASON THAT TEACHERS HAVE JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for keeping the site up and running for so long (and paying for the costs by yourself). Teacher Reviews has been VERY helpful and I'm extremely dissapointed and sad to see it go. I can't believe that this one pissed off professor has ruined it for everyone, it's just not fair. What happened to our freedom of speech?

Teacher Reviews has been a very helpful web site in helping me find the best teachers at SFSU. The information gives me an insight on how the class is before I register for the class. I think teachers are worry about your web site because they don't want students to know what the classes are really like. Please keep your website going for the students who need this information.

Hey, Dylan thanks for the good work ^_^ I base my schedule on the reviews too. Your website is really helpful; too bad you had to take it down for now. The "donation" button is a good idea too. I bet people will help support you to bring back the site. Hope you bring the site back before I register for classes next semester =P Good LUck!

I am a college professor and this site has helped me be a better professor. I sure don't want to have a bad reputation, so I go out of my way to work with students. I've gotten good reviews and bad reviews, in all cases I am interested in knowing what students think of my class.

Dylan: just ask everyone who posts a review to contribute a couple of dollars towards a legal defense fund. Hey, it is a small price to pay for our freedom to speak our minds. In fact, what is your checking account number? I am sending you a donation!

EXCUSE ME IF I POST A REVIEW: The worst Math professor at CCSF is Jeff Darck. The guy is rude and he will ignore your question if you are a dude, but always answers questions and flirts with the women in class. The guy wants to be a teacher, entertainer, story teller, show off, flirt, magician, speaker, and stand-up comedian all at the same time. He fails at everything, including teaching Algebra. F

Is it possible to have a different methodology? I mean, teachers get upset because of the bad reviews... right?

The (possible) solution:

Why dont just have a system that only takes GOOD REVIEWS??? Those teachers that HAVE reviews are GOOD and those who don't are NOT UPSET because of bad reviews. That way nobody is posting any offensive comments about teachers, nobody gets bad reviews, everybody is happy and has the information they need. All of this while at the same time allowing for a RANKING SYSTEM.

Does it make sense??

i suggest you do a few things:

1. put the site back up now, no one can sue him.

2. make the site open source and get other people working on it using group project software like sourceforge.net (free)

3. add a link to each review to 'report slander to mods'

saying someone seems bipolar is not grounds for a lawsuit. and if teachers are worried that people will slander them on a website, they should start treating their students better, not threaten the website owner.

ive had so many legal threats since i learned html it isnt even funny. 0% of them have ended up with a legal battle and ive fought 99% of them without paying a lawyer.

stop being a fuckwit and strap on a pair.

Yes, me me me again.

In my post, #57, I forgot to mention that a GOOD-reviews only system will allow for non anonymous posts while at the same time will avoid legal troubles.

PUT THE SITE BACK UP PLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

please put it back the website. i think all students need this website for their reference. it was 98% accurate.please please put it back

Bring back the site, Dylan. And reveal the name of the bitching professor so we be sure to avoid his or her classes.

Hey post #57: sorry but your idea is too wimpy. What happened to free speech? Why do we have to be so afraid of a bitching professor such that we have to conceal our thoughts? I we happen not to like a certain professor, we ought to be free to say so. Das ist Amerika, no?

Dylan: would it be feasible to get the site hosted outside the United States, at a foreign server, so you (or anyone) wouldn't be subject to U.S. law? (just a thought)

students and people have the rights to say what they want and instructors have the rights to do what they like with the reviews. but teacherreviews.com is a valuable source for anybody who is a student around the world. Freedom of speech!

NOW I DON"T KNOW HOW TO PICK MY CLASSES!!!!!!!!

Sean - I don't know about hosting TeacherReviews outside the US. Does anybody have any experience with this?

Either way I would still make the modifications to the site.

come on Dylan, your site is one of THE best out there !!! It has helped me not only take classes with good teachers but inform others of teachers who are here directly from hell. (smile). I hope you put the site back up ...... I'll be your best friend.

It's terribly unfortunate that one professor could single-handedly shut down such an important, honest resource for students. Yeah, sure, some of the reviews were written (not very articulately) by students with a problem, but generally students were sincere. As an instructor, I value my students' opinions of me--and I know I'm speaking for a lot of professors in saying that.

This "bitching" professor should perhaps spend less time complaining about what his students are saying about him and, likewise, less time looking for someone to sue for it, and a whole lot more time rethinking his teaching and classroom attitude.

I wish you the best of luck, Dylan. And I hope you can get your site up and running in the near future.

James

hosting a site outside of the us does not change the liability unless it is owned by a company as equally as outside of the us as the website is. this is a common misconception and even if you spend the lengthy amount of time and money to set up an 'off-shore' company you are still liable in that country.

Your site is great. Do what you need to do because the students will be behind you 100%. Some of us depend on your site to get great teachers and the best education.

What kind of bullshit is this? Teacherreviews.com was so helpful for me to find out who the best ( and worst) professors are. I've been a user for the past 2 years and I revolve my schedule around the reviews, if possible. I seriously hope that the website will return soon. I'm puzzled as to why a professor would be so offended as to get an entire website taken down. One bad review doesn't equal the end of the world.

This is such a blatant infringement upon our first amendment rights. The beauty of freedom of speech is that it allows people to voice their honest opinions without fear of repercussions, and to have their opinions acknowledged by everyone. Such views from people should not be condemned or ignored, for to do so would be to strike against our fundamental values. People should be able to see others opinions on professors regardless of what is said, and make their own opinions and evaluations. Please do not let one professor with scare tactics take down such a true voice in freedom of speech. Many people depend on this site to get a pure unedited opinion of other students just like them. Please try to resist this; I am sure many people will back you up.

I love this site and am sorry to see that it is down at the moment. I have not read all the comments, but I do hope you can get the site back up and running again someday. I feel it provides a really good service for college students. :)

Also, I have a comment concerning your proposed instant review removal. Perhaps instead of allowing any user to remove a review, you could let people flag offensive reviews where they would be reviewed by yourself (or staff). That way, you would still retain control over removing articles from the site. I'm not sure which would be easier in the long run though.

Best of luck!

Ok, this is really bs, that teacher is a schmuck, and most likely the student who wrote the review wasnt untruthful, and he must have hit a nerve, i know what it feels like to get stuck with a crappy professor, i had had a few, and your site was an ass-saver, good luck with all of this, you have my and many others' support!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dylan, comment #57 is a good idea for now. Just post the Good teachers reviews with high scores...

I can't believe this site has been taken down! This is the only website I ever come to just because I want to read ALL the reviews about the professor. The majority is true and so helpful when I choose my classes. I really do not want to get stuck with bad teachers, and this site really help me avoid them, I have been getting a 3.73 GPA. Please dont give up! Ever since I was introduced to this website, I would always tell my friends, and the website was so trusted!

I am sure that all of these comments will help put the site back up. Good Luck to you, and I hope you get this site up and running soon!

http://www.virtualratings.com

Guys and girls...don't worry. There is another site where u can rate ur professors!

http://www.virtualratings.com

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/index.jsp

Hey Dylan. I think any revisions you make in the format or utility of TeacherReviews should be well thought out and not just reactionary. I don't believe "watering down" the content of the site, or making it convenient for the "reviewed" to manipulate the contents of the site or a post would do TeacherReviews any justice. Howewver, a notification of new reviews forwarded to the reviewed professors via email seems a reasonable option.

It seems like you have a pretty loyal fan base going, and I would hate to see TeacherReviews lose it's credibility by not standing up for the virtues on which it was created.

I thinkk that it is enough said that you are recieving 80 some comments about this in around a day - very useful site (and I really don't mind the negative comments I have recieved here!)

This is a tragedy. I have always relyed on your website to rate my professors. And so far, they have always turned out to be just as the review said. I am at a loss for words...THIS IS TERRIBLE!

Dylan -

Your website is the best thing that happened to students for a long time. Please don't take it down!!! Who is this prof anyway?

Dylan,

This is such a shame that your site had to go down like that!! I based the bulk of my schedule off of teacherreviews.com. We live in a country where freedom of speech is a right NOT a privledge so I really hope the site will be back soon!! Good luck on everything and thanks for such an amazing resource you have provided students with your site!!

This is preposterous! No, this is ludicrous. No, this is a tragedy. No, this is a travesty. No, this is a ludicrous travesty of a tragedy, a total indignity! (Dont be like me: failed English because I did not consult TeachersReview.com before selecting a teacher)

I wonder if this is why alot of my comments at that other site were taken down. Seriously, fight the good fight.

Funny how when the profs are handing out grades off the cuff or launching personal attacks it's ok for them to destroy your future and GPA. I guess they can't take alittle critisism?

Oh, I forgot , how about doing it as a mailing list so if you sign up then you obviously want the reviews......right? Just put a big fat disclaimer or don't keep archives, or the emails can self destruct after printing them out or something....OK I'm reaching here but hey......Good luck...

I can't believe this. For the past two-year teacherreview.com had really helped me in find excellent professors. I find it unbelievable that because someone who cant handle alittle criticism and teacherreview.com has to shut down. If someone can sue because a bad comment or bad grade that one had receive, then those of us should sue those unprofessional, unreliable, irresponsible professors out there that had wasted our time and effort. Teacherreview.com had saved me a lot of time in class shopping and professor shopping and also the headache of being stuck with a horrible professor. Teacherreview had really helped me especially in my first year in college, since I was new to the campus and don't know anyone or any professor. If someone has to delete and presort the reviews than this is like a communist country where theres no free speech.

FREE SPEECH! FREE SPEECH! FREE SPEECH! FREE SPEECH!........

This site must be put back up. Everyone has the right to free speech and therefore can say whatever they wish about professors. Just because one lousy professor didnt like that he was told that he was lousy doesnt mean that all should be punished. Maybe he should take it as a wakeup call as to how bad of a teacher he really is.

I think you should go ahead and let the students that read reviews help police the site for you. Any time someone sees a review that may get you in trouble they should have a way to notify you so it can be removed. I'm sure that many students will let you know when something inappropriate has been posted.

One thing that is feasible would be to put each review through a type of dictionary which could contain the words that have been known to offend people and not let these reviews be posted. It would almost be like a spell check program.

How is this website any different from any other website on the entire internet. Every internet website i've visited expresses views of different people. If this were a crime than I need to sue the ENITIRE INTERNET. Don't let this guy scare you he can't do a damn thing about it. Also, if he doesn't want bad reviews...learn how to teach your course!!

#93 - I do plan on putting a dictionary filter on, but they are easy to get past. For example, "s h i t" would still work, and text without offending words but with a slanderous purpose would still get past, such as "he likes little boys".

The dictionary would have to be semi-intelligent to fully work.

I would hate to see teacherreviews disappear down the memory hole. But it doesn't come as any surprise that there are opposing forces who want to shut it down. Teachers have transformed universities into little empires of political correctitude where they can do and say as they please and never be held accountable. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. It's time to fight back.

Maybe it would be helpful to contact Students for Academic Freedom http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org

and NoIndoctrination.org

http://www.noindoctrination.org/

just to give them a heads-up what's going on and see if they have any useful suggestions

This is total bull. We have all grown up with freedom of speech being something that is put to use everday. Your site has done nothing wrong and if some prof. want to get his panties in a bunch because he is a jerk off let him. I love your site and I hope you fight Dylan. You do a great service for everyone here at Truman who utilizes this and you are an awesome person for it. If you ever need anything as far as money goes you can certinly count on donations from me, as well as many others I am sure. Keep fighting! Don't let the man get you down!!!

hey, we all need this site. come on! don't be so mean. keep it open!!! teachers can keep their style by ignoring the reviews but students need the site to make the schedule!! come on!

Seriously Dylan, you are being such a pussy it's unbelievable. Don't bother to put the site back up if you are going to dilute it to such a degree that it is useless to students (I.E. your first four suggestions for "improvements"). Either do it right or give in to the man and dump it completely. What if I threatened to sue you? Would you take down this site too? Get some balls. man.

Sorry if somebody already suggested this (I don't feel like reading and scrolling through all the reponses), but is there anyway you can just take off those comments that the particular professor was offended by and put your website back up? It's just that particular professor complaining, right?

the answer seems pretty simple... just don't permit anonymous posts. If someone has something to say, let them be responsible for it.

As for the people who are angry at you, (the posts above) there's a great example of exactly what I mean by the danger of anonymous posts.

Standard beginning: THANK you very much for your website! :-)

Surely it helped a lot of students and hopefully at least few professors to think about what/how they are teaching.

I hope you will bring it back online

My suggestions would be (may be I missed them somewhere in the comments)

1) if it is the first review of some professor: ask for his valid email, check it automatically using google (name + email ?= search results? if yes it mostly probably to be valid.) Send that professor and email stating that he has being reviewed on your website and give him an option as you mentioned to inform him on all new reviews or send them in digest every week/month/year. His reply would kinda confirm that he is the one and then you can create a DB of professors and assign them accounts so they can do 2)

2) Let professor close his reviews completely. It means that your website will state: professor Blah Blah asked to don't post reviews on his teaching performance. And also let the teacher to leave comments on any his review if he decides to be open minded and let people read it.

I understand that it is not very strict scheme but it would let you to avoid too angree letters from probably not that good and very concervative teachers. Label that professors forbids reviews would tell a lot by itself.

Thanx again for your website

#100 - I took down the reviews from the professor who complained, but the problem is that there are other professors who have reviews simular to his that should be removed otherwise I will just get more and more complaints.

It seems to me that the "victim" is a little too concerned about his ego and he needs to get over it since you took the reviews down. Although the comments may have been untrue and in bad taste, this site serves as a valuable tool for students to be able to take control of their education. Lets face it, there are some rotten teachers, but there are also some very good ones. Most of the reviews I have read have been fair, AND true. This is very unfortunate. I agree with the donation suggestion and I would be willing to contribute. They grade us? We pay tuition (which in my state seems to increase to no end), so why can we not choose teachers based on reviews whether they be negative or not?

What happened to Freedom of Speech? Don't let these people scare you. That is not fair and any good instructor knows a site like this is a constitutional right.

almost forgot...THANK YOU for working on this site for all of us for so long!

Why dont you just simply post the Good reviews only with high scores...

#107: You can put a smallest good score and write crap about teacher anyway... It isn't that easy

another (I think good) idea might be:

do scoring on reviews like scores on amazon's reviews, slashdot articles etc

1) 1 score per review per IP (so no misuse)

2) from -3 (this reviewer isn't really right!/review is too offensive) to +5(great/informative /usefull review). I would leave bigger scale for positives though...

3) reviews which after a month or two of existence didn't get any score - trash

4) reviews with sufficient amount of ratings (5-10) and negative score - trash

5) the rest is up to you

done

I guess the site at least gives correct reviews of our university profs........ :-))))

-- Comment Removed --

All the people that say a teacher can't take critism need to think about what is really happening. The teacher that has a review saying that he gives test that are almost impossible to pass and is really difficult to understand what the teacher is saying are reviews that oblviously will not be taken down but when you start insulting a teacher with remarks about for instance a "teachers sexual preference" they will be offended. It is the immature people that abuse the site that have caused this. Like the person that posted number #99 when someone talks like that about another person it is complete disrespect. It is one thing to say "Dylan fight the issue" it is another thing to call him names for being mature about the issue.

So really one way to deal with this is to have the people who read the reviews make a decision and maybe mark the review as something that should be removed. As a student in college I would mark reviews that were to negitive for deletion if it meant the site staying up.

Good Luck

I guess lousy teachers are afraid of getting called out!!!!!

damn! we are loosing a lot!! dear professor, we totally understand why you are so mad at this that you have to threaten to sue. but maybe you should reconsider about taking this out on innocent website runner and students who depend on this website. im sure that student did not put the review all out of random, there must be some reasons that he or she did that.

Dylan,

Thank you so much in creating teacherreviews.com! I rely on it

every semester before I sign up for my classes. I even check it

almost daily to see the new reviews posted. It is so sad to

see this site being closed down. I hope this is not a permanent

thing. I dont know how I will get this far in my college career

if it wasnt for your site. Your site allows me and others to avoid

the bad profs and to choose the good profs. I just hope the

person who post that review and the professor who is

threatening to sue will rot in hell!!!!!! They are ruining it

for everyone who depend on this valuable site.

Dylan, you can beat this lawsuit and to all of us who read

and post in your website and depend on it heavily, you are our

HERO!!!! I hope teacherreviews.com will be back ASAP. Good

luck!

I love this site its helps out on finding the right classes. I usually end up liking the class and it helps make my college learning experience worth while. I cant believe they are putting this site down.

Honestly, I look at it this way- you should be confident in your teaching so that people would rate you well. If you have 20 great reviews, and 1 nasty note thats totally opposite of it, well, those who are educated who use this site for information can comb through whats real and whats not. I'd say the teachers should thicken their skin a bit. Kids are going to say what they want to their friends, good or bad about the professor, and that can never be stopped. Why try to stop this way of expressing an opinion. Making someone use their name with a review will detour people from putting up responces until they're graduated (and its unlikely they'll want to go and discuss something from the past). For new students, this is a good clue to understanding whose class you may be taking. Now having someone monitor the site-- thats great. No horrible comments like "He's gay" or "Shes just a bitch" etc. Critique the teaching styles... let the voices live on, and those who are worried about what people would say about them-- be the best you can, and anyone who doesn't agree with that- well, don't worry.

Dylan,

Here's an idea-

When an individual decides to post an ad, get their ok to delete any obscene or inappropriate language before it is officially posted. This would make it more of a job for you to edit all the postings, but if all the users had to subscribe to your website, it would make it more worthwhile for you. You have the support of many as you can see, including some teachers (i.e., #69 - James Carranza, Associate Professor of English, College of San Mateo). Your idea has helped so many people make informed decisions about who they want to spend four months of their lives with. Maybe some teachers should put up their own postings to defend themselves. We are all adults here, right? Your website should be a "meeting of the minds."

geez...it's no surprise that word spread and you got soo many responses already...let us know if u want students to start signing a petition...perhaps that way the court will realize how much this site means to students...also will it be better if there was a membership involved...like 3 bucks a year or something....that way you will be compensated for all ur hard work...and that way it will be easier to track down certain users who are abusing this site =)...also my bf ( who is a comp junkie) said that the site is like a forum and free speech should be allowed right?!

Total Ratings

4,032,866

Total Teachers

650,286

Total Schools

33,467

Ratings added Yesterday

18,669

This coming from middle and highschool children. If they can do it, why can't we?

I think you should put it back up just the way it was, don't change anything. Other review sites are so watered down, they are worthless.

Dylan, think back and remember what it was that motivated you to start the sight in the first place. We'll all have children someday, and they will need resources like these, don't let the profs win. It will set a bad precedent.

Beleive me, rotten "professors" know that they stink, and don't care. We fill out the feedback reports at the end of every class and I've seen situations where one third of a class has even complained about one prof IN PERSON to the director. Nothing was done, she's still teaching and worse than ever. The school admins know who the bad eggs are teacherwise, why shouldn't the students? I'll bet tons of worse things have been written about teachers on the student evaluation forms, compared to the stuff on the website. The problem is only the admins and teachers ever see them, why? The papre and pencil evaluations are totally anonomous for good reason.

Why are foul language and bad reviews only for the eyes of the schools themselves, when they have no use for them anyways, and probaly use that information to their advantage or even amusement.

If they made the sudent evaluations publically available, none of this would even be necessary. I say take the site even one step further and include: Advisors, office people, coaches, high schools, bookstores (for pricing), career placement people, etc. to include all facets of academia.

The winds of change are flowing in our favor, Calgon take me away........

Stuupid teacher! please tell me his not a polyschi teacher...that would mean he doesnt know his rights as an American. he should focus more on teaching the class rather than worry being "called out". i hate people who have nothing better in life to do then bitch and whine. just the tyipcal liberal dike. PLUS he wouldnt have so many bad reviews if he wasnt such a bad teacher. =P best wishes D-boy

lets get this site up and running again for everyone.

Hi webmaster,

Please make necessary ajustments to bring this effective and excellent site up. I rely heavily on this site to meet wonderful professors and get good grades. Could you tell all of us who this professor might be or where he/she teaches? This really sucks because i hate to have a great site like this go down. This site helps many people succeed in school, educating students about professors before they take them. Please do what ever you can to bring this site back up.

May I suggest you building a system or whatever that automatically erase or not allow certain words. This way you could eliminate curse words or phrases that could be used to degrade a professor, if this is the main problem.

This website is truly a success that affect students' education. Do Not Let It go down!!!!!

Good luck and good bye

It's ridiculous that the "Bipolar Paranoid Schitzophrenic" professor is suing you for a negative comment made by someone else. Your website serves as a santuary for students to voice their opinions about their professors, using their choice of words.

It's true that some reviews are questionable, however the website has no impact on how students choose write their reviews. Therefore the professor should not hold you or Teacherreviews.com responsible for the insulting ad.

Besides, if he has enough confidence in himself to know that the insulting review about him has no merit, he doesn't need to start a controversy by bawling to AFT, and running around to sue everyone.

ahhh why are the professors scared of honest feedback(most of the time). It seems like the professor is acting like a child by getting frustrated with a bad comment.

your site has been quite helpful throughout my college years. gives me a good sense of how a teacher operates and what to expect in the class. hope everything turns out all right and the site can be up and running soon.

This is such a blatant infringement upon our first amendment rights. The beauty of freedom of speech is that it allows people to voice their honest opinions without fear of repercussions, and to have their opinions acknowledged by everyone. Such views from people should not be condemned or ignored, for to do so would be to strike against our fundamental values. People should be able to see others opinions on professors regardless of what is said, and make their own opinions and evaluations. Please do not let one professor with scare tactics take down such a true voice in freedom of speech. Many people depend on this site to get a pure unedited opinion of other students just like them. Please try to resist this; I am sure many people will back you up. Your site is very helpful for us, please bring it back.

This is the best site ever, it helps us students do whatever we can to avoid awful teachers. The bad teachers deserve the bad feedback. They should do us a favor and retire.

The professor's gonna sue you because he's knows that he's a horrible teacher and is pissed because we students can actually figure that out. Maybe if he swallowed his pride a little bit, and took his students more seriously(and possibly teach them something), he wouldn't receive trashy reviews. He better know where his salary is REALLY coming from...it's coming from his students.

Thanks Dylan. This is my first semester in school and I did change my schedule plans based on your site. Not because of "good" or "bad" reviews or "easy" or "hard" professors as many seems to be focused on. I based it on teaching styles that would best fit my strengths. I found the site very helpful.

I have donated to the survival of this site by contributing to you through paypal (see post #7 for the link everybody!)

I also want to mention that I appreciate the professors who have posted here supporting the site. Let's all be a little mature and responsible about what we say and we won't have these problems, okay?

The changes I support: disallowing anonymous posting; professors removing posts only if a note is added alerting us to the removal by prof; instant review removal; hiding from google.

I hope those professors sue you. This site is ridiculous.

I've taken many classes and I've hated many professors. But every class gives you both a professor and a textbook. Between the two of them there is no excuse for you to not learn the material.

Professors are lecturers, not teachers. Teaching implies learning. It is not their job to see to it that you learn--that's your job. Its their job to present the material that is to be learned. College is about learning how to take care of yourself. No one out there in the "real world" is going to spoon feed you information and hold your hand... don't expect professors to either. Spoon feeding ends in high school.

Regarding "freedom of speech"... Your freedom of speech ends where my name is mentioned. There's a fine line there that a lot of students on these types of sites cross. Do you ever see a site named www.bossreviews.com? You're not always going to be able to pick and choose your favorites just because someone else liked it. Take the class, deal with whoever you got. Chances are, if you have a moron professor, you'll learn MORE because you'll be forced to learn the material yourself.

People who actually choose their schedules based on reviews like this are lazy college brats who are trying to take the easy way out. Grow up.

Bob. I think we all understand that the professor is there to present material, and you are issued ("forced" to buy) a textbook for supplemetal information. However there ARE professors that really do TEACH, interact with students, and present material in a productive, yet entertaining way. If a student can find out through others who these teachers are, it gives a)the student an opportunity for a more fulfilling education, and b)the professor a class full of students that really want to be there. More importantly, it gives the student the power to direct their own education.

Sure, it may not be wise to plan your entire schedule based on reviews from other students, but there's no reason that shouldn't be an option. Why should a crap-shoot determine who provides us with an education?

And you comparing professors to boss' is way off the mark. When is the last time you payed your boss $1200 every 5 months to hear him talk. If I'm paying for something, anything, ESPECIALLY an education, I want to be as sure as I can that I'm going to get all that I paid for. My money and time is way too valuable to sit through a professor for five months that is either incompetent, or totally turning me off of the course.

I'm not going off on a tangent because I'm worried that I'll never be able to use TeacherReviews again. I've never had the privilege. My small college in Virginia has very few posts on TeacherReviews. But I guarantee Bob, that if the reviews were there, I'd be looking. Not because I want to cheat my education, but because I don't want my education to cheat me.

Perhaps you sir should "grow up".

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." If the professor got all bent out of shape because somebody wrote "Bipolar Paranoid Schitzophrenic," it's probably because it was TRUE! I say cart the guy away to the mental hospital cuckoo's nest, and have nurse Ratchet perform that much needed frontal lobotomy. Yes, I had some problems with some of the reviews posted to Teacherreviews. A college professor of mine (Hoopai) was clearly a horse's ass, and I wrote about him in a very methodical and factual way. Really laid out the facts and behavior. So what does he do? He enlists his future classes to write reviews about him. Suddenly the guy has over 70 reviews, most miscategorized and inaccurate. Tried to email and offer my services to bring order to the situation, but never heard back. And then there's Albarran and his growing dementia. Some professor comes along 3 years later and says it's true that the guy did have a terminal head problem, so all the reviews on the guy need to be removed. I say no, let the people see what schools and faculty do and subject students to!

Teacherreviews.com has been a very helpful site in undergraduate reviews. Without it, I may have been stuck with a teacher who had a style that was difficult to learn from. I would really appreciate it if the site went back up again because it is important for students to be able to freely express themselves with one another

I found these reviews to be very accurate where they were professionally worded or not. What's the point if professors can just delete the reviews, it seems as though a new teacher review would give the power to the teachers not the students. In a time where education funds are low and good teachers/professors or harder to find,teacherreviews.com has given the students the means to push professors to increase the quality of their teaching. We all know the pay isn't great. These are our reviews, just like reviews of books, films, operas, plays, etc. We are reviewing someone's performace, except a professor's performace impacts us directly. Where else can we get a general opinion about a professors.

Craig's List has a system of flagging posts which seems to work. Maybe we can weed out the idiots that way.

Dylan is the lawsuit for slander?

This is B.S I can't believe that they can actually have a case, there are many sites on the net that are x - rated for example and we can't speak our minds about teachers.I really found your site very helpful since i attended ccsf and now at sfsu. I hope that you do what you can to help us students avoid those teachers who just collect a pay check and don't give 100% like they should.

I am appalled that the professor actually had the audacity to confront and threaten to sue with some association b.s. This website has worked wonders for me in choosing my class. Competition is stiff while registering classes at state. With teacherreviews.com, I no longer need to sit in unnecessary classes.

To remove this site is not fair to students. We pay a lot of money to go to school, and I think we have a right to know what other people think about professors. If a professor has a problem with a review, maybe they should take is as a hint and consider changing their style to help students learn better. There is no reason students should be denied access to helpful information about professors.

Teacher reviews is a great site. I have used it to plan 1 years worth of course work. My only complaint is I wish I would of used to earlier in my academic career. Since I did not, I am facing a later graduation date since the professors I got stuck with were not very well qualified for their jobs or they would just straight up insult you and kill your confidence. Anyways, if the site does not come back up it will hurt many people academically. I hope to see this site come back soon. Keep this in mind, the professors who choose to be jerks, should have the guts to expect jerky comments in return. Otherwise dont be jerks. Students pay your salaries. Without us there is no paycheck for you, without you we just find someone else.

I forgot to mention this last line. My first comment will hopefully be read by many people who will hopefully understand how great this site is. Nevertheless, Is there anything additional we can do?

this site was a dream come true for me and many others i am sure. i was able to decide what teachers were worth taking and what teachers would be a waste of my time and money. i think that this should come back up. it would help a lot of people.

Ive been using this site to pick my Professors for a few semesters now and i've found for all of the reviews to be 100% accurate. Ofcourse I disreguard the obviously hurt student with self esteem issues that has no other intention besides hurting the professors reputation, believe me, those are all obvious! You know what I mean... To think that a professor was so enraged about his review to even have enough power to have this very useful resource for students shut down just appauls me. These are the professors who shouldnt be shaping our future! This has been the most exceptional online resource that provides me with the most important information when chosing my classes, the professors...I am absolutely outeraged!

that sucks! i think the site is really helpful in deciding who i pick as a teacher.

where is freedom of speech?! i hope you can put it back soon! it's really helpful for me because i would look at the review before i pick my schedule! it works all the time!!!

From my experience as both student and teacher; teachers that tend to receive poor reviews are the more demanding of their students. After reading several of the comments posted here, I'd say the grammar speaks for itself. I'm all for freedom of speech, but an un-moderated and or non-refereed forum is susceptible to false and or inflammatory testaments. If a professor were to post damning comments about students, he or she would likely lose their job.

Most profs. have a ratio they must submit to when accepting a faculty position: 95% research, 5% teaching. Students...it's up to you to take responsibility and learn on your own. Most college students don't really belong in college, just about everybody on the job market has an undergrad degree. It ain't high-school.

Has anyone read #111. It's been up for over two days.

Yeah, #111 is kind of an idiot.

Dr. Death has no right to get upset with you. I have herd more then one student call him "Paranoid Schizophrenic" to his face!

p.s. You audit your blog about as well as you were doing with the site. KILL #111 !!

I am sorry to hear that the carelessness and thoughtlessness of one person could cause a good resource to be taken from everyone. I use the sight, because frankly at the college level, a teacher can make or break the course. I'm sorry to see it go. I hope it can come back.

Can you remove comment #111? Inappropriate comments got you in this mess.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS WEBSITE. THIS WEBSITE IS VERY HELPFUL FOR ME TO CHOOSE THE CLASSES THAT I TAKE EVERY SEMESTER & 99% OF THEM ARE ACCURATE.

As a professor, I am very supportive of the information that TR provides to students.

Of course, there are the occasional reviews that are emotional or inaccurate and lack value.

To circumvent potential future problems, I suggest a simple solution...allow any professor to have their name unable to receive reviews (but keep their name listed). In this way, no review could be posted for that professor (and all previous reviews should be deleted). For students, some information may indirectly be inferred by such a posting. That is, this professor is not comfortable with the criticism of his/her performance, and consequently, is probably not a professor that students would want to take for a course.

By doing this, I do not think that any of the changes you suggest are necessary.

I agree that 1. comment #111 is nothing but someone trying to get you in more trouble...probably that professor that's threatening to sue you. And 2. The site needs to come back up. You have some good ideas on how to manage it better and with a legal disclaimer, you could do it.

I think the website was one of the best I have visited. I wish I had this site when I was in college in the 80's. Now I am getting my MBA while working for a fortune 100 company and realize as a customer of my current MBA program I have a right to maximize my information as it pertains to perceived or real teaching skills. I will select a professor based on current reviews as I would with the purchase of a new automobile, dishwasher, ect. As a consumer/customer I have to filter out what I perceive as bad advice. So my concern is why is the professor so concerned with what one person wrote about him. Maybe it was more than one person. Is he/she trying to sell the Suzuki/Pacer?? I would challenge this professor to email me and explain his/her thoughts.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us what a professor's duties are.

What does that have to do with evaluating their PERFORMANCE IN ACCOMPLISHING THEIR DUTIES......?? My God are we living in Russia.....maybe we could have secret meetings in caves or sewers to discuss our thoughts.

By your definition then, we don't need professors AT ALL, we can just teach ourselves from the book (which I've done several times) and skip the classes altogether.

GOOD JOB MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT....I think you should post the name of the proffessor who threatened to sue......Good luck Dylan

I'm just going to have to say fight the power, on this one..freedom of speech, one of the most powerful concepts of America, is on the line here, Dylan.

But in all fairness I can certainly see how it might not be worth it for you personally to do it.

HEY DYLAN, could you please post that donation link under the static HTML of your page so we know it's real and not just someone using the name Dylan Greene and taking the cash?

Hey Dylan

This is a very useful website, and by the way the place where we live is called UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, which means a country of freedom. The students arent writing nasty stuff for the teachers. Its just the opinion and the teachers who dont like it because they know how they are, and they dont want the students to know that how SICK and TIRED they are.

So for everybody, please donot remove this website, dont even think to send the review to the professor because most of the time, they wont agree with what the students have to say.

Its really the teachers who should learn how to teach well and accurate instead of being strict, lazy and unfair. As far as i know, all good teachers reviews are almost good and accurate, right to the point. And there are many teachers who should be out of the colleges but they arent, even after complaining to the dean of the college. So its really the system to get changed not this website.

It really help the students to get good grades, and to show up the work in a great way. I helps them to graduate from the college otherwise there are some teachers that i know, they are really pain in a neck. They cant teacher and mess around with the student's GPA and grades so kindly donot remove this website.

I hope that "professor" is fired, and put in a mental institution to keep him/her away from society.

It's too bad all of the really great professors, who's reviews have just as much value, are being punished because of the rotten ones.

I think you had a great thing with teacherreview.com.

I don't exactly understand what inspired you to shut

down your site, but it seems like someone has spooked

you and intimidated you into doing so through

misinformation. There is absolutely no legal grounds

for anyone to sue you or shut you down. None. You are

not writing the reviews. You are simply providing a

forum in 100% accordance with free speech rights. And

as Teacherreview.com is in no way affiliated with

these schools, the schools system, teacher's unions,

etc. have no legal say over this site.

In fact, the students might have more of a legal case

that THEIR rights are being violated by this site

getting taken offline under the circumstances. Giving

instructors control over the posts would also

compromise students' free speech rights.

And it is not the case that instructors are against this

site. I know many insructors who have encouraged

students to use it. Because nobody takes student

grievances against teachers seriously at the colleges

and because instructors often have tenure anyway, they

can get away with basically anything they want.

Teacherreview.com has become really the only check

against this power imbalance between students and

teachers.

I hope you will get this online again soon.

Elise

Dude, grow a backbone.

Hahaha, that post from Bob sounds like a battered wife defending her husband to the cops," Oh, it's OK officer, he only punches me in the face once a week. He says it's good for me and it builds character."

Whatta poofter. Matter of fact of alot of his post has the same flavor of that I sensed with some of my worst teachers. That crap about learning, is a bunch of bulldoodle. Everything I learn is thanks to my efforts any no one elses. That's not even an issue, it's a weak attempt at masking the problem with references to the "dumb college student" syndrome that is abused to cover up inadequecies. Nice try.

Spoon-fed? Are you serious? These students are being smart by using any and every resource available to get the edge. That's what it takes to make it in the real world. Teachers wouldn't know anything about that, that's why they're teachers :)

I'm in awe everyday of some of my classmates and their brilliance. Sure everyone is at a different level, but all in all I'd say students today are the smartest in the history of this country. There's no excuse for teachers coming to class unprepared, personal attacks on students, favoritism, sexual harassment, exams that are riddled with mistakes, unproductive classtime spent hearing about how they're financing their second divorce, and generally not earning their pay/doing their job, etc.. Period, that's what it's all about.

Furthermore, my free speech ends where I want it to end, with or without your name in it **cough (fascist)cough**. It's a new world , Monty, and the strong will survive. The weak will be washing dishes at Denny's. (not that there's anything wrong with that, but that's where some of them belong.) I hope more of these sites pop up, and might even make one (or more) myself. Sooner or later we're gonna find you again, at the bottom of the rankings, "prof".

You can run but you can't hide.

Let's not forget the good ones though, my hat off to the real Professors who are eduacators by nature, not by default. Thank You.

I am saying this to let the webmaster know that TeacherReview.com has done a great services to me for my education. I find the reviews of the teachers at my school is virtually accurate. If I have discovered this website earlier, I would have graduated already. I could have side-step all those bad professors and save myself from all that pain and agony. There is nothing more frustrating than taking a class that is being taught by a professors who is really bad at teaching. I can tell you from first-hand experience that they will waste a whole semester of your time and will lower your GPA. These professor who can't teach will waste your money, energy and patience. They prevent you from finishing school and thus you can't move on with your life.

A lot of people here seem to be blaming the allegedly "bipolar" professor, but perhaps it would be more accurate to blame the person who left such immature comments? Aren't there better ways to criticize than name-calling?

Post #58, andco had a good idea, to make a "report slander" button. Therefore, any bitchy profs can REQUEST that their bad review be removed and you can then remove it if there are any potential lawsuits involved. Unless that would be too much work.

Would it be too difficult to set up a P2P network so they couldn't touch you?

If you do go so far as to include the option where a prof can opt-out, I hope that the prof's overall grade will remain and a count of the reviews. At least then, students will have some idea that the prof is no good.

#109 also had a good idea, where people can rate the reviewers. I've found at least a few reviews that I thought were nonsense.

#131, bob, you've got it backwards. Students are the ones paying the professors, so students are the boss, not the other way around.

Isn't it funny how some people are so eager to submit to authority?

This site gave all of us students a voice. It let all of us compalin or praise our professors. College is a place to have fun, develop ourselves intellectually, understanding that hard work wiil have to be put in but letit not be a bad experience. Some professors are great others are "MF's". I just hope that you can maintain the site open and give others the same voice that I had. Freedom of Speech and expresion where has it gone people need to look and reflect.

I can't believe your site is down. I have posted myself and the things that I have read on there about the teachers I have come in contact with have been more than true. While I understand the professor being upset with the degrading remarks, it is another thing entirely to still be pissing and moaning after they have been removed from the site. I guess what we have learned today kids is that free speech only applies to those who have the money and power to afford it. Good luck and here's to hoping the site rises from the grave.

I pay a PREMIUM for my education, including tuition, books, food, housing, parking, etc. and furthermore, the prices are subject to increase without warning every year. Therefore, I expect premium qualilty people at my school.

Since the education profession is just a subset of the general populace, I have no problem believing that it also contains a proportionate numer of people with some type of mental illness/disfunction.

In other words, rejects.

By identifying these defective units, we're actually doing them a favor, in such that they can come to terms with their illness, and get the help they need. Of course we have to step on their "wittle toes" to acheive this.

If anything, I would think the professors would want to be evaluated, in a competitive sense, so that they may reap the rewards of their coninuing efforts to be the best.

Academia is not some holyland free from critisism, in fact we need to be critical of them more than anything to ensure that future generations keep our country at the forefront of knowledge and intellect.

Please put the site back up.

Students shouln't have to roll the dice everytime on the first day of every new class. Besides, it's user-edited kind of like DMOZ, there's no way you can be liable, just put a big fat disclaimer on it. I love the really detailed type of comments/reviews-please keep that part the same.

Thank you everybody for the comments. I've received over 200 comments already, including the many emails. I haven't had time to go through all the comments. I've been really busy.... working on TeacherReviews.

So - yes, the site will be back up. More information to come.

I have used your site for 4 semsters at State and found it to be very useful & helpful!! Of course, you do have to take into consideration that some students will write a bad review due to the grade they rec'd or their dislike for the professor. I hope you are able to bring back the site! And thank you for starting it to begin with...

please bring back your site

While this site could be considered "competition" for my site www.reviewum.com,

I believe STRONGLY that we all should have the right to give constructive feedback

to our professors.

My site is based on the following quote:

"When performance is measured, performance

improves. When performance is measured and reported back the rate of improvement

accelerates."

This site is important not only for the students, but also the professors and

the institution of education. I personally hope that everything can be worked

out with TeacherReviews.com.

In the meantime please visit my site to see if your school currently has reviews

posted:

http://www.reviewum.com

(Note: If your school isn't listed we have an incentive program

in place to help encourage you to get the word out. You can see the details

here: www.reviewum.com/New_School.php

)

This site has been invaluable to me and I hope it survives for a good long time. Teachers should be glad to get feedback, be it good or bad.

This site did it all. Professors should be proud of a site like this, b/c it gives them a chance to see how students feel about their teaching styles. It's too bad that this site is gone, and I hope that it comes back one day. Good luck and best wishes!

TeacherReviews.com has been an incredibly helpful site for me, and hope it's up and running again soon. The system for removing inappropriate reviews sounds promising.

What the @#$% ? Whatever happened to freedom of speech ? These commie bastards need to get a grip and concentrate on being better teachers if they care about what students think of them.

Who was the bullshit professor?

I guess it's quite legal to name him.

Dylan, thanks so much for all the hard work you've put into teacherreviews. I've posted reviews many times and have found over the course of my degree at San Francisco State that the reviews are almost always accurate. Let's take a step back and look at the hierarchy of power when taking a class - the teacher has ALL the power. While pursuing a science degree after a humanities degree I have been appalled by the lack of concern professors have for their students in the science departments at SFSU (especially the chemistry department). Your website is a way for students to make well-informed decisions of which classes to take based on the teachers. Otherwise, who will tell us - our fellow uber-competitive science students? We don't have advisors, and its a commuter school so we don't study or live together to share information. Teacher review is a website where we can truly express ourselves without fear of backlash from a jilted professor, outing teachers who don't deserve to stand in front of a classroom or award grades to students that will forever stand on our transcripts. I already have a degree from another school where my professors inspired me to be a better person and turned me into someone who enjoyed learning, I know learning doesn't have to be a painful, protracted experience due to ill-chosen teachers. Teacher reviews was a tool I used to combat that hierarchy and be a successful student. Let's just say that the few times I haven't heeded the powerful advice of the teacher review forum, I've been sorry. Thirty-six thousand people can't be wrong. Please bring back teacherreviews.com.

Where is our first Amendment?

Dylan,

Don't take the website down and please don't make those changes. I do not count on getting good teachers, their classes always fill up. I really need to know who to avoid. If the professors can hide the reviews, then it really doesn't help us at all. Please put the site back up and please don't make many changes. And as for legal help, call the ACLU and see what advice they can give you. It might be a lot.

I agree with the person upove me. I also need to know who to avoid when it comes to teachers. I base my classes on it and most of what the students say is like 95% true. Teachers shouldn't have a say.....regardless if the site is up or not....students will still talk about which teachers are good and which one's to avoid. What are they going to do then???!?!! Make a law agains students talking about teachers. This is really stupid.

You should really leave the site the way it is. Teachers will only allow the reviews that says good things about them be up so the whole teachers review thing would be pointless. The teacher who started this whole problem is being a real baby with this whole stupid lil he said she said thing.

Was his feelings hurt....:(....well too bad. >:I. Since your being sued..........shouldn't everyone who wrote something on teachers review also get sued as well?!?!?!! I think you got jiped.......good luck :)

the might as well cancelle our whole freedom of speech since it's getting you as well as everyone in trouble. Freedom of speech....*sarcastic laugh*....yeah....sure we have that. =P

Dylan, this was a great idea and a great web site. I know you refer to the individual as a man, but I happen to know it was a woman. I found her profile and shared it with my classmates as we all were having a terrible time with her. What other students had wrote on her was totally correct! Let me tell you, people put in a lot of hours trying to do her work her way, then she gave 6 of 7 people in the class D's or F's, she was absolutely impossible with grading and corresponding. Even had one classmate call her and ask what he needed to do to pass, she told him, he did it and she still gave him the lowest passing grade possible. She displayed no flexability, and she simply would not mentor or teach. She just throw things up on the screen and expected people to learn on thier own. The comments on the teacher review were not name calling, but gave great detail on her personality. I assure you, she was BIPOLAR and she simply talked down to people or was flat our snippy. A good example is her coming after this web site. As far as I'm concerned, there was no name calling, if the information is correct, which I can attest to, then the site should be allowed. I hope the ACLU gets involved with this again. I will tell you the 6 of 7 students all dropped the University and moved on. This just happened within the past 30 days...

Good luck Dylan. Your site has helped me so much in the past when I was unsure of what class sections to take. It is really depressing that things have to be changed, but I am happy to read that there are professors who also support the site. I hope things work out. It is the only resource where students actually get some honest advice and direction; something that most universities don't do.

I thought this web site was very informative. If teachers don't want bad reviews then they need to be good teachers. PERIOD!!!!!!

Please put the website back up. I base my entire schedule on these reviews.

= (

Could someone please email me the name of the professor and the school----> malaka@godisdead.com<--------

I am so sorry that you're going through this mess. I found your site after I put in my schedule but luckily I had time to change things around. I hope you get it sorted out because it has been so valuable to me. Good luck!

Dylan,

I hope you can get the site back up soon as possible, I don't think this professor has a leg to stand on legally. If you are still worried, try to find a lawyer that will help you out with this pro bono. I am sure if you got a little publicity about this someone might come forward. If you need any help let me know. Good Luck.

You have been a real help to students everywhere! Try calling 7 on your side- the evening news program. They have a very effective way of dealing with issues like this- and as an added bonus, THEY deal with it- there by allowing you to continue doing what is important- LEARNING. I think that whoever this woman is who is threatening litigation in response to you exercising your rights of free speach, expression and assembly- should read on in these reviews and perhapse spend a little more time teaching and a little less time fretting over a reputation that is clearly well established and singularly her fault! Fight on Brother!

This teacher must not be fond of constructive criticism...either that or he's a Republican. I have used this site for two years now and have found it extremely helpful in assisting my decision on which teacher and what classes would best suit me. You have done a wonderful job and provided many students with a great service and reference. I truly hope this awful business is clarified soon so that teacherreviews.com may assist the new students of Fall 2004. Best of luck to you!

we want the site back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again everybody for your comments.

I've been working hard on the new version of the site and incorporating many of your comments. More information soon...

Dylan,

Please put TeachersReviews.com back up. I agree with what you're saying, but this is a tool for students. When assigned a proffesor, I come here to get a review; then, I know what to expect and that helps my grade!

I would like to make a comment on the Non-Anonymous aspect. If someone is afraid to attach their name to a review; then they probably shouldn't be saying what they are saying!!!

==============================

Update - Posted Feb 10, 2004

http://www.dylangreene.com/blog.asp?blogID=388

==============================

Yup, 4:47 am east coast time, just popped in to see what happened, read your new blog entry, all I can say is:

NNNNNIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!

Hope I wasn't over-bearing or abusive with any of my comments. Obviously, alot of people feel strongly about this, including me.

**Padding the tab a little didn't hurt either >:)**

(I hope she apologized......threatening someone with a lawsuit is not a joke by any means)

It feels like one step closer to the world becoming a better place, cogratulations Dylan !!!!

I can't believe that a professor would sue you for this website. I find that highly riddiculous! I love your website, it helped me pick the most outstanding professor with all of the students comments. Plus, the reviews by the student are factual, i highly doubt that teacher review is slandering another professsor.

My Entire schedule was based on this site. This site was very benificial for all students in the United states. Please get it running soon.

Craziness. I was just getting ready to read some reviews real quick, and what!? they're not there! Oh nooooo....! I hope you can get this site up again. It truly is a benefit to all college students across the nation!

Please bring this back... it is simply outrageous that a teacher could attempt to take you down. DO NOT GIVE IN!

BTW Using Seven On Your Side against this idiocy is an excellent idea...

Teacherreview.com is an invaluable tool for those of us doing going to online schools like UOP. Where else are we going to get feedback on teachers? Its too bad that some people have used it to trash professors, but at the same time Ive seen evidence of instructors writing glowing reviews of themselves, so disgruntled students aren't the only ones at fault. Regardless, please bring it back.

The concept of this website it definately good. I do think however that a few students spoil it for everyone. When I went to school there were a small number of slackers in the class that loved to blame the teacher for their own lack of motivation. Man, I hated having them in my group projects, I carried them to their slightly passing grade. However I did have one online teacher that was terrible and shouldn't have been a teacher. I would have had a 4.0 if it wasn't for her, she never even graded any papers, we had no idea how we were doing until our final grade came out. The website should survive, but definately there needs to be checks and balances so that freedom of speech is balanced with the fact that some will illegally slander.

I'm glad to see in your 2/8 message that you plan to bring the site back up. My experience with the site is that for the most part the reviews are very accurate. Since the complaining professor threatened to sue you even after deleting the offending reviews, I can only conclude that the person deserved the scathing reviews they got!

Allowing Professors the right to hide the review is the same as allowing them to make lies. The same thing you have brought it down for. Not all professors are wonderful so not all reviews will be wonderful. That doesn't mean that a professor should pull the bad reviews to make themselves look good.

Open phone book, look up ACLU. If they'll defend pedophiles they should certainly defend you. There's a big difference between someone threatening to sue and actually doing it. Your proposed changes will make the site worthless for anyone seeking real information.

The site becomes pointless if you allow "bad" reviews to be taken down. Bad reviews are a fact of life, and every professor will have some bad reviews. If they have managed to get all the way to a professorship without learning to take criticism, they probably deserve a few bad reviews. If they are so lacking in proportion as to sue a website over one remark, then "Bipolar Paranoid Schitzophrenic" could very well be a legitimate description.

Since this professor does not want 'untrue' information about him posted, perhaps you could post a review to the effect of:

"Threatened legal action against this site over reviews."

Since it is a true statement he could not sue for libel/slander and the paranoid schizophrenic student who he fails might one day decide to fail him in the 'school of life'. Post this truth so that justice may prevail.

Heh, I can see a RateYourStudents.com website coming up. Imagine your professors/TA's saying stuff like, "John Doe is the dumbest dodo I've ever seen." Could hurt job prospects...

Hi,

I saw you were thinking about letting people post comments with there real names. I would apperciate it, but after thinking about it I think it could be abused way way too much. If you hated someone you could post a review that is very critical of there teacher online, and then the teacher would hate them. Also with having a link to remove reviews that could also be abused, if a teacher doesn't like a review even if it is fair he could send a request to remove, and then you would have to do much more checking, there is nothing stopping them from asking you to remove it now. Also why should a professor be able to remove his reviews, I could be the worst teacher and just hide all my reviews, then post some my self, and boom I look great. Also paranoid is not a horrible word, I though that the person would of cursed at the teacher, but paranoid is not horrible I call my brother it alot. Anyway all of my teachers would go nuts if they saw how they were reviewed and ask to remove our school, not because they are inapporpiate, but because they are critical. Anyway I would keep your site the way it is, get the ACLU to help you, and if the AFT helps him, then I think we really need better education.

Allowing teachers to keep their reviews private is a very bad idea. At my university, we fill out course evaluations after every semester for the teacher's use only, and the suggestions (even when stated very reasonably) are almost always ignored.

The only reason I would review a teacher on a website such as TeacherReviews would be to warn other potential students, and if these reviews are kept private, it defeats the whole purpose. As long as comments are based solely on opinion, not wild accusations (such as being schitzophrenic), they should remain public.

This is a wonderfull site I had the privilage of being introduced to a year ago. The comments on this site are usually very accurate and I think that there needs a place where people can find out if a teacher is good or bad. It is sad that free speach is stifled because of the treat of a lawsuit; but I understand your position and support you.

PLEASE - Do not cave to them like this! While ensuring the accuracy and truthfulness of every review is good, you are just caving in to their demands.

You are basically allowing professors to control what gets said about them. This makes the site worthless. I will no longer visit your site if this becomes the case.

Basically, the idea of instant review removal would be open to abuse, it'd be fairly easy for a group or even an individual to go through and remove all of someones reviews.

Additionally, the idea to allow some peoples reviews be private, really ends any kind of review of that person. Its censorship. Of course teachers who have unfavourable reviews, will not want a bad review, who would? So basically the site will fill up with purely good reviews and the more unscrupulous teachers will post 'good' reviews of themselves.

If you want to make the teachers happy, make it a site like this, if you want a true reviewing site, unbiased reviews.

hey "BOB" look i used your name and the fbi didn't kick my door in... you obviously have no concept of what freedom of speach meens you name in no way limits what i can say about you "BOB"... the only limits to freedom of speach or forms of defimation namely slander or liable... and for those that don't know the diffrence liable is written you cann't possibly "slander" some one an a text based page ... as to this proffessiors not being responcible for my learning what do i pay them for again? so they can do research at my expenesse? i should hope not ... to grade how well i learn? i doubt it but if this were the case then we should replace them with a simple computer program that administered a nice standardized test ... but instead it is in fact there job to teach if nothing else what they expect from us in there class to teach us what it is we are to study to pass there test ... it is there job to teach us what we need have to do to prepare our selves for the next class in the chain of requisits ... so no it may not be there job to make sure ever student learns every bit of fact but there is still plenty of other teaching that they need to do "BOB" but that ok i hope when you do reach the real world that you job tasks go undefined and that you job goals lay mirred in the swamp of other non-responicability to explain things ... but i guess learning on your own in colleage for that great textbook of your has prepared you to know every thing all at once so you'll be ok if no one tells you what needs to be done and on what time schedule cause hey that not there job its yours because you have to get it done right?

Your new features make the site unusable. It NEVER is a policy to silence critics. The professor always was the right to go after who left the original message, this has been shown in court over and over.

What you should change it make it function more like Slashdot allowing for grading others posts, so others can repair the professor dignity without the permanent censor.

Well - sounds exactly like "Bipolar Paranoid Schitzophrenic" for me. And in any other case - isn't this what freedom of speech is about? So forget the professors - if they are unable to take critics healthy, they most propably are entitled to receive it.

sorry that we /.ed you but well when your url shows up on slashdot we show our support i hope your bandwidth holds out i see you had to pull the comments for faster loading i was lucky enough to read them and get in a post before they were pulled, gl don't bend the the pressure the ucla isn't the only group you can look to for support in this kind of think you should also check out the eff and fsf, both of which try to protect our rights online as best they can, angain gl.

sorry that we /.ed you but well when your url shows up on slashdot we show our support i hope your bandwidth holds out i see you had to pull the comments for faster loading i was lucky enough to read them and get in a post before they were pulled, gl don't bend the the pressure the ucla isn't the only group you can look to for support in this kind of think you should also check out the eff and fsf, both of which try to protect our rights online as best they can, angain gl.

This is what Freenet is for. Ok Prof, you might be able to go around chasing down sites like this one - but let's see you shut down Freenet - the ultimate anti-censorship network.

For those who don't yet know, Freenet runs on top of your Internet connection and provides a completely anonymous and encrypted way of sharing information of all types. From Chinese dissidents to hyper-sensitive professors - Freenet is the answer.

I say the more objectionable portions of 'teachersreview' moves to something like this. What say you Dylan?

#216 is unintelligable. Re-take Engish 101 with someone other than an "easy" teacher.

Here's a quick for review for you NYC people, if you goto Stevens Institute of Technology watch out for Professor Stephen Bloom, he gets the award for worst teacher ever. He explained nothing, couldn't control a lecture, and couldn't even compile simple java programs. You'll learn more programming search google then you will with this professor. How the hell do these people teach?

Sorry, Stephen Bloom, BAH!

the posts were removed but he still threatened to sue? what a bastard.

i have a professor that constantly struggles with html tags and constantly talks about kentucky college basketball. too bad i can't tell anyone about him until they sink $300 in the class and can't get a refund.

You need to institute a policy that does not require you to read, edit, ammend or otherwise take responsiblity for what others write. You need to emphatically state that you do not read the reviews and therefore, will not read or edit any if asked to do so. If you acknowledge reading, editing, etc... then you become responsible for the contents. It's all or nothing - you need to become a 'host' of the comments, not an editor.

The First Ammendment to the Constitution does NOT cover knowingly false statements which damage a person's reputation. Civil suits may be brought for libel (publishing) or slanderspeaking.

On non-anonymous reviews, you said, "I don't know if students would be comfortable posting truthful reviews." If a person is uncomfortable posting a truthful review, he has no business expressing his opinion. What is the purpose of such a site if not to provide a useful measure of a teacher's performance? When any idiot who received an F because he didn't do his homework is allowed to post an anonymous review, you can bet that more than a few reviews will be worthless whining. Contrary to popular belief, the US Constitution says nothing about a right to privacy. While it does give us freedom of speech, libel is still illegal as it should be. If some idiot wants to baselessly or falsely defame a professor, at least let him attach his name to it so that he may be sued for the damage he has does.

The professor is a fucktard.

Ignore the Google issue. It's fair game. No different than someone posting it in a blog of their own.

If you want to keep this up, consider incorporating. I understand Delaware is a popular state for this. Your corporation can intentionally lose money while keeping your personal assets safe. I think. Look into it.

Does nobody else think that maybe this prof has a bit of a leg to stand on. I mean students are questioning his sanity which is a bit unfair. What if Teachers had a "rate the student dot com" and they looked up the students they had, Or if Universitys read them to decide who they would or would not admit. If a college or university googles the name of somebody they may hire and they see accusaitions of insanity who is to say what would happen. Free Speech is all well and good, but it can be dangerous in the hands of the angry and the ignorent.

this is insane. i, like many other students, based the choosing of my classes based on this site and only because there are some really bad teachers out there and it is only fair for students to learn about their teachers before we pay them to teach us. i hope you put the site back up soon!

Professor Review Removal is an awful idea. It just perpetuates the smokescreen that keeps bad tenured professors in position in the first place.

The vindictive feedback from students who received poor grades is easy enough to interpret and flag as such. Legitimate unsatisfactory feedback should never be removed...Especially at the request of the instructor in question.

By the way...What is this "extremely upset" Professor's name?

Where does he/she teach?

I'm sure some of us would be willing to give him/her and their department a face-to-face "TeacherReview"

This site rocks. I always used it to pick my professors. I bet it was a Business College professor.

"Non-Anonymous Reviews. This would remove me from lawsuits, but I don't know if students would be comfortable posting truthful reviews."

That last part of the sentence could have been expressed a whole lot better.

Rate by positives. Silence speaks louder than anything.

Why not just go with offshore web hosting:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=offshore+hosting&btnG=Google+Search

then you would be safe from any lawsuits and stuff?

Sir, you suck at life.

As I see it, the big problem with essentially all review sites is the fairness and honesty of the reviews.

Many review sites are unusable because one cannot distinguish between fair reviews, and those supplied by people with an interest or an axe to grind on one or other direction.

It would seem to me that a fair system for this site would be for all submitted reviews to be emailed to the professor in question, who would be allowed, say, a week to

object to information which was factually incorrect or defamatory.

It may also be reasonable to allow a professor the right of reply to valid criticism - it should be possible to do this without turning the site into a whitewash.

Perhaps if a professor objected to a criticism that seemed valid, the review should be replaced by the prominent sentence "Professor X requested the removal of N negative reviews on this site" -

prospective students can then draw their own conclusions.

You may want to consider taking out the subjective nature of comments. I have no idea how your web site is setup sense it is off line so I couldn't check. At the University of Florida all Teacher Evals are posted for review. As a student you rate from 1 to 5 in various categories. This becomes public information. The student can then write comments that anonymous comments that only the professor sees. This provides the directed feedback on how to improve and the information is not made public. You don't want to setup a system that directs students to nice and easy professors. The focus should be on the quality of the teacher and the value of the education. You can also limit postings to the end of the traditional semester before grades are given. Allows the student to be a little more subjective instead of getting revenge by saying something overally negative.

You should be able to review the UF system at http://www.aa.ufl.edu/aa/dass/tcheval/forms/tchform1.html

I think we need to visit said professor with a baseball bat and some duct tape.

You big pussies! Some weenie prof finds out his class sucks and he doesnt like it. What happend to freedom of opinion and speech? Professors are the employees of the students. I know of too many profs that take too much power over the students and intimidate others. Where the hell is the quality control of the jackasses? Who keeps them in line? Have YOU ever tried to process an employee of a university through their judicial system? Its usually a joke, like its a joke at the University of Delaware.

I think comment #240 says it all.

It is shameful that someone would suggest beating a professor just because he has the guts to stand up to anonymous slander. It is also cowardly to threaten anonymously.

No doubt you'll notice the irony of an anonymous posting criticizing other anonymous postings, but I do not want to be visited by anonymous people with baseball bats and duct tape.

If you run the website like a magazin, then it might be possible to sue you. If you run it as a discussion forum like newsgroups, it is

not possible.

I think you should not only delete reviews on request, but replace

them with some information "One review was deleted by request".

If that is the only review, it pretty much speaks for itself, however

if it is one of hundrets, people can and will ignore it.

Furthermore add the possibility to add a statement by the professor

side by side to the review (or insteat), that could allow people

to think themself.

Add a way some professor can get reviews for himself as copy everytime something is added. if you want more sugar: for those who want add

a time delay after sending the copy and before making the review public.

And last: for professors who don't want reviews on themself, make

it impossible and add reviews and for that teacher display some

text like "on request reviews for this teacher are not accepted".

I guess it speaks for itself, too.

But don't do the other things. e.g. It is *good* that your website

shows up on google, when searching for some teacher.

Good Luck! maybe ACLU or EFF or someone will come to your help?

I hope so.

hee, I would think that professor was criticised too much if he didn't do the rest of the thing. Now I think it's reasonable to call him a Bipolar Paranoid Schitzophrenic.

Sorry to see you site come down. Info on a professor tipped us off to do some deeper research on him only to find out he had his license restricted in Washington State Medical Board for ethical behavior.

don't cave in to the money hungry power obsesive think they know everything but cant take their own tests successfully which they copy from other books losers who are destroying the institution of learning in America

unfortunately, reviewing is just opinion and not actual fact. if it was fact then you would get in trouble.

fight this to the bitter end. maybe have it for subscription only and make it a teachernews site.

I have never used this site before, but was directed to it by slashdot. From what I've read and comments made this seems like a wonderful, informative site. Sounds like you will have a lot of support if any of these instances are brought to the courts. As far as the defamation is concerned you should feel pretty confident that the courts will rule in your favor, as has occurred many times in the past. You are hosting information that is vital to many students' educations and I hope to see the site back online soon.

slashdot idiots who want attention with cheesy jokes that arent funny detected

Ya know, what you're considering is just like the code livejournal uses with community moderators. You might want to look into using that if you haven't already got something in mind. It's got almost all of these features available, including screening of comments until they're approved, or what have you.

One other thing that you might want to do: if the professors / someone else is going to be redoing reviews, you might want to have an area of stats: reviews pulled by management or something like that, to give a sense of how many reviews have been written total by a professor vs what's being seen. Just a thought.

What kind of a moron do you have to be to put up a web site for teacher reviews without a plan for dealing with complaints from the teachers? It is a huge, stupid waste of everyone's time to create a site like this then take it down because of a single threat of lawsuit. Next time, go get a tattoo or a piercing when you want to demonstrate that you are a fool.

Why don't you use a system of moderators similar to what Slashdot uses. It would not be difficult to enlist the aid of some of the readers to ferret out especially harsh criticisms, and moderate them down. At the very least, it would give you a flag on posts that need to be reviewed. You could also make anonymous posting optional - if someone is willing to post with their own name, they'd have a choice - and you'd have a potential source of new moderators.

I think that this site is a good idea, and I hope you manage to keep it going. Good Luck.

Any student who reads one insane review about a professor and no other about a professor would be jumping to conclusions. The same student could easily get the same random observation verbally from another student. Your website is a valuable forum where students can get a balanced opinion based on the collective responses of multiple students. A professor who can't stand some random public criticism is weak in character and is destroying a valuable public forum in their petty, vindictive rage. I don't believe you should moderate your forum -- when multiple students post that should be sufficient to give students a sufficiently accurate opinion about professors. Anyone who isn't able to take in multiple sources, synthesize them and come up with a reasonable conclusion will soon learn to do so -- after all isn't that why they are in university?

Non-anonymous reviews would destroy the site - the whole point is that students can express themselves anonymously.

More importantly, while calling the professor "Bipolar paranoid schizophrenic" is incredibly rude, inappropriate, and offensive both to the professor and to those with mental illnesses, it does send a message - that a particular student did not like this professor. It also discredits itself by its vulgarity.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that all these reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt (was it posted by a professor? by someone sucking up to a professor? etc.), and while you can't take comments like that one at face value, they still can be interpreted in meaningful ways - what if several students blasted this teacher in more appropriate ways - wouldn't this comment, inappropriate as it is, reinforce those ideas?

if you are going to use a system of moderation (like you said) and model it after /., you should really look into SLASH ( http://slashdot.org/code.shtml ) it was designed for this purpose.

He cant sue you. You are a service provider and you are immune. There are precidents in case law hat support this. (Zeran v. America On-Line, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 4th Cir. 1997)

"no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

good luck to you.

This is ridiculous. If you put up a completely open forum for the review of college/university professors, it would be completely protected by our 2nd Ammendment rights. I cannot believe that you let some cry baby professor force your website offline. If you continue to cater to people who have been made for what they really are, then your website becomes nothing but a smoke blowing session so that all the good professors are talked about all the time, and the professors who aren't worth having save face by escaping the truth. If you don't have enough intestinal fortitude to stand up for what you believe in, then you should probably just let the website go. Let someone who doesn't fear the truth and the pressure of subpar professors pick up the site and run with it. Personally I fear no professor or lawyer, its completely assanine to think that they even have a case against you or your site. I hope that TeacherReviews returns to the web just as it was. It's our government given constitutionally protected right to express how we feel through whatever medium we choose. Good luck and I wish you the best no matter how this thing turns out for you.

Sorry about some of the spelling in the previous post, I fat fingered a couple of things, obviously it's the 1st Amendment, my text editor assumes too much.

Too bad the broken-hearted teacher led to the downfall of this helpful site. Too bad the broken-hearted teachers do not trust the students who they are teaching to come to their own educated conclusions (which they should have taught to their students)about teachers. If I could count on all teachers to have a fair, even-tempered, adult work ethic, I would not have needed this site. Now I am stuck wondering if my next teacher will be more human than teacher, more parent than teacher, more ego than teacher. Sure, we didn't have this site to help us out before, but it's like education; once you're educated, you just can't go back to being stupid. Good luck guys . . .

a moderation system like slashdot's would be very helpful...default would not view -1 reviews where -1 indicated personal attack type of review. mod powers would be gained by registered users moderating up reviewers.

I do not understand your logic, if you say you already have been sued and won, then what are you worried about? Get the ACLU on your side again!

-- Comment Removed --

It's unfortunate that some rotten apples have to spoil it for everyone. But it is also unfortunate that those who use Greenes site for free become angry at Dylan Green for doing what any reasonably educated person would do. It is expensive to fight in court whether you would win or not...so I think you people should stop blaming Dylan Greene for taking down his site and start blaming those who actually abused his site (unless of course you feel like fronting the cash for a long and arduous court battle). And remember that it is HIS site...it takes a lot of work to maintain a website used by so many people, so everyone could at least show some respect for his decision on what to do with his site. If you are unhappy with his decision, why don't you start your own site. Until then, stop blaming the proprieter.

I doubt anyone is blaming him, its pretty obvious it's not his fault..heat of the moment is a strange thing.

I am a professor, and I believe that the loss of this site would be a great disservice to students, faculty and the rights granted to us of free speech.

The unfortunate circumstances by which this site has been rendered ineffective is not only ludicrous and blown out of proportion, but is also extremely embarassing to the faculty member who threatened such a suit. Shame on you - and feel free to sue me for my opinion.

It is very sad to know that this particular website had to be shut down. I base my schedule based upon this site. And for it to be shut down is just wrong. Please bring this site back, because this is how I select excellent instructors. I know for a fact that students do go overboard with their comments, and should be refrained from making such comments. If a student wants to say something bad about an instructor then that individual should either put it in a nice and professional way or just keep it to yourself.But pleasr I beg of you bring this site back it's freedom of speech! We do have a right to express our views and if the instructor doesn't like it well, don't pay any attention to it. These are just students that want to express their views on particular teachers and every right to express their views. So please bring this site back, and please lay off the person who designed this site, it's not his fault! It's the fault of the students who harsh comments about teachers. So don't blame Dylan, blame who ever put that there. BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very upset to learn that the site's owner was pressured to take the site down. Teacherreview is an invaluable asset to students. It rewards good professors and spreads the word about those who do an inadequate or bad job. Shame on that professor who threatened a lawsuit against free speech. I will post this story and San Francisco State. Students should be aware of this travesty.

we really need this great web site...

I can't believe that people in this day and age don't have thicker skins. If professors think that removing web sites such as this from operation they will stop students from making rude comments, then I think they are sadly mistaken. Granted, there will always be that one student who you just don't get a long with, but if your getting bad reviews all the time, you might want to stop and take a look at yourself. Overall, I just hate stupid people who spend so much time and effort on things that really are not that important.

I was reviewed by one student only on Teacherreview. I was rated very very low by this student, who withdrew from my class after a couple of weeks. The student hardly provided any details about my class. I have not taught at that university in 2 1/2 years! And I don't want future employers to Google me and find this silly review. So I believe that the changes you have outlined, Dylan, are excellent.

The reason why this teacher was offended by his reviews is because they were right and he knows about that.

This teacher should not be teaching anyway and get the fuck out of it. TeachersReview is a reflexion of what the teachers are all about; some of them good some of them crap.

In case you didn't see this online, Cnet posted this regarding a similar complaint against Ebay's feedback system.

-----------------------------------------------

Court: eBay's off the hook over feedback

By Declan McCullagh

Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Be careful when reading feedback left in online auctions: eBay and similar Web sites are not required to remove information that's false or even libelous, a court has decided.

A California appeals court ruled last week that eBay cannot be forced to remove allegedly defamatory information posted to the popular auction site by users.

A 1996 federal law shields eBay and similar "interactive computer services," the appeals court said on Thursday. "Plaintiff is, in effect, asking for what, in established libel law, would be akin to a retraction. However, (the law) precludes liability in the first place."

This legal dispute started as a typical online tiff. eBay user Roger Grace bought some items from eBay seller Tim Neeley. Grace left a negative comment in Neeley's feedback area, which can be viewed by all visitors and is intended to create a kind of reputation for participants. Neeley retaliated by typing in a note in Grace's profile: "complaint: should be banned from ebay!!!! dishonest all the way!!!!"

After eBay refused to remove the negative feedback from Grace's profile, Grace sued the San Jose, Calif., auction giant for allegedly publishing false and defamatory information about him, in violation of California libel laws.

The federal law cited in the ruling was enacted as part of the Communications Decency Act, itself part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. It says that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

In a court decision from August 2003, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that the law protected Web site operators from being sued for fabricated profiles on online dating sites.

I think that its a shame that you would take your site down because of some wind-bag had the balls to threaten you.

As a graduate of NYU, I can name quite a few professors that were arrogant, insulting, and downright inept. The old cliche of 'the truth hurts' holds steady in this arguement. I'm sorry but in the essence of free speech, open discussion, and general principle; I would have said SCREW THE PROFESSOR..and keep the site up. The net would provide legal donations and I'm sure the ALCU would be interested. Never bow to threats. Martyre yourself if you must and I'll stand with you. If the Fathers of America bowed, we would all be drinking spots of tea.

I read the comments above with great interest because I am a professor and I understand the impact that these reviews might have on a professor's livelihood. If each one of you thinks that free speech is warranted even in the case of libel, then consider the alternative site where professors rate students in an open forum. We might list a student's name and provide ratings on the student's cognitive ability, work ethic, frustration tolerance, ability to follow directions, etc. What do you think of that site? Not much I gather. If you believe in true free speech, then you'll be a strong advocate for both sites.

I had used the site for two semesters. It had been very useful. The reviews are 96% true. I don't understand why we have to take it down such a good site for students and even professors who have to know what the students think about their abilities to teach.

Teacherreview.com is a helpful site students. They have the right to know about whom they are going to learn from. They have the right to know about what their friends think about professors who soon to be their instructors. I hope the site will be back online soon.

Please fight for the good site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haven't used the site, but it seems like a good idea overall. I've read through some posts on here and it sure seems that the tail is wagging the dog these days. Sorry, folks, but this world needs MORE teachers, not less. Your constant and continuous bashing of professors in the comments I see in here is ludicrous. Yes, students are the reason teachers have jobs, but without the teachers YOU have nobody to learn from. Sorry, but it's a two-way street. I didn't need a website like this to figure out my classes, OR to act as a prop to getting good grades. There are some of you who are using the reviews here to make sure you're taking classes from teachers who will actually teach you something, whereas most are probably using it to find ways of getting easy A's. In that case, shame on you. The "education" you're receiving is a sham!

I'm really dissapointed that teacher review is off the air but I understand. I don't know much about websites but I definately don't think a teacher should be able to hide their reviews. But I understand the need for people to not write disrespectful comments. I have read a few of the ones in bad taste. You can definaletly say what you want without going over board.

Is there anyway, maybe just for now, where we can do grades only? without comments. The professor could just get grades next to personality, etc. Maybe you could make the list bigger and in more detail and the students could just put a grade in? Or we could even put checks or leave unchecked next to a list you made up?

But anyhow, this is all very unforunate cause the comment box was so important. It help students idetify with certain teaching styles, etc.

HOPE EVERYTHING IS WELL WITH YOU AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR INGENIOUS SITE.

I have posted several teacher reviews on the website but have always been truthful and tactful in my reviews. I feel that it is not, in fact, your fault that some inconsiderate jerk posted something inappropriate. I also feel that you're providing a great service to college students everywhere and this one professor shouldn't have the right to take away our freedom of speech or happiness in a school environment. So many students have already posted responses saying they were helped soo much by your site and that they've rarely been let down by the reviews. I myself have never been led astray by the reviews. I have even found myself in great classes because of them. You can't allow them to take this away from us! I know of at least a hundred people who will be behind you one hundred ten percent. We're here for you.

This is a very helpful site for students to see what teachers that would help them in their education. This is where i base my schedule on. Obviously this is not fair,and we should not all be punished for this!

Funny that this site goes down and this is my last semester at CCSF. I've been at that school for awhile so I know which teachers to take and which to avoid, but I feel sorry for those who can't use this site anymore. We are paying money for these classes so I believe we should have a right to see whether we are playing our money's worth and websites like Teacher Reviews helps us students with that. Would you like to waste your tuition on a class when the teacher cannot teach? A teacher can already rate us based on our performance in class by giving us a letter grade, but that's not truly reflective if the teacher in question cannot teach.

Dear Dylan:

Please don't let those evil force strike you.

What am I gonna survive next semester?

As an "INTERNATIONAL STUDENT" in the U.S. after 911,

I really don't want to pay extremely HIGH tuition

(about $5,500 for 15 units per semester,)but get awful professors,end up learning nothing,just wasting my money on them...

Please do do keep the website continue...

I always support you!! (kiss kiss~)

You're site helped me out A LOT...as well as with the other cagillion people who have taken advantage of your site. I'm confident that you will make the neccessary decisions and actions. In retrospect, Teacherreviews.com has had a positive effect on the GPA of a number of students allowing us to make informed decisions (i.e. which teachers to avoid and which ones to take). To lose an outlet like this is horrible but just do what you gotta do. We're here to support you as we did your site. Thanks!

This website has helped myself out as well as many other friends in the University system. Although many professors might not like seeing what is written about them, much of it is true. Before teacherreview.com, I had many problems dealing with teachers who frankly didn't care about me, the student. This website has helped correct that curse and has allowed me to LEARN rather than dread going to class. Please continue this FREE SPEECH oriented website.

Webmaster,Keep going!!! Don't stop!!! we will support you!!!

Just wondering why my post was removed?

I think that your web blog is potentially the best thing to happen to the Teaching profession.I could have used it when I went to Uni. Right on! Don't change.

You site was the best thing that happend to me academically. It helped me find teachers that i like and not waste my time with the the ones that i wouldn't get along with. I haven't had a single drop or W in my units since i started looking at your website. Because i knew what i was doing.

Please bring back your website.

This is sad. It's too bad that you succumbed to the pressure. I bet the prof who got his way sure is happy now.

I think your site is GREAT! I truly believe that the majority of the students here base their schedules on this site with the reviews. I ALWAYS ask people about professors BEFORE I make my schedule. Somebody said they always register first and then they read this site. If it doesn't work out, they drop. It's difficult to just drop out of a class and then try to get into another, nearly impossible. The purpose of this site is for YOU..the student to make sure your getting what you want in a professor.

I personally have had nothing but the best of luck with this site. Unfortunately there have to be some bad apples posting not so nice things...which in turn leads to problems like this one.

That professor really needs to accept the fact, NOT EVERYONE likes him. I really can't believe, a professor who teaches the future of today threatened to sue you...even when you took his reviews down?! What a way to help the students?! It's truly a shame.

Dear Dylan:

I am one of the victims of your site, Teacher Reviews. I am a professor who has received mixed reviews from students who write to your site. Specifically, I teach an introductory course in Java programming, with an approximate enrollment of about 100 students. Typically, 5 students get As, 6 to 7 receive Bs, about 10 receive Cs, and a substantial number receive Ds or Fs. I think the spread of the grades reflects a lack of preparation from the part of the students, many of whom enter the computer science program thinking that a CS degree consists on continuing playing computer games, using browsers, word processing software and things like that.

Yet, I treasure and admire the work you have done. I think that Teacher Reviews is a rare example of what I think the true mission of web browsing really is all about: educating people. If I had a wish from a genie, I would ask that genie to keep your site going, because it provides an unbiased site where students can speak freely. Yes, if they want to insult me or say how horrible I am, that is their prerogative, and I am sure that they will continue to do so with web or no web. My hope is that students with weak background in CS will take a look at your site, see that we are not kidding about teaching tough material, covering the syllabi, and giving passing grades to students who earn them.

I am just a freshmen at a new school and i didn't know which teachers are worth spending my hard-earned money on. During the fall semester before I knew about this site, I wasted my money on a professor who I learned nothing from. After i found out about this site, fortunatly, it lead me choose the right professors that I WANT for the spring. So far, I am learning A LOT more everyday with the professors that I've chosen from the reviews. Because the tuition is a lot higher now with the budget cuts and everything, I hope teacherreview.com will come back and help college students get the professors that they're paying for.

THANK YOU DLYAN FOR CREATING THIS SITE. I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN LIFE AND EVERYTHING YOU DO. I really do hope this site comes back because I definately don't want to choose the wrong professors in my soph, junior, and senior year.

Man we can get the website back up....FREEDOM OF SPEECH

If I had had your service in the late 60's I wouldn't be using it today. #131 is living in the past. Even in High School we knew there some teachers were better than others. Now, as a business owner returning to college to get an education I want the most for my money. I am lucky, I don't care about grades, I already own my own business. I want an education. In my last Algebra class I learned more with the computer study program than I did from the teacher. I should have learned from both, but the teacher had nothing to add. If I am paying the money, I want both, learning from the book and from the instructor. Otherwise we could all get our education from the bookstore for a whole lot less.

I do agree that the personal attacks should be left out of the reviews, but everything else should be left in. If an instructor does not accept being reviewed, the number of reviews that were rejected should be posted. That should speak for itself.

Attending U of Phoenix, we only know the name of our facilitator on the day before class. I have not had the opportunity to use the information on teacherreview.com to reject a class, but having had a bad facilitator, and posting next to another similar posting, I will certainly always look in the future. And furthermore, I intend to review all of my facilitators, good or bad, as to how well they teach, as well as how they grade.

He is a sorry guy. Why is he trippin, if he is a good teacher students won't say anything bad about him. He should think about what the students are saying about him and make some changes to his teaching. Hey what happen to freedom of speech? He doesn't have to right to shut other ppl's mouth because he doesnt like what other ppl are saying about him. THat is just BS. If he doesn't like it than don't teach. Ain't teacher teaching because he want to pass on the knowledge and not trip over what other ppl say. If he can't take what other ppl say than dont teach

I just want to say that I will support you all the way.

This site have helped me alot in finding the right classes and the right teachers for over a year now and is still the best site I have ever use since "Yahoo".

I also understand the pain it will cost you to go to court....but what ever happened to the "freedom of speech"?? If we don't fight back, then we would be no better than IRAQ. Letting other people bullie us and conquer us at will!

Hi Dylan,

Wanted to thank you for creating this wonderful site.

I'm not sure if this has already been suggested, since I haven't read the some 300 messages posted, but perhaps you could leverage the reputation model of ebay and amazon and apply it to the student reviews as well. People could say "this review was helpful", or like ebay, the teacher (if you could verify she/he) could write a response to the feedback.

The internet is a truly wonderful medium to bring together people/ideas. Your website brought great value and we need to find a way to make it work for everyone.

Good luck and hope to hear good news soon!

This website has helped myself out as well as many other friends in the University system. Although many professors might not like seeing what is written about them, much of it is true. Before teacherreview.com, I had many problems dealing with teachers who frankly didn't care about me, the student. This website has helped correct that curse and has allowed me to LEARN rather than dread going to class. Please continue this FREE SPEECH oriented website.

nooooo... bring the site back! I base my schedule ENTIRELY on this site!

The changes you're about to make will give professors a lot more power, perhaps, too much. Though I'm not so sure how big a difference it'll make, one thing I wouldn't mind seeing eliminated are the "anonymous" postings. It would also be nice to see a list of reviews that each person has written when you click on the link to their name. By looking at past reviews they've written, it may be easier to weed out bad posters this way. I hope the website comes back intact; I would hate to see it all go to waste.

students loves your website, man.

So sad! Your site has always been so helpful. I think students have a right to know how other students feel about a professor, as well as the right to share their own advice. I want it back!

we should all find this professor.....ahem

I can't believe this site is down. It's a real tragedy that you had to shut down the site at all, whether it be on a temporary or permanent basis. I used this site a lot when selecting my professors and I thank you for creating this gem of a website that allows indirect communication between students. I mean what's the big deal anyway...we'd probably all find out from a friend or two how lousy or how great some teachers actaully are. You saved us all the time and energy and gave us all a voice. Thank you! We're behind you 200%!

Thanks Dylan for all the hard work and efforts that you put into this site. It's immoral and unethical for someone to misuse your site like that, especially this site's ultimate purpose is to assist students. It's a good idea that you'll be filtering inappropriate comments, but how are you going to control the unintended users from deleting? Allowing access to anyone, can be every comment made of a professor will be deleted. However, I do hope you have this site available even if there's a downfall to the things that you're implementing. Thanks again.

who's the teacher that started it?

Is there anything we the general pulic can do to assist you with your current litigation. Or anyway we can help to get this great site back up. A pettition perhaphs?

This is a great and absolutely essential site which I and many others depend on to get accurate and timely feedback about teachers. It's unfortunate that a few over zealous reviewers could not stay objective in thier online review and have caused this regrettable incedent.

i can't believe your site is down! its the best thing thats ever happened to students, so we dont have to just blindly take a class- your efforts are def. appreciated. keep up the good work, and hope everything works out in your case.

I do think the response from professor would be nice, although hard to moderate. Professors are people too. Also, a dialogue seems much more responsible than simply "hiding" those comments that are inappropriate or wrong. Everyone (including students and professors) should be responsible for his or her words and actions. By allowing people to respond to allegations and comments, perhaps we can all learn from each other. Great work. Keep on keepin' on.

The site is really helpful to me.

It is a good site.

Please keep going on.

dylan,

going to teacherreviews.com helped me a lot in these past few years in college, with picking the right teachers who would provide the sort of learning experience that I would like so that i could earn a good/decent grade. most of the reviews are pretty accurate and i just don't how it'll be if i didn't have teacherreviews.com to help me choose my classes and teachers. i appreciate all the time you put into creating the site and maintaining the site. i hope the professor doesn't sue, and i hope you can get the site back up again. Thanks!

IS THE TEACHER WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT THE COMMENTS MADE ABOUT HIM NAMED JOE MUELLER AT COLLEGE OF MARIN? I read a lot of reviews about him having a preference for underaged women and farm animals, and after taking his class I found those remarks may be true. I wouldn't be surprised if it is him complaining.

http://www.marin.cc.ca.us

PLEASE put it back up. The remarks about the professors are near perfect and it has helped me greatly when arranging my schedule. You would win any lawsuit because it IS free speech. Students are the ones paying the professors, and they should have the right to review the teacher - even if it is a bad review.

When you put up the new site with different features, is the website going to be starting from fresh, or are there still going to be the teacher reviews on it(minus the one who threatened to sue)???

I hope that you can put the site back. I always like to check the teachers before I choose the classes. The professor who got upset, should try to be more flexible about the comments. Instead of getting angry about it, he should try to improve the way he lecture. Anyway, I really like this site very much and I hope that it become available soon again.

Where is the freedom of speech then?

Agree!! It's unconstitutinoal to slaughter our voices and those teachers are challeging our "Bill of Rights"

I agree with #274. How would students feel if THEIR names were listed along with comments about their lack of interest, motivation, and preparation for the classes they take?

I teach at a community college and see a surprising percentage of students who simply do not have the preparation (or interest) to be in the class. They are taking it because they "have to."

I received a few thoughtful reviews on teacher reviews, but some from resentful students who could not keep up with the work. One review was from a student I caught cheating (who I recognized by her mention of another biology classes) who clearly wanted to get back at me.

If you teach a tough class and have hundreds of students who think they should get something for nothing (a decent grade without studying hard), the reviews they write can be meaningless. In my experience, only about half of the reviews about my class sounded accurate to me. It also seemed that complainers were more likely to write - as I got many compliments from students directly.

Students who are forced to identify themselves may do a better job being honest about the class and their own shortcomings, perhaps. From my own experience, I expect to opt out of being "evaluated" online, given a choice.

So one bad (disgrutled) apple spoils the whole barrel?

I'm very disappointed to know that one teacher has the ability to effectively wipe out a web site of great value to a global learning community. I do agree that faculty members should have the right to comment on reviews from individual students but that a faculty member should NOT have the power to pressure a person into removing a vital conduit for free speech.

Students have the cyber means to discuss facutly members teaching abilities with current students and Alumni via many kinds of media, no matter the content of those discussion. So, do we allow this one person to take down all media types of communication because that one person didn't like what was said?

This forum should be reestablished post haste and allow all students to review and/or discuss the abilities (pro and con) of the faculty members without fear of reprocussion from any faculy member to the web master.

I think that some of the changes you are proposing are ok, but I think that hiding the comments would undermine the very reason that this site exists. maybe you could allow profs to hid annonomous postings but let the ones made by people using their name stay. This would keep you out of trouble.

Some Teachers are Really messed up and we dont want the other students to suffer. This site is very helpFul n i think teachers got no damn right to be interfering..If ur a Dum Teacher thn thts how its gonna b..Teachers like leroy from csm,,,Hopeless..

It is a good idea to evaluate your website and how it works. I am a professor who has received evaluations, both good and bad, and I have noticed that students who have received grades they are not happy with tend to lack objectivity in their evaluations and, oftentimes, venture into slanderous and damaging statements. I say this having experienced a slanderous review from someone who was not even in any of my classes and with whom I had a brief interaction with as this person submitted an entry for a campus publication. (By the way, this person's entries were not chosen for publication.) I believe that students should be accountable for their comments. The fact that your site allows for anonymous evaluations gives rise to disgruntled students who voice their unhappiness in unproductive ways. I am looking forward to seeing a new, improved site that would be more informative, balanced, and fair to both students and teachers.

The site was such a great resource. It's a shame two people, a student and one professor, messed it up for the rest of us. A professor gets paid to either teach or slack off. The teacher review site gave students different perspectives on GOOD professors and at times extremely BAD ones.......Hell, I thought knowledge was power!

Many professors believed that their evaluations were offensive and often inaccurate. It is also a way to let students get back on teachers. However, the site only provides student opinions. If a professor gets poor review, you should be wondering why? Anonymous is very important because it is part of the internet security. I am sure every school files their teacher evaluation anonymously also. That is the purpose of protecting students who are not comfortable with stepping up. I never let teacherreviews.com choose me. I usually go to the professor the first day of class myself to see if the comments were true. While some students does write offensively, you have to understand not many student really take the offensive language into their account. They just skip those comments. They simply want to take a good professor. There is 16 million webpages that said George Bush is a miserably failure. Do you see Bush have the power to take down all 16 million webpages?

Your new features for your website will discourage students from posting comments. This is what i think

1. Add a response to comment like ebay next to each review so professor can explain themselves.

2. Let it stay anonymous. How many students have the guts to confront their professor with their real name?

3. No removal of comments, this creates a biaes review, thus, inaccurate.

4. Filter function to filter out offensive words.

Every student in this nation is behind you 100%! Don't let us down!!!

I am an instructor that was reviewed on the teacherreviews.com. This is a great site to help students select instructors. I like the idea of making the reviews private, however, the instructor should be limited to making all reviews private or none of the reviews private. This way, students get an overall view of the instructor or no view. for those of us who don't want to accept negative, but truthful, critism should not be in the teaching proffession. As instructors we often have to provide negative cirtism to our students, if we can't take it, we shouldn't dish it out.

Perhaps students should be cautioned to write "polite" reviews. Most professors I know would never write impolite comments about students for others to see.

We instructors have an obligation to honestly report the student's performance to the college, for obvious reasons, but we are never told to "criticize" our students. We give an objective letter grade - that's not criticism.

We ALL need to stay objective here. Perhaps it's best to make the teacherreviews rating system numerical, unless students can keep the "criticism" completely objective and unemotional. Better yet, avoid criticism altogether and stick to objective reporting. If you were truly objective, maybe you wouldn't be so afraid to mention your own names.

Don't expect all your teachers to be A+ teachers, as few fall into that category. We are trying our best, as we hope you are. It often seems that MOST students are NOT trying their best in my classes. I see a lot of "complainers" in this forum - would love to see their performance in the classroom so I can evaluate their complaints.

When you say "the teacher's test questions are unfair", give a percentage - one or two questions may be bugging you but probably 95% of the test questions WERE fair. Same with all our other attributes - if we give one disorganized lecture but 10 others were just fine, think of your own percentage performance in the class.

BRING BACK THE WEBSITE!!!!

The professors have no rights to say anything about the website. If the professors are good, they don't need to worry about what people might review about them.

This is my last year at Rochester Institute of Technology and the last time I will use teacher review. I have told many people the benefits of such a sight as well as the drawbacks. I see three arguments within. First, a teacher must take into consideration what potential students are thinking and a student must interpret the negative and positive reviews of his/her peers. Some students might want a teacher who is R.O.J. (retired on the job) and others might want a teacher who pushes them above and beyond their perceived limits. Both reviews would be drastically different. Second, even in rare circumstances when all the reviews are bad, it might be a warning sign to the teacher that drastic changes must be made in teaching style and/or personality. Last, is it right to sue a third party who has nothing to do but state how students feel about certain teachers? In my opinion, only an educated student and teacher can interpret the information from teacher reviews with question and without anger.

Please bring back the website! It is important for students to be able to read the opinions of others, as well as make their own opinions when selecting classes. After reading reviews, I am able to select a teacher that I feel would fit my style of learning.

Please don't forget that freedom of speech is really important in this country!! Well, we have to fill out the evaluation for every teacher at the end of the semester. I guess the point for us to fill it out is to improve the teacher's teaching style. All the students are just doing the samething here. They give the rest of the students about their experience and suggestion. For professors, I think this is a good web site for you to improve your teaching style, and this web site is letting you know what students think.

Having been an engineering student at Northeastern (Boston), and a professor, I have had some teachers who were there to intimidate and put down students, along with smart and caring ones. As a professor, I have had students who were passed classes (or get admitted to school) unjustifiably, only to be totally unprepared for the content of the course. Other students (from Liberal Arts, for example) would do anything to slow down the class and reduce the amount of covered material because they're not interested in the material, thereby hurting other students and causing grief to their teachers.

I am sorry to see that this site has been closed down. As a professor I'm always interested

in what my students have to say. One reviewer called me a bitch, however, I didn't take it

personally. My thought is if the student thinks I'm a bitch then let them tell

me why they think that way, else I consider it someone just letting off steam.

To the owner of Teacher Review. (I dont know your name.)

I have mixed feelings about making any options about others, including ones on Teacher Review. On the one hand I think its a great thing if students (like me) can get valid information about a perspective teacher. I have about 250 college units and 4 degrees. Ive had, what I consider, truly gifted teachers and ones that seem to babble. Teachers are people too, and they some sometimes have social problems just like all of us. By the way, Ive posted 1 or 2 reviews of teachers on the site.

But, as I mentioned above, the key is getting valid information about a teacher. How does the reader really know? I have to wonder how valid the review is that Im reading. Have you ever read some of the reviews of books on Amazon? Ive read reviews of books where there might be 3 or 4 great ones and then there is 1 or 2 that is atrocious one--all of the same book. One wonders how the same book could cause such an inconsistency. And Ive seen kind of thing on Teacher Review too.

I think anyones opinion about another person must be taken at face value. I can remember a number of instances in my past were two people had two completely differing opinions about a third person. This leads one to wonder if there is an inconsistency, after all, its the same person! There could be a number of valid reasons for this; for example a favoritism issue. Or there may be an invalid reason; like a student has some kind of chip on his shoulder (maybe he missed a test and the teacher did not let him make it up). My point is that one can never really know what precipitated ANY review. I think its a very good idea that the students grades are posted with their reviews. In my on and off 25 years of schooling Ive found that students that receive a poor grade seem to be critical about that teacher, but students who receive a good grade seem to like that teacher, and that scenario should be considered by the reader.

I feel its a matter of integrity, ethics and responsibility on the part of the web site owner to verify students reviews of teachers and to ensure that all remarks are valid. This may not be possible in many, or even most cases, but nonetheless, one had better get their facts straight--especially if your going to bad mouth someone on the web.

Finally, I think this is all an interesting exercise in critical thinking, and isnt that one reason that we go to school anyway? Critical thinking shows one how to find falsies. It seems to me that there is some kind of irony to this; about the validity of students reviews of their teachers.

This is insane. A bad teacher gets a bad review, so take it off? That defeats the entire purpose of the site. Return to the original policies; as you yourself say, they have been successfully defended by the ACLU, and the teachers' lawsuit was struck down in court.

Students are paying for an education, they have the right to unbiased information about their professors. I have been stuck with incompentent professors in the past because of the lack of critical information in the past. I still had to pay tuition, didn't I? If the review is clearly the biased opinion of a disgruntled student, we should be able to identify it ourselves. I think the teachers need to accept it and move on.

This is tottaly and completely ridculus, a violation of the bill of rights and the 5th amendement, wich gives US citzens the right to free speech. Ask the teacher if I came up to him and said he was a dumbasss if he would sue me for slander? What an idiot! Apperently the professor was not a Poltical Science teacher. It is important that we protect our rights in this country when so many are being jeporized already. Bring the site back up!

I found TeacherReview incredibly valuable for finding decent/excellent teachers at CCSF and avoiding bad ones - the ones I have encountered at CCSF have been reviewed fairly on TeacherReview. Bad reviewers, repetitive or those with an ax to grind are pretty obvious. Abusive reviews should be eliminated of course, but there really are poor instructors that students should be able to warn each other about; given the fractured nature of the student body of CCSF, I can't imagine any better way than TeacherReview to do this. Although I think the ratio of good/excellent to bad teachers is high, a bad one can derail your whole education.

We really do need Teacher Review. There are some atrociously bad teachers, as well as good ones out there. We may be basing our decisions on other people's opinions, but there are some teachers who do deserve the negative reviews, such as the teacher who, according to several reviewers, always showed up late and sometimes canceled class on whim so he could make dinner dates.

It's true that you can drop a class if you find the professor lacking, but, with the lack of funding CCSF is getting, that means you will not be able to add another class. You will have to wait for the next semester to register for that class. This semester most teachers were not accepting adds and the classes were already crowded.

It will take much longer to get all your units if you randomly register for classes and then drop them should they not suit you. It is best if you can understand what you're getting into beforehand.

ARRRRGH! BRING THE WEB SITE BACK!!!

TeacherReviews was one of the best and most useful sites around for students who are seeking different types of teachers. I used this service because I was seeking teachers who sounds to suit my learning style and it worked extremely well for the first semester of college. Thank you Dylan, you have truly helped so many students.

Dylan you did a great job and from my side I am very upset. I think students need to make choice and in order to make a choice we need to have set of options. Before we had options but now .......................

Hi everyone, I think this is crazy for shutting down the web site. This is a free country and we all have freedom of speech to express our opinion. Also it's completely against the human rights in U.S. By the way I am taking an instructor who have an F message on the website, he showed us during the class and made fun to us and said "I'm not a good teacher, so you guys can try the other one", even though he got B average on the TeacherReview. My point is I understand how unset if an instructor see those bad reviews, but he don't have to over serious about it beacuse that's only some of the students' opinions, it doesn't represent all of the students as a whole.

Tell professor Kovaks, the one who probably pointed you out on the overall issue, to eat a dick, cause he's a fucken fag

10 best/worst cars.

10 best/worst airports.

10 good/bad opinions about the president.

10 good/bad opinions about Arnorld.

Don't you see what's happening here Mr. extremely upset.

I am an online student with University of Phoenix and your website has helped me through the last 2 1/2 years! I always checked out the site to better understand how to deal with a teacher and/or specific course. I have 4 weeks remaining of my final course and have not had much interaction with my professor and was hoping to learn more about him from the site. Good teachers are not threatened by this site.

Please remove comments no.262!!!!

None of the changes you propose are good. Either fight for what you believe in or get out of the ring. I don't have the time for a lawsuit either but if you agree to eliminate ALL censorship, I'll back you up any way I can, including courtroom testimony.

Dylan- TR has been down now for about a month. Please get your act together or sell the site to someone who won't sit on their hands.

Anonymous - I'm working my ass off on it every weekend and evening that I can. This is a free tool that I've never made a single penny on. I'm no longer a student so I'm doing this just for your benefit.

Please be patient, you wait will be well worth it.

Dylan, I discovered your website only about a month ago and as a graduating senior, it was too late to utilize-- however, out of curiousity, I looked up my past teachers and ALL the reviews were HONEST, TASTEFUL and USEFUL! (Freedom of speech can be both wonderful and destructive!) Stay focused and true to your rights. You have an overwhelming amount of support...

Teacherreview.com is the most reliable website for student to find out the style of an instructor before enrolling in a class. I agree that some of the reviews are not valid and truthful, but I think it is important for students to share their thoughts and opinions about the class. I feel teachers who responded so negatively about the website and the reviews are selfish individuals who can't accept the fact they are a bad teacher. The bottom line: good teachers should be praised and bad teachers should be critized. I support you teacherreview.com 100%. If you need any signature for any petition or appeal, just post something up and I'll be the first one to put my authentic name.

Teaching is an honorable profession. Many teachers i have met, especially those who participate in public education, have devoted to their profession with such religious fervor. Yet there are exception. There are always black sheeps around. The same goes to the profession of polis, for instance, i bet many of you also have these bad experiences with police officers who deem themselves as the law personified rather than merely its enforcers. True we get to grade the teachers in school near the end of each semester. But ideal is one thing, reality the other. once i was unfairly treated by a teacher, during the course of complaint filing i was taught that theirs is a power structure where these so called educators scratch each others' back, educational institution is a bureaucracy after all, they take care of each others' interests. henry kissinger said this, 'academic politics is vicious precisely because the stake is too small,' I know not about the stake stuff, but it seems to be vicious indeed. i often hear one teacher bad mouthing the others in class, or teachers who teach summer/winter class threaten us to enrol during the first few classes using those articulated words which will free them of legal responsibility, telling us they have family to take care of while the university systems sucks, etc, etc. These black sheep teachers are nasty. I hate to say this, my impression is that many of these bad teachers are losers who cannot compete in the non academic world, they get wacked out there, be it wall street, high tech firms, politics, i.e. their field of specialty, and they seek refuge in the academic world. These black sheeps who tarnish the honarable profession of teaching bring to the sacred educational institution their discontent and hatred, they blame the society where only the strong survive, they are jealous of students who still have the luxury of dreams, they hate the office politics within their department, often they would channel their anger toward their students, easy targets. teacherreviews.com allows the students to voice their opinions, certainly these black sheep teachers will get nasty. I think no reviews should ever be removed from the site at all. This will only undermine its credibility. of course USA is a nasty country where justice is only affordable to the rich, probably the web master should seek collaboration from capitalists such as those who sell text books on the web or etc, etc. however, it is difficult i can imagine, if only these civil liberty unions can grow stronger, such a nasty country this is, free speech is a myth..

this is a blantant violation of First Amendment and I am amazed to see teacherreview.com backing down due to this. I am sure many of us students would have supported you to face up to any kinds of legal challenges there might be.

I am sad that the threat of a lawsuit has taken this site down, even temporarily. I have read many of the suggestions and agree that professors should not have the ability to remove reviews, but SHOULD have the ability to respond to them. I also agree that the comments should include the date they were posted and would add they should include the dates of the author took the class. I think paying to review comments is a good idea, with posting of comments free. (After all, very few people would probably pay to say something NICE, but everyone would pay to see the review)

I had no idea that this site was run and supported by one person. I also rely on this site, and have contributed to it. Fortunately I have only had positive experiences with my professors. I take everything I read with a grain of salt.

Good luck with your decision making and rebuilding of the site. I will also be contributing to your legal and rebuilding fund.

Even if you make the new site where you have to write your name, all people are going to do is make up false names and email addresses so they are still able to make comments about teachers without being worried the teacher is going to backlash. you might as well make being anonymous a part of your new site -- or else i'll just make up false identities so i can write comments on good and bad teachers.

Dylan, Teacher review.com was a great help to me and a whole lot of other students. Almost all the reviews were helpful in choosing prof.'s for college. Last term we had encouraged our freshman batch to use teacherreview.com, and it was a success. I logged on to use it to chose professors for next term. Its really sad to know that it's down for the time being. Hope everything goes right and good luck in rebuilding the site. We all hope your site to be up soon and run as amazingly as it did before.

G'Luck

Bring the website back please. You would win the law suit based on freedom of speech. We students have the right to mention what we think about teachers and what our experiences are. If the teachers do not like what students wrote about them, then there should be more pressure on the teacher to change.

TeacherReviews.com is coming back, it's just taking me time to rebuild it. All of the old reviews will be there and your old account will still work.

Dylan-

Was it a San Francisco Bay Area TEacher STarting SHit?????

Don't give it another thought! Do it, Dylan! I base all my decisions on your website. Also, I found that students were right on with their reviews. If they said good things about the teacher, when I had the teacher, I found the good things to be true. When I got stuck and had to take a teacher whose reviews were not good, but I needed that teacher for a GE class, I found that the criticism was right on. Teacherreview never, ever failed me, which really means that the students are honest, insightful and trustworthy. Like I said, don't give it another thought. Just rebuild it and pat yourself on the back for an excellent job well done. BRAVO Dylan!!!!

This is the most useful site ever! Bring it back!

Dylan, first let me say that I am extremely bummed that TR is down. I happen to be looking for some info about an instructor at a new school that I am attending and to my surprise, my teacher-truth resource site was gone (temporarily). I hope that the revamping process goes smoothly. I'm sorry that the instructor (DCBROWN?) is still fighting. It's really unfortunate that these trolls can't get over the truth. If they suck as instructors, seek professional assistance to fix the insecurity within or just retire. To all the wonderful, challenging instructors that I learned about on TR (LBELL, MDUCKWORTH, CMOODY, JGRASS, PYOUNG, DPIONTKOWSKI, MSOLOW, TSU) thanks for being inspiring me to challenge myself. I would have never known that you were great instructors without having read TeacherReview.com. Thanks Dylan and I hope you are back up soon.

Man...I'm disappointed about the site being down for now. That site was very helpful for me to choose which teacher is right for me. It gave me heads up on how difficult the teacher is and what kind of connection the teachers have with students, like the teachers' personality. I can't wait for the site to come back up! :D

what kind of a professor he is! don't know about freedom. why'don't u put it back for us. help all student. all student r depend on this website. right now we r trouble in choosing classes. i really disappointed.

Hey there. Can't believe this site is down. You need to bring it back and soon. Enrollment for classes will be starting soon. Hopefully it'll be back up. That sucks because it really helps all of us students out. That instructor needs to let it go, and if he doesn't like he reviews, he should find ways to improve his/her teaching abilities & maybe lighten up, so he/she can get better reviews. Well hopefully you'll bring it back up really soon! Seriously! =)

COMPLETELY BOGUS...

This was a good site for students to help students. Some teachers SUCK, and we have a right to KNOW! Some teachers ROCK, and we have a right to KNOW! TeacherReviews was one of the best resources i had for choosing classes and now it's gone! I hope the situation is resolved ASAP!

This is a travesty against all students using this site. I chose my teachers by this site, it gave me an opportunity to learn who the teachers are, what other students thought, and gives me an insight into what the teacher might be like. If there are a lot of negative responses then I don't want a class that most don't like. But if I can see that there are a few positives, then I might be inclined to take that class on. It's dismal that this site is down especially with summer classes and fall coming around the corner. How are students to start chosing teachers?

Anyone who use teache review site to select teacher for their class must constribute money to get a good attorney to fight but with these BS teacher. How about $5.00 each schedule to keep this site alive the way it is. If every agree then

respond to the webmaster.

Would students pay $5?

(Yes, I'm up working on TeacherReviews at 5:20am....)

wad up dylan...u the man...keep up the good work holmes

and no students wouldnt pay $5. sorry but thats the truth

that would be coming out of their beer money and u never take from a college students beer money

You are missed!!!

Where do I send my $5?

I've used it to stay away from awful instructors at least 10 times so I'll cough up $50!

This site was the MOST accurate site I've ever seen. If the instructor had inappropriate comments about him/her on the site, I'd bet money that he/she deserved them.

Wow, as I'm getting ready to register for fall classes, this is a serious set-back! I'm yet another one who bases a large portion of her schedule on the reviews of others. How else are you going to judge when all you have is a course title and a name on a sheet of paper? I really hope you get this going again soon.

Yes, I would probably be willing to fork over $5 to use the site. Although it would probably cut down the amount of people posting if that came into it.

Also, I think it is important to be able to post anonymously--even when I've left really good reviews for teachers I've loved, it would have scared me off completely to have to put my name to it.

I think it's ridiculous that just because one professor got bent out of shape all of these students have to go without this service. Think this guy needs to go back and re-read what they wrote. Besides, when there's one or 2 ridiculously negative posts amid normal ones, hello--we're going to take it with a grain of salt. If they're all that bad, maybe this guy needs to look at his teaching. Please get this back online!!! Good luck!

I'm helpless here! No other teacher review website has such a wide array of schools and teachers. I need to compose my fall schedule and I ALWAYS check out teacherreview.com before doing it. This semester, due to your site, I got the BEST teacher for Experimental Psychology, a statistics course that can be the death of you if you don't have a good teacher. In my school, teachers get reviewed by students at the end of each semester by policy of the university. If we can write anything in feedback to our teacher after the semester, why can't we share it with others? Teacherreviews.com is the most logical and useful method of getting feedback to the teachers and to spread the word.

Teacherreview is the best. Based on it for class schedules. 99% accurate about teachers. Put it back on the web.

This site honestly has helped many students in college! I have had the best teachers and avoided the worst ones due to this site, please try your hardest to get it back up! This site is the #1 way to suceed in college!

i'm a freshman, and of course i used teacherreviews.com to help figure out which teachers i wanted for my schedule, i've never been here before, i'm sad to see it go...

I unfortunatly found out that your site was down while trying to find a review on a teacher for next semester! I am so upset. Teacher reviews has never steered me wrong for the last 2 years of school. This is our freedom of speech, and since when does writing have to be 100% accurate? (Examples, Star magazine, US, Enquierer...etc.) Freedom of speech allows for these publications, why then does this website need to be taken down? As for allowing teachers to pull postings that THEY don't agree with ruins the whole purpose of this website. This is not a website to boost teacher's egos, it is to help students get a good education. Believe me, these reviews are quite true, and I have had first hand experience with horrible teachers. And yes, the teacher can make or break a class.

seriouslly though, this website is a student's dream...what could be better than getting opinions about the teachers from nobody else but the students themselves??? being a student is already hard as it is and we all know that we struggle through our classes, especially those with bad teachers...teacherreviews.com is just a helpful tool to make our semester (and our learning experience) a little more worth while...please bring it back ASAP. students need this!!!!!!!

Access to the preview site will start this weekend! All old reviews are still there.

Thank you everybody for your patience!

Teacher Reviews was a very good site because it really helps student with choosing the right teacher. Having a good teacher motivate the students to do their best.

BRING BACK Sudent Review!!! We're willing to fight for it.....

I have used TeacherReviews for a few years now. I've posted "positive" and "negative" for instructors at 3 different schools. I've also used it to augment my selection process for classes. It's helped me keep my sanity.

I've tried to read through the comments above, and I'm not clear where these "features" lies in process, but a button to remove reviews and a way to hide all reviews makes the "new" TeacherReviews worthless. The "remove" feature is, at best, going to be abused. The "hidden" reviews where only the teacher sees opinion takes away any benefit to posting on that teacher for the students.

The combination makes the new site more for the benefit of teachers - if there is any benefit. Negative, yet not libelous reviews will be deleted. Positive reviews will likely be deleted as well, if there is no control, by people who do not agree. In effect, TeacherReviews loses any backbone with these two features in place, and most if not all of its value to students.

If it's come to that ... just shoot the horse.

#382 Ed - not to worry, it will not work that way.

There will be strict control for what reviews can be hidden, and the grades and comments why they were removed will always be visible.

I think I know who the teacher is. It seems like i remember reading a comment exactly like that about either a sociology or computer science teacher at the University of South Carolina (the real USC). I can't remember. Of course, I won't name names, but if you go to USC and have taken any sociology or CSCE classes, you can probably figure out who done it. I'm leaning toward the CSCE department personally.

Wow, I am sorry to see this site go. I was introduced to this site by another student from UOP. After her and I both complained about our professor. I gave him a D in my review. He was the first and last review I gave. But I did use this site to see how my other teachers measured up. They were usually right on. By the way, the teacher I gave the D to, averaged a D. So I wasn't so sad.

i think you have the right idea with having an option to be notified of inappropriate reviews. citysearch.com has something similar, where they have a "click here if this is an inappropriate or offensive review" button or something of the like.. then its reviewed later and either kept or deleted.

its odd that an instructor would make such a fuss about this, you would think an educator would be ok with everyone voicing their opinion. i mean, if you reviewed a resturaunt on citysearch, and said something like "there was a roach in my salad" and the next day wrote another and said "they had nice carpet" it wouldnt be very fair to only print the good, huh?

some of the ccsf teachers are rediculous, its been a fundamental problem for me in my post-high-school education.

Please, make 'teacherreview' website available to students and make it possible to choose the instructor who knows how to teach and enjoy a teaching process. Some instructors just hate their students and have no idea that school is not a right place where you can put people down. This website was so fair for students and if some "teachers" didn't like it, it shows that they didn't do their job well; they have to face the truth. Eliminating a web site will not help to solve SFSU problems.

Dylan,

I cannot believe that teacher would be so selfish to protest againts such valuable asset to the students of SFSU. Students have a right to express their opinions on positive and negative experiences they've had with each and every professor. Try to get this thing running by FALL 2004.

Good Luck!

Diego

Diego - it will be running well before fall!

-- Comment Removed --

Thanks for your patience everybody!

I love teacher reviews! It's a great site and I would use it every semester. It truely helps! I wish you all the luck and I hope it comes back soon:)

I wouldn't worry too much about the issue of verifying a professor's identity when they email you. After all, you have no way to verify that the people writing reviews are actual students in the professor's class. (Sympathetic friends at the same school often try to prove that there is a consensus of opinion when in reality there's just one disgruntled student with an ax to grind.)

when will the site be open to the public? you said a month that was 6 months ago!!!!!! Maybe you can give us an idea when if at all???????

mike - i thought it would be right away too. some issues (legal and otherwise) have slowed things down, but the site will return.

There are other sitess too not a big deal ONE of the teacher review sites are down. 

Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  What's wrong with that?  It's not like they're facts or anything.  Instead of complaining about negative reviews, perhaps the professor should rethink his way of teaching and be a little more open to the students.

Dylan:

The way you have CourseReviews.com set up is WORTHLESS.

First thing tomorrow I'm corralling the IT folks at my company and I'm gonna drill them on how to set up a review website, the way it USED to be, where the truth was NOT swept under a rug.

You're wasting your time, Dylan.  Sell the website to the Amertican Federation of Teachers so that they can give every professor in America stellar reviews.

And, are you going to censor THIS post?????

#398 - Send me an email and tell me why it is worthless.  I'll make the changes.  I'm adding new features to the site.  Let me know what you want to see.

I'd like to know why the reviews with a rating of F continue to be hidden. If this site is active and is to be a useful tool, these reviews should be unmasked. I'd have to agree with the previous poster that in the present state, the site is worthless if all comments tied to the low ratings are not viewable. To some degree, it does amount to censorship. This site used to be a useful tool in seeing other students' assessments of instructors at my school. I'd be interested in knowing when you plan on making all assessments viewable without exception.