Ratings sites flourish behind a veil of anonymity

The Boston Globe reports:

The phenomenon began with websites like RateMyProfessors.com, which lets college students nationwide evaluate faculty by posting anonymous comments that are often entertaining and sometimes scathing.

There's the Bunker Hill Community College acting instructor described as ``a wicked, old, grumpy hermit." Or the Curry College management lecturer who ``dresses like a slob." Or the Tufts University physics professor whose ratings include this succinct advice: ``AVOID!!!"

Now, in hopes of replicating the popular and commercial success of RateMyProfessors.com and RateMyTeachers.com, which caters to middle and high school students, the world of online ratings has expanded to law, medicine, car repair, summer camps, child-care centers, real estate agents, nightclubs, and beyond with a network of online forums where the public can rate businesses and professionals behind a veil of anonymity.

The miracle of the marketplace.We'd like to see a rating on the various government bureaucracies.