# eh-idea!



## mantis (Oct 15, 2005)

I know moderators are busy
 and there's a lot of work to do
 but i thought i should share an idea with you guys if you wanna implement later in the future, although it's not the brightest idea.
 I was looking at http://ratemyprofessor.com 
 it's where you find a teacher, school and what not, and you provide or read ratings and feedback about a professor.
 users add their school, professor, and feedback.
 i think it would be nice to have something like that available for MAist where they can go ahead and enter information about their schools which includes:
 1. add school
 2. add master/teacher
 3 rate school with and without feedback
 4. rate master/teacher with and without feedback.
 if search is enabled by zipcode (maybe get an open source component for that which hooks to google maps or something) and then find the nearest X schools within Y distance from that zipcode.
 maybe feedbacks are better anonymous.
 just a suggestion!


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## Solidman82 (Oct 15, 2005)

I like that idea, but I think that it would ultimately prove to be useless. Most of the forum goers are spread too thin around the globe and the ones that do live in the same area probably already know a thing or two about instructor reputations in the area. I think it would be an effective tool if two conditions were met (one of them is pretty well impossible).
1) if the forum size and use of the tool grew exponentially.
2) if the vast amount of martial arts schools shrunk somehow.

unfortunately I don't see this happening anytime in the near or even distant future.


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## arnisador (Oct 15, 2005)

I'm on that site. It gets a disproportionate amount of whiners! But they now have them for physicans and such too.


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## bignick (Oct 15, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> I'm on that site. It gets a disproportionate amount of whiners! But they now have them for physicans and such too.


 You're a math professor, right?  No wonder people don't like you....


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## mantis (Oct 15, 2005)

good thoughts
maybe we could keep it small enough to be monitored by the moderators
and doenst get too big to include the WHOLE country. but just something we use for reference. 
This could attract more traffic to the site.


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## arnisador (Oct 16, 2005)

bignick said:
			
		

> You're a math professor, right?  No wonder people don't like you....


 Hey now! Everybody loves math.! Right?

 Right?

 This is me:
http://www.ratemyprofessor.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=141021


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## Ping898 (Oct 16, 2005)

arnisador the comments about you are kind of funny.....

I checked out that site when I was in school....I've noticed that the profs that are good tend to get just a handful of good comments and the occasional bad and the profs that are bad tend to get completely bashed from it seems like everyone on the site.


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## Gin-Gin (Oct 16, 2005)

Ping898 said:
			
		

> I've noticed that the profs that are good tend to get just a handful of good comments and the occasional bad and the profs that are bad tend to get completely bashed from it seems like everyone on the site.


Hi Mantis,

It looks good & is a nice idea but IMHO since we already have members who are shall we say "more than willing" to bash anyone they think is not a good instructor (hence 'The Great Debate' thread), having another way for them to vent would create *a lot* more work & hassle for the Mods. 

However, if Bob decides to try it on a provisional basis with ground rules, I'm willing to try it.


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## Bob Hubbard (Oct 16, 2005)

It's actually something I've wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately, the programming required is beyond my skills, and an earlier similar project isn't compatable with the latest version of the forum software.


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## Andrew Green (Oct 16, 2005)

Bob Hubbard said:
			
		

> It's actually something I've wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately, the programming required is beyond my skills, and an earlier similar project isn't compatable with the latest version of the forum software.


 I could probably pull it off, I just don't think it would work.

 There is way too much infighting amongst different styles, TKD schools would get trashed by people that have never even been there, although not as bad as ninja schools...

 Too much personal bias going around.  Combine that with the fact that some people can't see any value to any martial art that doesn't train for the exact same goals as them and this would be a moderators nightmare...

 But if anyone can convince me other wise I might be willing to take it on.


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## Bigshadow (Oct 16, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> Hey now! Everybody loves math.! Right?
> 
> Right?
> 
> ...


 Hahaha, I clicked on the link and the first feedback I saw, appears as if the person could have used a Spelling and Grammar class!


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## Bigshadow (Oct 16, 2005)

Andrew Green said:
			
		

> I could probably pull it off, I just don't think it would work.
> 
> There is way too much infighting amongst different styles, TKD schools would get trashed by people that have never even been there, although not as bad as ninja schools...
> 
> ...


 I could do it as well, just I think it would be worthless. Just looking into my own art, I see things now that I didn't see a year ago. What does this mean? It means my description of things then would definitely be different than now. As I have progressed, so have my peers and instructors. So a review of an instructor 6 months ago would be meaningless today. We are talking about things that are living and breathing, not objects such as movies, cars, games, etc. I just don't see how one could keep the review/feedback system honest.

 Also, a system like this would have to REQUIRE that the people are held responsible for what they say. Each person would have to have a verifiable identity and comments/feedback would have to be paired with the poster's identity and contact information. Otherwise people hiding behind anonymity would be able to abuse the system.

 The next big hurdle is the verification process. I think when people are required to identify themselves with what they say, they will be less likely to say things they couldn't say to the person's face. Yes, I know there are exceptions.


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## bignick (Oct 16, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> Hey now! Everybody loves math.! Right?
> 
> Right?


 Let's just say there's a reason I'm in the Comp. Sci. department....I have to deal with you people and your numbers enough as it is without dedicating my entire education to it. 

 What's worse is one of my professor's has a master's degree in applied mathematics I've had to take quite a few courses from this guy...great teacher, but you just can't escape from it!


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## bignick (Oct 16, 2005)

Just looked up some of my professor's on the site.  Was quite suprised to find a lot of racists comments on there.   Most were from students that had to take CSIS 103.  Bascially, how to use Microsoft Office.  Very disappointing, i don't think this system would be worth much.

Examples:
Worst computer teacher I ever had. Very discriminating. Favored Muslim students. 

If you feel like goin to a class and getting cocked off to by a forienger who cant speak english this class is for you! His exams are impossible, he wants you to fail, most of my class was flunking and he had to let us take over the first test b/c the highest grade was a D-! 

Now, this particular professor, I don't much care for...but I know for a fact he is not like described.  It comes from bad attitudes of people that don't even want to be their in the first place.


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## mantis (Oct 16, 2005)

Bob Hubbard said:
			
		

> It's actually something I've wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately, the programming required is beyond my skills, and an earlier similar project isn't compatable with the latest version of the forum software.


 do you have time to discuss the programming?
 I dont think it's anything fancy.
 if you want let me know your concerns


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## mantis (Oct 16, 2005)

bignick said:
			
		

> Just looked up some of my professor's on the site. Was quite suprised to find a lot of racists comments on there. Most were from students that had to take CSIS 103. Bascially, how to use Microsoft Office. Very disappointing, i don't think this system would be worth much.
> 
> Examples:
> Worst computer teacher I ever had. Very discriminating. Favored Muslim students.
> ...


 well, that's coz there isnt any kind of monitoring over that system.
 im not saying we should do that. Someone's gotta review them too. just like the rep system, or the forum, there's always the big brother, oh i mean the "Sihing" watching


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## arnisador (Oct 16, 2005)

Ping898 said:
			
		

> arnisador the comments about you are kind of funny.....


 Hey, I'm not quite sure how to take that! 

 I firmly believe that anyone who doesn't get a few negative comments isn't doing their job. If absolutely no one is offended by what you say, then what you say isn't very interesting, I'd wager.


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## arnisador (Oct 16, 2005)

Bigshadow said:
			
		

> Hahaha, I clicked on the link and the first feedback I saw, appears as if the person could have used a Spelling and Grammar class!


 Yeah, they're engineers. What can I say?


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## mantis (Oct 16, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> Yeah, they're engineers. What can I say?


 Sir,
 could you post like two questions from any of your tests. preferrably the first and last questions. if  you are willing to do so, could you state which class is this. i am really curious to know how hard you are


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## arnisador (Oct 16, 2005)

I don't have my test banks with me as I'm on sabbatical this year. I usually choose problems from the book (unassigned problems) for the lower two years, and probblems from other books from the upper two years!


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## bignick (Oct 16, 2005)

One time, my friend who recieved his black belt at the same time I did, was taking a math class from a professor, who was also taking the tae kwon do class at the university.  He said it was cool to go from class and then get to give his professor pushups and kick him around.  Ah, if only...


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## mantis (Oct 16, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> I don't have my test banks with me as I'm on sabbatical this year. I usually choose problems from the book (unassigned problems) for the lower two years, and probblems from other books from the upper two years!


 as i student i would expect that
 i'd say if you choose from the first 60% of the questions behind a lession then you're an easy teacher, if you choose from the last questions then you require me to think, but when you get questions from your masters classes then you're a difficult teacher.
 Thank God I happened to understand math, i dont know how it happened, but somehow it makes sense to me!


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## arnisador (Oct 17, 2005)

bignick said:
			
		

> One time, my friend who recieved his black belt at the same time I did, was taking a math class from a professor, who was also taking the tae kwon do class at the university. He said it was cool to go from class and then get to give his professor pushups and kick him around. Ah, if only...


 I had some of my freshmen from my cal. class in the JKD/BJJ class I wa staking this past year. Luckily, I outranked them! One seemed nervous when he had to stick-spar with my son...


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## Jonathan Randall (Oct 17, 2005)

arnisador said:
			
		

> Hey now! Everybody loves math.! Right?
> 
> Right?
> 
> ...


You must be doing something right if your "easiness" score is only 2.6 out of 5. Seriously, you have some nice comments from students there. The few unkind comments seem to come from students who want and easy ride. 

BTW, my math tutor (a hobby of mine is learning physics) is one of my students. I don't make him do pushups if he doesn't like my work. LOL.

To get back to the thread at hand, it is a good idea, in theory at least, to have a place where MA teachers are rated. However, good teachers would probably get low scores from Johnnie's or Susie's mother if he or she didn't get a black belt within two years. Better just to do a search on MT on an instructor or start a thread. Three times threads here on MT have been started by prospective students of local (NO California) instructors who I know personally. I recommended one, was neutral on the other, kept my FREAKIN mouth shut on the third (if you can't say something nice, ...).


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