Smile, you're on RMP

Professors across this great nation, beware and prepare to hide your faces.
RateMyProfessors.com, the site that allows college students to post comments about their favorite and not-so-favorite professors, has added a new feature to its ranking website. It now allows students to upload pictures of the professors they are critiquing onto the site. So now you can match a face to the professor you plan on taking next semester, or the one you plan to avoid at all costs.

This is quite a ridiculous feature because, as we all know, the Internet is not policed and anything can happen. I could put up a photo of a donkey and pass it off as a professor of mine. The site administrators have said that they will keep a watchful eye on phony photos, but honestly, are they are going to be able to check each photo that they receive and make sure it's authentic? According to an article by InsideHigherEd.com, the site received more than 1,200 photographs within 48 hours of offering the new feature.

Who knows how many of those photos are not who they say they are? Regardless, it's a dumb feature that has no business existing. Now, students will be more concerned about bringing their cell phones to class (RMP's tagline for this feature is "Bust out your camera phone and upload your professor's picture today!") and trying to get a quick snapshot of their professors than they will be about that day's lecture.