With University of Wisconsin students deciding on their classes for the spring semester in the upcoming weeks, Stephen Friedman hopes each of them checks one of his sites before making their selections. Friedman is the general manager for mtvU, a part of the Viacom corporation that recently purchased the largest site for college professor rankings, RateMyProfessors.com. “I think it does what students have been doing forever, which is checking in with each other — their friends, their brothers, their sisters — to figure out who’s a great professor and who’s one you might want to avoid," Friedman said. The site, which now boasts 7.5 million-plus student-generated ratings of over one million professors, attracts more than 150,000 visitors daily, Friedman said. Although Freidman acknowledged the ratings for professors who may only have a few postings may not be accurate, he said as the number of posts increase, “a consensus emerges that sort of knocks out those outliers." “You’re always looking for information to make the most educated choice, and I think that’s going to happen regardless," he said. “I think this is just a very simple tool that gives you one more source of data." On the site, students who want their voices heard — for better or for worse — can log on and rank professors in four categories: easiness, helpfulness, clarity and overall interest. Students also have the ability to post additional comments with the rating. On earlier versions of the site, professors were unable to respond to posts, but Friedman said that every page now has a space “for a professor’s rebuttal so they can weigh in." Earlier this month, RateMyProfessors.com decided to compile all the site rankings into various lists, including highest-rated professors, schools with the highest-rated professors and “hottest" professors. “We thought that it was a way to continue the dialogue about not only what schools have professors that are most highly rated, but also to shine a light on the great ones," Friedman said. “We thought it was time to show off who were some of those amazing professors that are really shining for their audiences." The lists, Friedman said, have spun off into “Professors Strike Back," an mtvU program that allows professors to respond to criticism on camera. The comments are then compiled into what is now one of the channel’s most highly viewed shows. “You just have to take it as one of many sources of feedback, and I think our audience is smart enough to know that it is one element," Friedman said. “Certainly, the more ratings a professor has, the better sense you have of them, and it sort of speaks to the overall wisdom of the crowd." UW journalism professor Greg Downey, who also specializes in information and communication technology, said the site was “interesting" and admitted to checking it about once a year. “For my money, RateMyProfessors is mildly interesting, but it’s the kind of site that, to me, detracts from what students and professors should be focusing on — which is getting the actual classroom evaluations out into the open," Downey said. Downey added he would rather have students “realize the power" class evaluations have in the end of each semester, of which he said he reads — all 400 — each semester. “When you talk to a friend about this class or that class, it’s happening in real time," Downey said. “It’s different when you look back five years on RateMyProfessors.com — and there are entries that go back at least that far — and you try to make a judgment about a class with something that was said five years ago." Downey suggested students or the university put some effort into a site like RateMyProfessors, where students can talk back and get a “richer range of materials." UW’s Associated Students of Madison has a similar site where they compile course evaluations — which are obtained through Wisconsin’s Open Records Law — although the site was last updated for the spring 2006 semester. Downey said any direct interaction between a student and a professor, rather than a website, benefits everyone. “Even a student who leaves an anonymous note in my mailbox — any kind of communication directly to the professor — is so much more worthwhile than spending your time on RateMyProfessors because we do listen, and we do care about out teaching," Downey said.