Okay, a few more details about collegestudent.com:
First, the course evaluation feature is one of several different features
of the website, not its primary focus. So, to call for the removal of the
entire site seems a tad extreme (though I'm not sure if anyone actually
called for this... I've only skimmed some of the posts.)
Second, the evaluations are not as anonymous as they seem. In order to add
a review, you must become a member. Two features of the site suggest to me
that a member ID is associated with each evaluation: View Your Evaluations
& Remove an Evaluation. Essentially, collegestudent.com knows who posts
what evaluation, they simply do not share this information with the public.
However, their registration information is rather vague and easily
falsifiable if someone wanted to fake an identity.
Third, they (like many other on-line publishers) have a user agreement that
users are expected to follow. In their user agreement they state (among
other things):
"You hereby agree that the use of Collegestudent.com and its features is at
your own risk. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Collegestudent.com
from any claim, expense, loss or damage, including reasonable attorneys'
fees, arising out of or resulting from your use of Collegestudent.com or
any of its features, including problems resulting from the publication,
distribution or redistribution of your content or information given to
other users."
Based on this and some other language in the user agreement, it appears
that if a complaint of slander/libel was brought against the site, they
would pass the blame on to the original poster of the evaluation. Although
an argument could be made that they are responsible for publishing the
material, this is the same argument that has failed in cases against
service providers who have users that post sexually explicit
images/stories. Essentially, they provide a publishing service, but the
individual who wrote the evaluation assumes responsibility for anything
they say under the user agreement. Someone with more knowledge of the legal
aspects might be able to clarify and point out the mistakes in my
understanding.
So, in the end, it would be possible for you to confront your accuser if
you wanted to take legal action against them, provided they didn't falsify
their user information.
Oh, and it appears some students don't understand the rating system. Is 1
for the top professor or the worst professor? I've seen some wonderful
evaluations of profs with ratings of 1 (considered the lowest), and
horrible evaluations of profs rated as 9 (considered the highest). Perhaps
another usability problem of the site, which in the end leads it to be
rather useless for the students anyway, and in the end the issue fades
away... by the way, how many students actually know about this site anyway?
Anyone willing to take a poll in your class and find out? My guess is that
it will be more widely known in some departments than others... but that's
just a guess.
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or ...
