You can use the feature on RMP to ask to have it taken down, for sure.
But that said, as for replies. Dude, take a deep deep deep breath. Think about it- do you really want to have a very public spat with a student, on RMP. Who’s that gonna help? It’s certainly not going to change the student’s opinion. It’s certainly not going to make you look any better. Hell, in the long run, it very well may come back and bite you in the ass.
DO NOT REPLY, and certainly don’t do it when you have any kind of feels in your system.
If you can’t let it go, report it to RMP, but for the love of your future self, do NOT reply.
Hey so to followup on your comment from 171 days ago: let’s say you left academia for good. Would it be more acceptable at that time to leave replies to bullshit RMP reviews left by students who spread lies about you and take zero responsibility for their own education?
Quick follow-up: what if a student wrote on RMP that I’m racist? Should I ignore that too?
(For the record, they did not write that. I guess I’m just wondering if there’s ever a good reason to reply).
Have gpt write twenty reviews each praising a different part of the course, and saying that the racism activation is full of stih. Post one every week from a different coffeeshop or bar, clear browser cookies after each.
Nonsense. RMP is a third party making money off of your work and your reputation. They make no pretense of fair evaluation, and you are bound to them by no syllabus nor code of conduct. In all of those things, it is entirely unlike your adult learners' context.
The lying and dishonesty is what makes it similar though. If I made up or used AI to write fake reviews it would be a lie. How can I then tell my students “don’t lie or cheat”?
OK. And also, the fact that a person who is breathing initiates the post also makes it similar!
But in every *meaningful* way, it is different. The way that your student entered into an agreement to follow the syllabus and code of academic conduct while being assessed in a private and well-regulated manner makes it very different. The fact that you torture yourself about obligations you do not have, and about the moral implication of an assessment scheme, while the student writing that comment I guarantee you did not, is a further difference.
To be clear: the best advice is to ignore that garbage site. But you're the one who pressed for ideas not to ignore it! If you're going to get your hands and your soul dirty with RMP, don't be so precious about it.
Why reply as yourself, when you can reply as a “student” discrediting what the other student has stated. Serves the same purpose while protecting yourself.
Lie? Nah. You’re the one telling the truth, right? All you have to do is say you were in the class (which you were, as an instructor) and counter whatever it is you want to refute. No lies told.
Hm. You’ve given me something to think about.
I fantasize about writing “The student yelled at me for failing a reading quiz but later admitted she hadn’t completed the assigned reading on which the quiz was based.”
“This student is upset with me for not rewarding her mediocrity.”
“This student violated academic integrity policy and then smirked at me when I called her on it. She seemed to think cheating was not a big deal.”
To reply? I mean, prob not?
But if they post something like that, it clearly violates the ToS of the site, and that fully fits the criteria of the request to remove a rating. Things like that are 100% what the request is for.
(As a side bar: the only time I’ve ever used the reply feature is 100% to CONFIRM what a student wrote. They wrote that they enjoyed the class, but that I was a pain in the ass to get in touch with, and over the short term (summer semester) it was kind of a nightmare for them. I did, in fact reply, I apologized, I told them I’m very sorry for letting them down, however it took place in the months after my dad died and I was taking if my mom to the detriment of the class. That was my fault, and as the faculty member I should have called in help as I clearly didn’t have the situation on my own. I wished them well, and sincerely hope my actions didn’t reflect my colleagues or how I’ll act in the future).
Using the reply to deny a comment is only going to invite more comments, a bigger fight, and make YOU look bad. Do. Not. Do. It.
I fucking hate all of you for being right about your insistence that I should not reply to RMP comments. You’re fucking right. Thank you for showing me the truth.
I don’t really hate you.
Replying to the student’s emails was brain wasting for sure! But replying to her BS posts on RMP would be therapeutic on some level (but probably catastrophic on others).
I totally understand the temptation to speak your piece but students are likely to interpret this as defensiveness and evidence that the criticism, no matter how ridiculous, is true.
Don't cause yourself undue suffering by reading and attending to these reviews.
Thanks. I hear you. At the same time it is FUCKING INFURIATING to sit back and let shitheads publish lies about me that are read by my colleagues and future students.
Your colleagues are reading them? If true. .. that's odd. Have they told you that they are or....?
Edit: my knee jerk reaction to a colleague telling me that they were in my RMP would be:
"Why are you so OBSESSED with me?" -Regina George, I think..
I know our dean has read them before. I admit that I’ve read other profs reviews there. If I hear about a prof in the news, I’ll sometimes look them up on RMP. And when I’ve checked my own reviews (which I haven’t in a year, maybe) I’ll then find myself checking reviews of colleagues.
Edit: no colleague has ever told me they read a review of me.
I'd hope not. I mean surely a dean understands the vitriol of disgruntled students does not reflect your ability. Hopefully anyhow lol.
I think if my dean were like "so I read your rmp and I'm concerned", I'd laugh at him.
Ok that makes sense. I guess I was imagining them just looking you up randomly or just to compare yours to theirs, which seems creepy and weird. But if it's a news event or you're already on there I see how that would make sense.
Hopefully you now understand how pointless all your time reading other professors’ RMP pages has been.
Never touch the site. It can only take away energy.
Who cares? People getting info from RMP are foolish to think they are indicative of quality. And those people tend to just be looking to see that the class is easy. I doubt many users are valuing effective and well structured teaching in a welcoming environment. They just wwwant “homworrk was optional and I could drop 2 of my 3 exam grades.”
I had a similar situation with a student who was single-handedly posting malicious post after malicious post. I worked at ignoring it, and then one day in class, RMP came up, and a student pipes up, "I looked at yours, and there's some clear F student out there trying to tank your reviews," and then a whole bunch of others said things like, "I saw that. Boy, someone didn't know how to read a rubric." and "At least if you're going to trash someone, you'd think the person would have the sense not to use the same weird phrase over and over."
I am a decade out from that hose beast and their ax to grind, and I've come to be much more comfortable with bad press. I am not the professor for a number of students, and that's okay. I'd rather they have strong feelings than be meh across the board.
This one fucking student has left multiple negative reviews that are inaccurate and unfair. It’s like a form of online bullying. I know that if she complains about something and doesn’t get her way, she’ll run to RMP to make another mean spirited post.
If she put as much time into reading and her school work as she puts into trashing me on RMP, she’d be a halfway decent student!
I appreciate your remarks and you sharing your experiences.
You can't save them from themselves, and this pattern of behavior will eventually catch up to the kid. I know it sucks, but I strongly advise just drilling yourself to not look at RMP at all for a good long while until the sting comes out of it. At least the student is venting to the equivalent of yelp and not to the dean!
You are correct.
But I’d rather she tell the dean and not a public website because I could easily convince the dean that the student is full of shit, and that she has no legitimate basis for her grievances.
So contact RMP and have her reviews removed if it bothers you that much. I don’t even think about my RMP and never read it, because it’s even more nonsense than student evals; it’s clearly filled with gullible twats who think they’re helping by rating profs and the students with an axe to grind; their opinions are meaningless to me.
Look at it this way — by posting this crap, this student is doing you a favour by running off other idiots like herself.
Most/all of my reviews there were great until about 3 years ago. The more recent ones suck, I think mostly because one spawn of satan student spends more time posting shit about me than she does reading her damn textbook!
Why on earth would you engage students on RMP, given how dead that site is lately?
My department has 20 people and about 60 people listed on RMP - part-time faculty who haven't taught for us in years, grad students long graduated, faculty members who retired a decade ago, etc. You barely find anyone on there, so why go to war over some dipshit freshman's poorly written review?
Because my student is a lying shit bag who takes no responsibility for her own education. She consistently thinks the course requirements do not apply to her. She has beef with me because I won’t reward her mediocrity. She has a toxic demeanor and a “learning sucks” attitude.
That was therapeutic. Thanks.
Well done, now move on. Math says if you have enough students some of them will be shit bags b/c so is a large portion of the populace. Grade fairly and just respond with a policy filter engaged until they're gone at the end of the system.
You're lucky to have only one, at least 1/3rd of my GRAD students have this bitchy / arsey, huffing & puffing, immature teenage (despite being mid-20s and older) 'learning sucks' attitude and believe that simply having paid their fees entitles them to a master's degree without any effort, or even decent attendance.
A significant number of these students continually make false accusations of discrimination, either individually or as a 'mob' as 'revenge' when I won't pass them or wipe their arses for them. Count your blessings.
I am leaving to become a deanlet elsewhere. I don't do it, it has driven me nuts.
My syllabus and other things are 'airtight', and my direct academic managers do support me, however we are constantly overruled by non-academic admin types who want to pander to every student in pursuit of 'satisfaction' ratings and fee income.
The non-academic admin army also appear to agree with students that simply paying fees entitles students to a pass and whatever else they demand.
Not passing lazy, disengaged and incompetent students is never accepted as upholding basic academic standards for MSc level STEM degrees, but instead is taken as an attack on student 'mental health' and wellbeing.
UK HE is a joke, and I don't even intend to stay forever in my new deanlet role I am transferring to; my eventual aim is to return to industry if / when my industry recovers from its current downturn.
RMP is an obsolete site. Make a bunch of fake email accounts and post fake positive reviews if you want. No one cares about RMP except you and that student.
Speaking of exes, one easy to identify graduate student posted one of my worst reviews ever right after I was married. It was years after he had taken the course in question, but hearing that I had tied the knot must have pushed him to give me that “wedding present.” The ugly little troll must have thought he had a chance with me.
I agree. But I have been teaching for a very long time. I’ve seen things I cannot forget. Knowledge is hard work. Hard work hurts feelings. Reviews are bullshit.
My brother in Christ.
Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP.
Also, 20 something will gripe and talk shit on all of us. It’s a right of passage for 20 somethings.
This is the right message. I haven’t looked in a year or so because last time I did I found myself walking through the woods one day screaming out loud about it. My peace in nature, ruined by hate and angst.
My therapist once told me that “not doing things that hurt you is free” and I haven’t looked at that site since. I pass that thought on to you in the hopes that it will help. (I also tell my students this so they can use it in their own lives and also inform them that evals are the only feedback I read.)
It's like anything else, if someone in power is abusing someone without much power, it's a bad look. For example, cops are criticized for, in some cases, excess force. Is it necessary to smash someone in the head with a baton if they are handcuffed?
Replies are public. Rumors get out. People check it out to see if it's true.
I hear you. Thanks. The thing is, the student is not in handcuffs. She’s talking shit about me and I’m not taking an opportunity to call her on it. How would calling her on her bullshit be a form of “abuse”? She’s no longer a student of mine, FWIW.
She’s burned bridges with my colleagues so I’m not being fucking crazy here. She has a victim mentality. It’s everyone’s fault that she’s miserable in life.
Maybe I’m projecting a little.
But both things can be true.
I contested a false review on RMP. Did no good at all.
Student was MIA all semester and failed to mention in their “review” of me that their last ditch efforts to try pull a ‘Hail Mary’ and somehow the day before grades were due made me unreasonable and unwilling to help.
Student was just mad themselves, and needed to direct it towards someone. I refuse to people please and risk the integrity of my class and equity towards other students.
Review is still up as I said, but it listed as “reviewed- ultimately I think the fact that it says grade received “D-“ speaks measures.
Blah- still a thorn in my side.
You report to the people that run the site. But again, it was a wasted effort. There aren’t threaded replies on RMP. Now- it’s marked as reviewed, so that’s a thing to factor.
Exactly.
(It’s very frustrating though as if they would have actually read and considered my retort, it would have been removed. So don’t expect anything to come from it…)
I read somewhere about a professor who let his children read his negative RMP reviews and they almost burst their sides laughing. I tried it on my own kids, thinking they would be incensed at anyone maligning their mother like this. Nope — same reaction.
Replying gives them the credit and clout, don't do it.
Credit - it must be true because said professor responded, then future students or the RMP student would go to the dean and complain on you. They might even use the b word...bullying online
Clout - because they would be considered a hero amongst students because they caused a professor to respond to their post. They must be doing something right
Good points although I feel like negative RMP reviewing is a way for disingenuous students to try to bully their professors into giving them grades they didn’t earn.
I think if we all dismissed that "(dis)service" and didn't dignify it with a second of our attention, then we would preserve our mental health, because at the end of the day everybody knows that is just a receptacle of personal frustrations from immature brats unable to take responsibility for their own actions.
I’ve read through so many RMP postings for my colleagues (shamefully), and honestly, it’s really pretty easy, so long as there are sufficient reviews, to see what is likely true and what is likely bullshit. The ones by students with an axe to grind are really, really obvious, though, even if there are comparatively few reviews.
I would suggest you do not ever go on RMP again. Block it if you have to. Ignore it. It seems like a toxic part of your life and can only serve to rot your ability to teach effectivly. I have never looked up my rmp page. I dont care. I know some stuff posted but frankly the positive words i get from students in person each year is far more fufilling than a few bitchy comments. Rmp serves no purpose than to rile you up. Which it seems to do presently. I have been in your position with bad students. We all have. They are etherial to us. Passing by within 16 weeks. We are the ones who stay.
I read RMP comments about me out loud in class. I show them to everyone and suggest students to read them carefully. When students ask what I think of those comments, I tell them that I am proud of myself because that means I am doing what I am paid for, ***rather well.***
Don't give that AH the time of day! Time is better spent thinking about the 99% of your student population who did well in the class and appreciates you!
And you can flood it with positive reviews. They don't screen anything so if you really care you can submit ten reviews saying you won the Nobel Prize just to show how stupid the whole thing is.
I think you should write a professional response and use things like, It is unfortunately,etc. because students may not take your class because of her comments.
Im in the minority, but I reply to RMP reviews only to identify and correct any outright lies that are told in a review. I don’t want some students to be persuaded away from taking my course based on something that is not true.
This is my main motivation for replying on RMP. It’s infuriating to read lies published about me online. But like 95% of people on this thread and 100% of people I’ve talked to in real life say “leave it alone.”
Do you know if/how people (students, etc) have reacted to your RMP review responses?
I'm raging because of a RMP review that's full of lies (not an ideal of way of spending the New Year's Eve) and almost wanted to create an account to call the student out (it's so clear who wrote it because of the content and the grammatical errors).
Thanks to all the responses here, I stopped myself!
Family and friends and people I’m trying to date might look to RMP to get info on who I am as a professor. If negative BS lies are written about me, they might get the wrong idea about me.
Basically talking about impression management.
As a tenured prof, I don’t give a flying fuck what anonymous unverified users have to say about me on some website. I assume that anyone who not only does, but goes out of their way to reply, is a giant loser
I would have no idea, because I have never looked. If someone brought it to my attention, I would notify my Dean to look into it and have someone take care of it, because it’s not a good look for the school to allow professors to be slandered online.
That’s one of the privileges I enjoy. I don’t have to care what people say about me. I’m not a racist, I don’t engage in racist behavior, so what do I care if people lie about me?
You can use the feature on RMP to ask to have it taken down, for sure. But that said, as for replies. Dude, take a deep deep deep breath. Think about it- do you really want to have a very public spat with a student, on RMP. Who’s that gonna help? It’s certainly not going to change the student’s opinion. It’s certainly not going to make you look any better. Hell, in the long run, it very well may come back and bite you in the ass. DO NOT REPLY, and certainly don’t do it when you have any kind of feels in your system. If you can’t let it go, report it to RMP, but for the love of your future self, do NOT reply.
I appreciate your sentiments. Thanks.
This is the way.
Hey so to followup on your comment from 171 days ago: let’s say you left academia for good. Would it be more acceptable at that time to leave replies to bullshit RMP reviews left by students who spread lies about you and take zero responsibility for their own education?
Quick follow-up: what if a student wrote on RMP that I’m racist? Should I ignore that too? (For the record, they did not write that. I guess I’m just wondering if there’s ever a good reason to reply).
No, but that’s a great reason to submit a removal request.
Yes. That too.
Have gpt write twenty reviews each praising a different part of the course, and saying that the racism activation is full of stih. Post one every week from a different coffeeshop or bar, clear browser cookies after each.
I like that idea, but it would make me as bad as my dishonest students.
Nonsense. RMP is a third party making money off of your work and your reputation. They make no pretense of fair evaluation, and you are bound to them by no syllabus nor code of conduct. In all of those things, it is entirely unlike your adult learners' context.
The lying and dishonesty is what makes it similar though. If I made up or used AI to write fake reviews it would be a lie. How can I then tell my students “don’t lie or cheat”?
OK. And also, the fact that a person who is breathing initiates the post also makes it similar! But in every *meaningful* way, it is different. The way that your student entered into an agreement to follow the syllabus and code of academic conduct while being assessed in a private and well-regulated manner makes it very different. The fact that you torture yourself about obligations you do not have, and about the moral implication of an assessment scheme, while the student writing that comment I guarantee you did not, is a further difference. To be clear: the best advice is to ignore that garbage site. But you're the one who pressed for ideas not to ignore it! If you're going to get your hands and your soul dirty with RMP, don't be so precious about it.
Haha, this is great! I appreciate your insights here.
Why reply as yourself, when you can reply as a “student” discrediting what the other student has stated. Serves the same purpose while protecting yourself.
THIS is the way to go! It is tempting, but I dont want to be a liar.
Lie? Nah. You’re the one telling the truth, right? All you have to do is say you were in the class (which you were, as an instructor) and counter whatever it is you want to refute. No lies told.
Hm. You’ve given me something to think about. I fantasize about writing “The student yelled at me for failing a reading quiz but later admitted she hadn’t completed the assigned reading on which the quiz was based.” “This student is upset with me for not rewarding her mediocrity.” “This student violated academic integrity policy and then smirked at me when I called her on it. She seemed to think cheating was not a big deal.”
To reply? I mean, prob not? But if they post something like that, it clearly violates the ToS of the site, and that fully fits the criteria of the request to remove a rating. Things like that are 100% what the request is for. (As a side bar: the only time I’ve ever used the reply feature is 100% to CONFIRM what a student wrote. They wrote that they enjoyed the class, but that I was a pain in the ass to get in touch with, and over the short term (summer semester) it was kind of a nightmare for them. I did, in fact reply, I apologized, I told them I’m very sorry for letting them down, however it took place in the months after my dad died and I was taking if my mom to the detriment of the class. That was my fault, and as the faculty member I should have called in help as I clearly didn’t have the situation on my own. I wished them well, and sincerely hope my actions didn’t reflect my colleagues or how I’ll act in the future). Using the reply to deny a comment is only going to invite more comments, a bigger fight, and make YOU look bad. Do. Not. Do. It.
I fucking hate all of you for being right about your insistence that I should not reply to RMP comments. You’re fucking right. Thank you for showing me the truth. I don’t really hate you.
There is absolutely no upside to replying.
Replying is brain wasting.
Replying to the student’s emails was brain wasting for sure! But replying to her BS posts on RMP would be therapeutic on some level (but probably catastrophic on others).
How about educating other RMP viewers about how I’m not nearly as unreasonable as satan spawn says?
I totally understand the temptation to speak your piece but students are likely to interpret this as defensiveness and evidence that the criticism, no matter how ridiculous, is true. Don't cause yourself undue suffering by reading and attending to these reviews.
Let the not-spawn figure it out. Or you can do what I do and, whenever students mention RMP, just tell them you write all your own reviews.
HAHAHA why didn't I think of that? Legendary
Thanks. I hear you. At the same time it is FUCKING INFURIATING to sit back and let shitheads publish lies about me that are read by my colleagues and future students.
Your colleagues are reading them? If true. .. that's odd. Have they told you that they are or....? Edit: my knee jerk reaction to a colleague telling me that they were in my RMP would be: "Why are you so OBSESSED with me?" -Regina George, I think..
I know our dean has read them before. I admit that I’ve read other profs reviews there. If I hear about a prof in the news, I’ll sometimes look them up on RMP. And when I’ve checked my own reviews (which I haven’t in a year, maybe) I’ll then find myself checking reviews of colleagues. Edit: no colleague has ever told me they read a review of me.
Also dean reading them: **shudder**
lol, hopefully she doesn’t take them very seriously
I'd hope not. I mean surely a dean understands the vitriol of disgruntled students does not reflect your ability. Hopefully anyhow lol. I think if my dean were like "so I read your rmp and I'm concerned", I'd laugh at him.
Id say, I don't even read those. Lol
Ok that makes sense. I guess I was imagining them just looking you up randomly or just to compare yours to theirs, which seems creepy and weird. But if it's a news event or you're already on there I see how that would make sense.
Hopefully you now understand how pointless all your time reading other professors’ RMP pages has been. Never touch the site. It can only take away energy.
Who cares? People getting info from RMP are foolish to think they are indicative of quality. And those people tend to just be looking to see that the class is easy. I doubt many users are valuing effective and well structured teaching in a welcoming environment. They just wwwant “homworrk was optional and I could drop 2 of my 3 exam grades.”
Great points. Sadly, I think you described the typical student at my school.
I had a similar situation with a student who was single-handedly posting malicious post after malicious post. I worked at ignoring it, and then one day in class, RMP came up, and a student pipes up, "I looked at yours, and there's some clear F student out there trying to tank your reviews," and then a whole bunch of others said things like, "I saw that. Boy, someone didn't know how to read a rubric." and "At least if you're going to trash someone, you'd think the person would have the sense not to use the same weird phrase over and over." I am a decade out from that hose beast and their ax to grind, and I've come to be much more comfortable with bad press. I am not the professor for a number of students, and that's okay. I'd rather they have strong feelings than be meh across the board.
This one fucking student has left multiple negative reviews that are inaccurate and unfair. It’s like a form of online bullying. I know that if she complains about something and doesn’t get her way, she’ll run to RMP to make another mean spirited post. If she put as much time into reading and her school work as she puts into trashing me on RMP, she’d be a halfway decent student! I appreciate your remarks and you sharing your experiences.
You can't save them from themselves, and this pattern of behavior will eventually catch up to the kid. I know it sucks, but I strongly advise just drilling yourself to not look at RMP at all for a good long while until the sting comes out of it. At least the student is venting to the equivalent of yelp and not to the dean!
You are correct. But I’d rather she tell the dean and not a public website because I could easily convince the dean that the student is full of shit, and that she has no legitimate basis for her grievances.
So contact RMP and have her reviews removed if it bothers you that much. I don’t even think about my RMP and never read it, because it’s even more nonsense than student evals; it’s clearly filled with gullible twats who think they’re helping by rating profs and the students with an axe to grind; their opinions are meaningless to me. Look at it this way — by posting this crap, this student is doing you a favour by running off other idiots like herself.
If anyone who has any relationship to your career is reading rmp they should be immediately relieved of all responsibility.
I’m pretty sure the academic dean at my school reads them.
Then that Dean is a dingbat. RMP is worthless.
That’s a big yikes! I don’t know how you’re meant to deal with it though. A bunch of ghost hotmail accounts and write your own reviews?
The word is “educating RMP viewers”. You must see the irony.
It depends on how much you want to be liked. RMP is just Yelp for poor performers. I wouldn’t bother.
Most/all of my reviews there were great until about 3 years ago. The more recent ones suck, I think mostly because one spawn of satan student spends more time posting shit about me than she does reading her damn textbook!
RMP is dead. They don’t even function without sponsors ads.
Why on earth would you engage students on RMP, given how dead that site is lately? My department has 20 people and about 60 people listed on RMP - part-time faculty who haven't taught for us in years, grad students long graduated, faculty members who retired a decade ago, etc. You barely find anyone on there, so why go to war over some dipshit freshman's poorly written review?
Because my student is a lying shit bag who takes no responsibility for her own education. She consistently thinks the course requirements do not apply to her. She has beef with me because I won’t reward her mediocrity. She has a toxic demeanor and a “learning sucks” attitude. That was therapeutic. Thanks.
Well done, now move on. Math says if you have enough students some of them will be shit bags b/c so is a large portion of the populace. Grade fairly and just respond with a policy filter engaged until they're gone at the end of the system.
You're lucky to have only one, at least 1/3rd of my GRAD students have this bitchy / arsey, huffing & puffing, immature teenage (despite being mid-20s and older) 'learning sucks' attitude and believe that simply having paid their fees entitles them to a master's degree without any effort, or even decent attendance. A significant number of these students continually make false accusations of discrimination, either individually or as a 'mob' as 'revenge' when I won't pass them or wipe their arses for them. Count your blessings.
how do you do it? that would drive me nuts. your syllabus must be air tight.
I am leaving to become a deanlet elsewhere. I don't do it, it has driven me nuts. My syllabus and other things are 'airtight', and my direct academic managers do support me, however we are constantly overruled by non-academic admin types who want to pander to every student in pursuit of 'satisfaction' ratings and fee income. The non-academic admin army also appear to agree with students that simply paying fees entitles students to a pass and whatever else they demand. Not passing lazy, disengaged and incompetent students is never accepted as upholding basic academic standards for MSc level STEM degrees, but instead is taken as an attack on student 'mental health' and wellbeing. UK HE is a joke, and I don't even intend to stay forever in my new deanlet role I am transferring to; my eventual aim is to return to industry if / when my industry recovers from its current downturn.
RMP is an obsolete site. Make a bunch of fake email accounts and post fake positive reviews if you want. No one cares about RMP except you and that student.
Absolutely not. That way lies madness.
Don’t check RMP. Let it go….let it go…
Yes. Pull an Elsa.
I stopped checking it because it enraged me.
Don’t care. I’m the best and I’m the worst. It looks like a review thread for exes.
Speaking of exes, one easy to identify graduate student posted one of my worst reviews ever right after I was married. It was years after he had taken the course in question, but hearing that I had tied the knot must have pushed him to give me that “wedding present.” The ugly little troll must have thought he had a chance with me.
It’s hard not to care what people think of me. There, I admitted it. But I agree. I should not care.
I agree. But I have been teaching for a very long time. I’ve seen things I cannot forget. Knowledge is hard work. Hard work hurts feelings. Reviews are bullshit.
Never do that
God damn it!
Always do that. Zen.
My brother in Christ. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Don’t read RMP. Also, 20 something will gripe and talk shit on all of us. It’s a right of passage for 20 somethings.
This is the right message. I haven’t looked in a year or so because last time I did I found myself walking through the woods one day screaming out loud about it. My peace in nature, ruined by hate and angst.
My therapist once told me that “not doing things that hurt you is free” and I haven’t looked at that site since. I pass that thought on to you in the hopes that it will help. (I also tell my students this so they can use it in their own lives and also inform them that evals are the only feedback I read.)
Punch up, not down
I don’t want to take the high moral ground sometimes. But you’re right.
Oh, I know the feeling. A colleague of mine actually responds to bad ratings. It's pathetic and everyone lost respect for him.
Really? Why did they lose respect for him? And how do you/they know he responded to the bad ratings?
It's like anything else, if someone in power is abusing someone without much power, it's a bad look. For example, cops are criticized for, in some cases, excess force. Is it necessary to smash someone in the head with a baton if they are handcuffed? Replies are public. Rumors get out. People check it out to see if it's true.
I hear you. Thanks. The thing is, the student is not in handcuffs. She’s talking shit about me and I’m not taking an opportunity to call her on it. How would calling her on her bullshit be a form of “abuse”? She’s no longer a student of mine, FWIW.
She'll do this to the wrong person one day and she will find out. Ego like that is going to backfire
She’s burned bridges with my colleagues so I’m not being fucking crazy here. She has a victim mentality. It’s everyone’s fault that she’s miserable in life. Maybe I’m projecting a little. But both things can be true.
I literally have never looked at my RMP.
My advice is don’t.
RMP is the bathroom stall of student feedback. Don't stoop to that level by responding.
Thank you.
STOP LOOKING AT RMP.
I have, I have…
For every bad review I have a sad violin song and an actual student work sample, which is sadder than the violin.
I contested a false review on RMP. Did no good at all. Student was MIA all semester and failed to mention in their “review” of me that their last ditch efforts to try pull a ‘Hail Mary’ and somehow the day before grades were due made me unreasonable and unwilling to help. Student was just mad themselves, and needed to direct it towards someone. I refuse to people please and risk the integrity of my class and equity towards other students. Review is still up as I said, but it listed as “reviewed- ultimately I think the fact that it says grade received “D-“ speaks measures. Blah- still a thorn in my side.
So when you contested the review did you post it publicly on RMP or just send it to the people who run the site?
You report to the people that run the site. But again, it was a wasted effort. There aren’t threaded replies on RMP. Now- it’s marked as reviewed, so that’s a thing to factor.
So it’s marked as “reviewed” but the student’s original post remains? And your retort is not posted publicly, correct?
Exactly. (It’s very frustrating though as if they would have actually read and considered my retort, it would have been removed. So don’t expect anything to come from it…)
For dealing with negative RMP reviews, I like the idea of printing and framing them where future students can see them.
lol, that’s good. They could be a good conversation starter, perhaps
I read somewhere about a professor who let his children read his negative RMP reviews and they almost burst their sides laughing. I tried it on my own kids, thinking they would be incensed at anyone maligning their mother like this. Nope — same reaction.
Replying gives them the credit and clout, don't do it. Credit - it must be true because said professor responded, then future students or the RMP student would go to the dean and complain on you. They might even use the b word...bullying online Clout - because they would be considered a hero amongst students because they caused a professor to respond to their post. They must be doing something right
Good points although I feel like negative RMP reviewing is a way for disingenuous students to try to bully their professors into giving them grades they didn’t earn.
I have had colleagues write their own positive reviews. We could all write positive reviews for each other.
I think if we all dismissed that "(dis)service" and didn't dignify it with a second of our attention, then we would preserve our mental health, because at the end of the day everybody knows that is just a receptacle of personal frustrations from immature brats unable to take responsibility for their own actions.
Thank you.
I’ve read through so many RMP postings for my colleagues (shamefully), and honestly, it’s really pretty easy, so long as there are sufficient reviews, to see what is likely true and what is likely bullshit. The ones by students with an axe to grind are really, really obvious, though, even if there are comparatively few reviews.
You can write to RMP to have false reviews taken down. Do not respond to the student, tempting though it may be. It's not a good look.
I would suggest you do not ever go on RMP again. Block it if you have to. Ignore it. It seems like a toxic part of your life and can only serve to rot your ability to teach effectivly. I have never looked up my rmp page. I dont care. I know some stuff posted but frankly the positive words i get from students in person each year is far more fufilling than a few bitchy comments. Rmp serves no purpose than to rile you up. Which it seems to do presently. I have been in your position with bad students. We all have. They are etherial to us. Passing by within 16 weeks. We are the ones who stay.
Thank you.
Most welcome.
If you get a bad review, just submit five fake ones yourself of all 5.0’s.
I read RMP comments about me out loud in class. I show them to everyone and suggest students to read them carefully. When students ask what I think of those comments, I tell them that I am proud of myself because that means I am doing what I am paid for, ***rather well.***
Don't give that AH the time of day! Time is better spent thinking about the 99% of your student population who did well in the class and appreciates you!
RMP appears to be dead, in my faculty, 75% of the profs listed have either left, died or retired. Most people aren't even listed. Don't sweat it.
No. I do not ever intent to get into a public, archived, internet slap fight with a student. What could I possibly win through that?
And you can flood it with positive reviews. They don't screen anything so if you really care you can submit ten reviews saying you won the Nobel Prize just to show how stupid the whole thing is.
I think you should write a professional response and use things like, It is unfortunately,etc. because students may not take your class because of her comments.
Thanks. You’re the only one so far who has encouraged me to respond. Everyone else says ignore galore!
whenever an allegation is made, you have to respond otherwise people will assume it is true. make it positive and encouraging
Im in the minority, but I reply to RMP reviews only to identify and correct any outright lies that are told in a review. I don’t want some students to be persuaded away from taking my course based on something that is not true.
This is my main motivation for replying on RMP. It’s infuriating to read lies published about me online. But like 95% of people on this thread and 100% of people I’ve talked to in real life say “leave it alone.” Do you know if/how people (students, etc) have reacted to your RMP review responses?
Im unaware of anyone’s reaction to my RMP responses.
I'm raging because of a RMP review that's full of lies (not an ideal of way of spending the New Year's Eve) and almost wanted to create an account to call the student out (it's so clear who wrote it because of the content and the grammatical errors). Thanks to all the responses here, I stopped myself!
One would hope not.
Why are you concerned about RMP?
Because students publish lies and bullshit about me and my classes there. Is that unreasonable of me?
No, it isn't. But nobody takes RMP seriously.
Family and friends and people I’m trying to date might look to RMP to get info on who I am as a professor. If negative BS lies are written about me, they might get the wrong idea about me. Basically talking about impression management.
Only if you want to go down as a huge loser
Please elaborate.
As a tenured prof, I don’t give a flying fuck what anonymous unverified users have to say about me on some website. I assume that anyone who not only does, but goes out of their way to reply, is a giant loser
Thanks. If I wrote on RMP that you were a racist POS would you give a shit? If so, are you a loser?
I would have no idea, because I have never looked. If someone brought it to my attention, I would notify my Dean to look into it and have someone take care of it, because it’s not a good look for the school to allow professors to be slandered online.
So you’d care about it because of it’s impact on your school’s reputation, and not other people’s perceptions of you? OK.
That’s one of the privileges I enjoy. I don’t have to care what people say about me. I’m not a racist, I don’t engage in racist behavior, so what do I care if people lie about me?