Dylan Greene dot com

Hey, check into 47 USC 230 and related caselaw (Zeran, Blumenthal, Ben Ezra, Schneider (similar fact pattern as yours). You are probably immune from liabilty since postings are created by others. You can probably expect Supreme Court activity soon.

I hope you will soon finish this problem because your website is one of the most important thing that happen in the internet. Good luck!

Congrats Dylan :)

Thank you, Dylan, for putting so much time and effort into keeping your site going! For the past two years I've used Teacherreviews.com as one tool among many to help me get the most out of my education. A bad review is never enough to make me avoid a teacher offhand, merely to take a closer look at him or her. On the flip side, more than once a particularly shining review has prompted me to give a second look to the classes that teacher is offering.

Most of my professors have been great people, and on the one hand I feel a little bad that some of them have to deal with the embarrassment of bad reviews that they don't deserve. However, no one has the right to avoid criticism. This is something we all learned in middle school, people! If someone makes fun of you, running to the teacher and complaining is never going to solve the problem. You just have to take it in stride and do the best you can. Hold your head up high anyway, and people will respect you for it. Similarly, the teachers who may be angry about the existence of a site like Teacherreviews need to either take the negative comments they receive as constructive criticism or just ignore them.

I'm still a little nervous about the idea of letting teachers remove their own reviews, but I trust that you won't let them abuse the system. Slander is one thing (he/she kills puppies and gave me an F because I wouldn't give him/her pictures of me naked!), a genuine dislike for someone and valid complaints about them are another (I had a difficult time paying attention because of his/her droning voice, and I thought that he/she really didn't know much about teaching). Remove the former while keeping the latter, and the site will maintain its integrity. Once again, thank you for your committment to this awesome and helpful site!

I know for one that FoO will create you a really kick-ass design ... I'm sure that he was blessed by the Web Design God!

Very useful site, PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!

Your site has been an asset to me since I began college three years ago. It has helped me choose competent teachers. I thank you for creating this site and for your continuous effort to keep it up. I feel that students have the right to share information with another in regards to teachers. Although it is true that some of the reviews had unnecessary comments in regards to personal hygiene, age,etc., for the most part it consisted of constructive criticism. I don't agree with the fact that a teacher will be able to remove a posting-that completely diminishes the purpose of the site. Who's not to say that every review will be removed, seeing how it will be left up to the teacher's. I honestly don't see what the big deal was and why they are trying to sue you, when you're not the one who posted the reviews. What happened to freedom of speech? I view this site as one that warns you and gives you information about a teacher. Taking this site off and allowing it to stay with all the exceptions is like seeing someone about to be hit by a car and not warning them.

I heard about this site in the midst of a class from hell and reviewed the facilitator. I just finished another class at the other end of the spectrum and wnated to review that facilitator as well. I was the second of two bad reviews on the first, it wouldn't surprise me if he was the problem.

we need this great site back and working

Your site was/is undeniably awesome. It was/is considered a major resource to be used by our students at UMBC. I am sure that both the SEB (programming board) and the SGA (governing board) at our university (UMBC) will continue to support you and your site. That being said, I imagine the student bodies at most, if not all, institutions of higher learning across the country would do just the same. Thank you (from the students of America) Mr. Greene.

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)???

TeacherReview is valuable, useful, and fun to read for students like myself. Give it a makeover and bring and back soon! Thank you.

We love the site.

Will you give us an estimate of when it will be back up and running?

I really enjoyed your sight. I was able to find informative information on teachers. I hope all will be better and you will be up and running very soon. I used your sight as a tool and I also enjoyed all the candid opinions from everyone!

I have to admit, this site was just awesome. I referenced it every semester I have (thank goodness I'm now a senior and don't have to worry with it anymore). However, I'm not worried about it staying down...I'm sure that it will turn out to be the best. It will come back. Freedom of speech is a right entitled to everyone; I find it amazing how lawyers are wanting to work with this free of charge. Dylan, you were a genius in the invention of this site, and I thank you for the warnings I received about professors. I cannot see this site being shut down by one professor's attitude towards it. I believe that this site had a great communication between students and faculty. Some of the entries were harsh at times and should not have been posted, but that's just what some are going to be. If they hate a professor, they're going to let others know. However, that shouldn't keep you from taking the course; it should only warn you to watch out for that professor. Everyone should take responsibility in deciding whether a few reviews are going to keep you from taking a course or not. Good luck with the revitalization of the site, and long live teacherreview.com

my friends and me was shook when we heard the side was be closed. i thought this is a free speech country but it turn out to be a "very limited" speech allowed only.no body like to be judged. However, if a professor couldn't take some opinions from students, then i really don't think the education in the U.S. can be called "successful."

I must give you my deepest regrets for having to temporarily shut down TeacherReviews. It has been revolutionary and still continues to be. The ability for students to be able to match their learning styles to a particular professor and maximize their learning experience is a valuable tool. I've just recently learned of the current situation from my university's newspaper (UMBC), but have you heard any commendations from the teachers themselves? I can understand that getting a bad review can be very personal and insulting, but they too can learn from them.

However, as you've probably learned, the site has its pitfalls, where it can't distinguish a valid evaluation from a flaming attempt at revenge. Your site will continue to evolve, I believe, and be able to handle these types of reviews.

As for giving the teachers the ability to remove posts, I think that is a step in the right direction, but I also think that there are pitfalls there as well. Giving teachers their input to is a great idea, but just like students abusing their reviewing power, teachers can also abuse their power and keep only glowing reviews. I'm pretty sure you'll find the right balance between the student and teacher, and what will keep the evaluations critical and valid and filter out the emotion driven ones that have no merit.

TeacherReviews needs the teachers! I can probably tell that not all teachers have the time to view and maintaint their own reviews, but given the right incentives and ease of access, you can probably be successful in getting their involvement. You can probably even give them the option of opting out of being reviewd on TeacherReviews all together. This may sound like a cop out, but you must also look at the side of the students selecting their teachers. If they don't see reviews of a prospective teacher, they will be less likely to select him/her. Thus the professor will lose potential students, but still be able to have the sense of being able to guard themselves from critics.

I want to be able to help as much as I can to ensure that future students have TeacherReviews, so I'll keep my ideas coming. Good luck!

Thanks for giving us such a great resource. I review every one of my teachers at the University of South Carolina good or bad. The advice that is passed along from student to student is a great way to prepare for a new course. Hopefully, you'll have the site back up before I have to register for the next semester!!!

I learned about the site at the beginning of this semester when one of my students told me that the reviews of my class were why she took me for the course. I checked out the reviews. I had three. Two were very good and one was not. I was a little upset with the third only because I thought that over half of the comments were unfair and could be disproved by the student's peers. I did agree with some of the comments and they were areas that I know need improvement. Having said that, it did not even occur to me to be upset with the site for providing a service which could prove useful. However, as was mentioned in other comments, students do need to be critical of reviews -- good and bad -- and go with their gut feeling about a class and particular professor. Comments here are opinions based upon one person's point of view. Again, I do think that they are valuable for teachers and students. Maybe instead of allowing the teachers to edit the student comments, they should instead be allowed to post a response (defense?) to said comments so that both sides can be viewed. I acknowledge that even this idea has flaws but no system is perfect. Allow only one chance per student to post something on a particular teacher and one response by the teacher to said student. That would (hopefully) cut down on sniping, etc. Of course, if teachers do not like what's being said, they can always opt to not read the site!

Hi there. I attend university of south carolina and I'm shocked to see that the site is taken down. I have to register for summer classes in a few weeks and hope the site back by then. As far as a professor getting a bad review most students at univ of sc are telling the truth. There are several professors at univ of sc that need to improve their teaching skills, or retire. Some of them cna't control the classroom. I hope your site is back real soon liek tomorrow or monday by the latest.

This site has been wonderful because it has helped me find some great teachers. I hope the site comes back online soon.

I hope this website is back up and running soon. I have to register for summer courses at the University of South Carolina and I need to retrieve reviews. I have used this site ever since I came to USC 3 years ago. This site has helped me to avoid the teachers that are just to hard to even deal with. Thanks for helping me so far and I am hoping that your site will be able to help others in the future. I believe that I speak for many when I say thanks for all of you hard work, I wish there were more people like you in the world that like to help others.

IF YOU ARE A BAD TEACHER THEN YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE. DON'T GET SO OFFENDED BY THE COMMENTS, INSTEAD TAKE THEM AS POSITIVE CRITISISM. HINT, MAYBE YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU ACT, YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS, AND BASICALLY THE WAY THAT THE STUDENTS VIEW YOU. I REALLY FEEL THAT NO ONE WOULD WRITE SUCH HARSH THINGS ABOUT SOMEONE UNLESS THEY FELT THAT THE TEACHER DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THEM NOR THE REST OF THE STUDENT BODY. CHANGE YOURSELF, DON'T TRY AND MAKE THINGS HARD NOT ONLY FOR YOURSELF BUT THE REST OF THE STUDENT BODY AT ANY SCHOOL. STUDENTS ALL OF THE NATION USE THIS SITE AND WHOMEVER GOT THIS SITE SHUT DOWN IS PUTTING A BURDEN ON THE WHOLE BODY OF STUDENTS ACROSS THE NATION. IS IT FAIR TO WRITE BAD THINGS ABOUT SOMEONE, OR IS IT FAIR TO RUIN A WEBSITE THAT SO MANY INOCENT STUDENTS USE TO BETTER THEIR EDUCATION? TALKING ABOUT INCONSIDERATION.

What is the name of the school where the complaining professor teaches?

Have you looked at the site ratemyteachers.com ?There is also ratemyprofessors.com

They seem to be able to keep the comments on their site pretty decent by using moderators and having a flagging system in place.

I'm a high school teacher, but have been tutoring a college student with learning disabilities. We often used teacherreview to choose her professors.

Bring back teacherreviews.

We will be registering for fall semester soon.

We need the help.

Hurry

i'm a prof. i am very upfront and direct. some people think this is fine, some peoplke can't stand it. some peop[le hate me and some people appreciate being dealt with "on the level". i think that students recognize that in a population you've got loo loos and you've got mostly sane honest people. mostly people who are disatisfied seek out some form of vengenace, people who are satisfied moistly move on and occasionally the really-impressed will take time to comment. so i think that on balance you will tend to see a bias toward the negative. but the big point is, you can't toss any of it out. people will just need to use their judgement and i expect most of them agree with the caveats above and will filter. since most people are by definition normal, things will be ok as long as there is no sensorship of the information. publish what you get. if it gets too unbalanced, the system is self-correcting in that 'the accused' (prof) or those who see the injustice (students who have also taken the same prof, will be stimulated to write in and rebut. but don't in any case allow anybody to censor - not profs, not nobody. that only creat5es illusions and not reality. and after all what you want here, besides a little fun, is reality.

As a professor who has received both high praise and damning

remarks about my work, I see serious issues in the way that the Teacherreviews website has been run. For one thing, you have no apparent controls over another faculty member writing in a review when he or she wants to damage another colleague's career. Often times criticisms contain points that are blatantly false and represent "payback" of one kind

or another, i.e., never provided outlines, never reviewed

material, etc. There are also personality attacks upon prof-

essors made by so-called anonymous parties. The free speech

advocates come out of the woodwork when "anything goes" is

threatened. Your website may be loved by certain students,

but, it is not respected by fair-minded individuals. As you

quander resurrecting your website, consider developing one

about lawyers so that their clients can publicly name and list complains about lawyers... and do it anonymously.

it is a shame to hear that a professor is seeking legal action against this web site just because students were posting a honest review. i hope everything will be resolved because if it wasn't for teacherreviews i'd still be taking teachers who are incompetent. good luck!

I am wondering how a college professor got the idea that he could sue because of some OPINIONS of students? Since when in America have we been denied our right to express opinion? Personally, if I was the professor, I would take the critique to heart, and use it as a tool to better my performance. I LOVE TeacherReview.com, and I hope to see it back soon, because I have some good feedback to leave about my latest professor that was not on the system before. He needs to get recognized for his effectiveness.

Your teachersreview.com is the most resourceful site to me. I have also since recommended to friends and others you interested at finding more about your site, and course instructors before selecting class to enroll. I was deeply disappointed that we could not access to your tr site at the moment. I wish you win the case since I don't think you will be liable for the accusations made by whoever those 'elite' professors. If a lot of changes will be asked to make on your tr, i.e. suit the needs of those prof....then the we (students) will lose our privileges to exercise our free speech, and the rights to decide what is helpful to us in term of learning more a little bit about prof's teaching style/skills/reputation from students' point of view/experience. Hey, we go to school not to produce donkey knowledge....we are here to learn...why should we let a few prof to decide what is the best for us and safe their ass?

When is teacherreviews.com going to be to normal?

please bring the site back asap. ended up this term with a crappy teacher since the site was taken down the DAY i found out who the instructor was. loved the site. thought it was very pro-student.

Hey I'm building a teacher reviews site myself, so I shouldn't be one to say sh$t. However, as someone else in the slashdot forum pointed out, how would any of you like to be called 'baby raping college druggie always looking to get a shag from the buttest ugliest man whores' and I'm talking to you, sh*thead reading this message. Some of you might laugh it off, but what if this comment is on a page dedicated specially for you (and say, a google search would reveal all this?). It may not sound so funny or so 'let it slide' anymore. Any of you thinking about going into prestige careers like lawyers and doctors? That's what we're talking about here - teachers are (somewhat) prestigious roles, looked on by other peers and students alike. A site like teacherreviews differenciates themselves from a regular forum because it is promoted as a students review teachers, and taken at much greater value than if I were to say shit about someone on my personal forum. To be called a 'paranoid schizo' is NOT considered constructive criticism any more than me calling you stupid is. The professor is not entirely wrong in his issue with the site.

JAT

I have used this site since I have been in University. It has helped me and many others out a lot when trying to decide what classes to take and what professors to sign up for. I think it was a great idea. Everyone knows that a bad professor can make a good class terrible. I wish you the best of luck and feel you shouldn't be held responsible for this.

I would feel sorry for the teachers getting bashed if everything I read (positive and negative) on this site wasn't truth, but alas, everything I have read about a teacher has come true...negative and positive.

I just love your website. It has guided me through my years at SFSU. I always chose the classes and professors according to what I read about them. I need your site! You have helped me succeed in college because you have helped me make the right choice on choosing a professor over the other. I hope you resolve yor problem soon!

As a teacher I don't mind a review of any sort, but I should also be included for a rebuttal. If the review is to be fair the author should also include his name as I would include mine

Dylan,

Thank you so much for creating such a brilliant and comprehensive site. There will always be bad eggs out there. Don't let this teacher with the attitude slow your momentum. If anything, let him stoke the fire for your improved website.

Like other students, I am concerned about giving the instructors freedom to remove posts of which they feel are inappropriate. I think that appealing the post, having it reviewed for its inappropriate nature, and possibily omitting the post is fair. I think that allowing the teacher a rebuttal is not necessarily a bad idea either.

I believe that allowing the student to post anonymously should remain. I have posted anonymously because, although I have not entered lude and crude information, I was concerned that the instructor would see my comment and then penalize me if I were to have him/her for an instructor for a class in the future.

Being able to review the person making the comment is a great idea. We all know that there are folks out there that are full of beans. It would be nice to know to what degree the general student population felt the reviewer to be accurate. This would also encourage the number of posts to grow, because the student whose post was reviewed would probably like to be judged on many posts, rather than one. (i.e. if you made only one post, accurate or not, and someone didn't agree with you, your "accuracy rating" might get hosed).

I think that a "conduct rating" would also be great as it would probably reduce the number of inappropriate postings.

Thanks again for all that you have done with the new website and the old. You are an inspiration to us all.

Ack! Bring it back! We NEED it!

Students here at UMBC have been using this site for a long time now... if I'd known about it freshman year, I could've avoided a lot of grief (and probably would have better grades in a couple classes, too). Plus, I like posting reviews about the truly excellent profs I've had here, since good teachers often don't get the recognition they deserve...

Anyway, best of luck getting the site back up and running... thanks for providing this service to us!!!

Whats next? Will we be prohibited from doing polls or collecting any type of information which is not flattering to all? Anyway, some restrictions and no slandering in the web site is all you have to do. After all there are ratings for universities and education as a commodity. So why can't we discuss the quality of the individuals that educate and make up the universities? Very cool, you'll be back soon. Total freedom of speech case. Just no slandering.

A much needed site. After thousands of dollars spent on my education trying to figure out who's who and going through a lot of arrogant, self-interested instructors, I am looking forward to your next website!

This site is so great... I am a second year and have used teacher reviews every semester. Its coming time for class sign ups and teacher reviews wont be by my side. The college students of America need this sight to guide them to the teachers that will work for them the best. I look foward to see the new site hopefuly soon, since class sign ups are right around the corner.

OK. So now is that time of year to sign up for classes. I need all the dirt on the bad professors so I dont get stuck with him. Let get this site up so I can pick my classes

Dylan,

I placed my comment in early March, and ever since then I wonder when is your teacherreview.com coming back? Can you let us know, please? Frankly, I have not found a site that I enjoyed as much as yours.

Thanks for all the encouragement. I am working as fast as I can on it.

Hello I would like to know when you think that teacher review.com will be working because I need it to choose what classes I can take all right thanks you for every thing.

bye bye

#47-Nicole - I might open it for a private preview as soon as this weekend. I'll post more information to http://www.TeacherReviews.com as I fix bugs and figure out if it's ready.

lots of teachers are assholes and are just not qualified to have the jobs that they hold. this is why it is so important to us-students to have additional information about potentially positive or negative teachers. if teachers don't like students to write the truth about them, then perhaps they should work on improving their teaching methods and personality deficits instead of turning to legal actions to cover the exposed truth. it would be great to have this site back soon and it would also be helpful to hear the truth about bad professors. our future as students depends on the feedback that we get about those who teach our classes. thanks again, dylan greene!!!

-- Comment Removed --

I've put a FAQ on http://www.TeacherReviews.com - more up-to-date information is there now.