RateMyProfessor.com is a website I visit before Cornell’s CourseEnroll and Add/Drop period each semester. In my opinion, it is a great website because most of the time the ratings and comments are completely accurate. You would think on such a website that there would be only extremely negative comments or extremely positive comments. Most of the time, however, this isn’t the case. The conventional social norm for comments on RateMyProfessor.com is to be truthful and honest in order to help future students.
When newcomers to this website begin their membership, members usually “lurk” (Wallace, p. 56) and see all the different types of posting. Newcomers will probably only read postings to those professors they are interested in learning more about. When discussing “The Sign on the Door,” Wallace mentions: “Newbies on the net, however, don’t have those subtle cues available to them.” (p. 64) In order for someone to become familiar with RateMyProfessor.com’s customs, he or she must read many postings to understand the website’s culture. Someone “can’t glance quickly” to realize that this website is actually useful. Additionally, this website isn’t like other websites, as someone can’t fully understand the norm until they finish at least one semester at Cornell. This is because he or she needs to have taken a professor’s class to realize that the comments posted on RateMyProfessor.com were actually truthful and helpful.
To be honest, I had never posted anything on RateMyProfessor.com until today, as I was checking to see how the “Leviathan” enforced the norm. Leviathan, in the case of RateMyProfessor.com, is whoever owns and runs the website. The Leviathan enforces the norm as someone chooses to add a comment about a certain professor. Right before the comment box, the moderator of the website states, “Please keep comments clean. Libelous comments will be deleted.” Additionally, there is a hyperlink to the word “Guidelines.” In the “Posting Guidelines,” there is a list of “Dos” and “DO NOTs.” Additionally, underneath the comment box, it is stated: “Submitted data become the property of RateMyProfessors.com” and “IP addresses are logged.” I agree with Wallace, as he states, “presence of some authority figure can have a calming influence and ensures participants that a means is available to resolve disputes should they arise.” (p.70) It is true that students of the Cornell community like the fact that there is some type of governing body in this website, as they partially base their course decisions on this website. If student’s weren’t reassured that this website was safe and accurate, no one would use it. Finally, if someone gives a completely false assessment of a professor (“factual error”), “group members will escalate their pressure to ensure conformity by simply raising a virtual eyebrow.” (Wallace, p. 66) In the case of this website, students will say something like “the posting below was completely false” and then go on to say the correct assessment of the professor.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
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3 comments:
You said, "You would think on such a website that there would be only extremely negative comments or extremely positive comments."
I feel like one reason for this is that students come together on ratemyprofessors.com to work for a common goal: To be better prepared for classes by having more knowledge about about what they should expect from teachers.
With this goal in mind, people feel usually feel dedication to their peers because they want to rely on the accuracy of comments from others, and in turn, they do their best to make sure that their own posts are accurate.
Yes, once in a while you get someone who posts something contrary about a professor, but generally, they mean what they say, even if their own impression was specific and biased (and would likely not be the same for others). Generally, people don't have a reason to lie on ratemyprofessors.com.
I should add that in addition to the Leviathan that you identified, "whoever owns and runs the website," one could also argue that all of the student contributors to site also act as a collective leviathan in a way.
Analyzing the Rate My Professor website is an interesting idea. I go to this website when I chose my classes for the next semester; I always think it is interesting to read the other’s students’ ratings of the professors I have and then coming back after having the professor to see how truthful the ratings were, or at least how much I agree with them. In terms of this website, I would absolutely be classified as a “newbie” since I only read the postings that apply directly to myself. I also have never posted a comment on the site before so I never realized that the “netiquette” rules where given to you just before you post your comment. On that website then the Leviathan is very specifically defined with a strict set of rules for the site instead of the self-monitored and free flowing site that I thought it was. Although I never actually saw the set of rules, I did notice that all the posts were done without bashing professors in a crude way. All critic, both positive and negative, is done in a constructive way. Based on this, if I were to make a comment, even without reading the rules, it would be professionally worded.
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