Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Fake Reviews

When I first started teaching, I found out that there were a few "rate your professor" websites, and I was on them. I found a few good reviews that were written about me, where students praised me for my patience with them; some of the positive reviews indicated that the students planned to take another class with me.

I noticed one weird trend. On one of the websites, students could also rate their professors' looks with a chili pepper, to indicate that they thought their professors were "hot." I, alas, did not get any chili peppers. Maybe if I bothered to wear makeup or brush my hair most mornings (I usually go for the mad scientist look), I would have gotten at least one chili pepper.

There were, however, several bad reviews that were written about me. That's to be expected, because there are many bad reviews about a lot of professors on those sites. Undergrads who are disgruntled about not getting the grades they wanted can write the nastiest stuff they can come up with (and many of them do) and post it online for everyone to see.

The problem was that some of the stuff that was written about me wasn't true. One student falsely claimed that I was never available for office hours. Other students lied that I graded their papers unfairly and played favorites with certain students.

At the end of each term, the students fill out course evaluations about the classes I teach and about my teaching, which are read by my bosses. I keep their comments in mind and make changes to my syllabus or teaching style. Almost all my reviews from the past several years have been positive.

The online reviews, however, are another story. In both cases, the evaluations are anonymous, but I guess students feel freer to be more candid online. It bothers me that students can post incredibly hostile insults about me that aren't even true, and I can't do anything about it.

The moderators of the sites are undergraduates (or former undergrads) who claim that they're "helping" students decide which professors to avoid and which ones they should take classes with. I think they're helping students who are upset over their grades (or anything else) slander their professors. I also think those moderators know NOTHING about teaching, and they wouldn't survive a week on the other side of the desk.

Several of the schools that I applied to for teaching jobs requested copies of my course evaluations, which I sent. But I heard that some search committees also look at those websites, which worried me.

For a moment, I was tempted to post a few more positive reviews about myself. The thing about those sites is that I can pretend to be a student and post whatever I want. I could have written stuff like, "She's the best teacher EVER! People walk into her classrooms saying, "Please, teach me."

But I didn't. Once, a cashier forgot to charge me for an item that I bought. I brought the item back and paid for it, surprising the cashier. If I can't even lie about a two dollar purchase, there's no way I can lie about my work. I hope that the positive evaluations I sent speak for themselves, and that I won't end up having some kind of breakdown where I reenact the end of every Lifetime movie and start shrieking, "If I can't have this job, NO ONE CAN!" while the members of the search committee run in terror.

I have heard, though, of authors who posted fake positive reviews of their work on Amazon and other websites in attempts to get people to buy their books. I can't help wondering what makes them think that's okay, and if anyone has ever been fooled by those reviews.

What about you? What do you think of those rate your professor websites? Have you ever heard of authors who posted fake reviews?

10 comments:

  1. Posting fake reviews is a big no-no. I know it's easy for me to say, but don't read the bad reviews online. It just messes with your head. Your teaching, course evaluations, and reference letters should say enough about you and your teaching ethic to possible employers to make them hire you. All you can control is being the best teacher you can be. What others think, or what they say, or why/if you get employed is beyond your control. You just hold your head high and keep trying your best. There's a job out there for you. Just don't give up, or let those crappy students get the better of you.

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    1. Hi Murees,
      I don't really read those rate your professor websites anymore either, though I did peek at them during my first couple years as a teacher. I think of those sites as being like the Yelp sites of academia, and we all know how Yelp is, where people often post negative reviews because of one server.
      Thank you for your advice. I did get a possible job offer today, though it's not the one I originally wanted. It's in a different state, but I might end up taking it. We'll see how it goes, and I'll be sure to update everyone on my blog.

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  2. I agree about not reading the reviews online, bc there's nothing really to do about them. A potential employer shouldn't be taking a site that asks people to say if their professor is "hot" that seriously, anyway.

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    1. Hi Gia,
      I know, right? Even the Yelp sites don't have anything like the chili pepper thing; at least I don't think they do. I haven't read the reviews in a long time, though they're one of the first sites that come up if you Google my name.

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  3. I can't believe schools would take the reviews on those sites seriously. Surely they would be aware of how nasty people can be when they are online and anonymous. It might just be a joke to those students - to say something horrible about their teachers - but it could be very serious for you.

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    1. Hi Annalisa,
      I think that if students had to identify themselves on those sites, they'd be far more reserved. I'm willing to bet that more than one nasty review on those sites are the result of temper tantrums over grades, which is one of the reasons I think those sites are unfair.

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  4. As a content writer, I've seen job postings asking for writers to write reviews on various sites. I always refuse those jobs. I think review sites are great...but we all need to realize that only certain types of people post reviews. A certain percentage of reviews are going to skew toward negative because to feel passionate enough to take the trouble to go online and leave a review, you have to have a strong feeling about someone/something. It does tend to skew the system.

    Also, I regularly see students go online to sites like Elance/Upwork to find people to write papers for them. Teachers should be aware of that trend! The site will take it down if they know about it, but it's often disguised as "academic writing." I refuse those on principle, but I'd probably refuse them anyway because school papers are NO fun!

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    1. Hi Stephanie,
      My apologies for my late reply! Anyway, I didn't know about those sites where students can buy papers; thanks for letting me know! College instructors take plagiarism very seriously, so it's good to be aware of those things.
      I didn't know that there were people hiring others to write reviews! Whoa! They should spend that time marketing their books to get people to read them, not hiring people to pretend they read them. You're right about the negative reviews. For example, I found that I'm much more likely to see angry or negative reviews on Yelp than positive ones, no matter how good (or bad) the business is.

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  5. But that's really scary! If students can post lies, and anyone can go on that site and pretend to be a student, then the whole thing is worthless. I hope anyone in a hiring position knows to take these sites with a grain of salt, or ignores them altogether.

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    1. Hi Deniz,
      I know, right? One good thing is that search committees are mainly made up of professors, many of whom are on those sites. So at least they know how it goes. On the other hand, evaluations (both online and offline) carry a lot more weight than they used to, and some people are more willing to take the students' word over the professors'.

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