By Nyree Knox and Eric Alavez
For the Daily Titan

RateMyProfessors.com turned 10 this year.

The Web site helps students search for instructors and “rate” them in order to make the student voice heard.

Students search for a professor by their last name or by the school they attend.

The results provide a scorecard that shows the professor’s number of ratings, average clarity, average easiness, how attractive they are, their helpfulness and overall quality.

Students who access the site don’t need to create an account to look up a professor.

Students from the United States, England, Canada, Scotland and Wales can access the site and rate educators.

“Ten million comments, ten million opinions and ten million reasons,” makes the Web site the most popular professor database, according to the site.

The student-run site was launched in May of 1999, and in 2007 it was purchased by Viacom’s mtvU.

Carlos DiMarco, vice president of MTV Networks’ university relations said that the site continues to do what it does best – give college students a space where they can voice their opinion.

“Rate My Professors is driven by student voice. There are no corporate comments,” DiMarco said during a phone interview.

MTV Networks’ interest in the Web site was based on its popularity among college students.

“If the site has no trust (from students), it has no value,” DiMarco said.

DiMarco added that the Web site will continue to cater to students through new tools and advances. But the site will not change dramatically.

“The site functions so well that we are inclined to say, ‘Don’t mess with it,’” DiMarco said.

Today, Rate My Professors is “expanding in other ways, making it a priority to advance,” DiMarco said.

The Web site plans to create an iPhone application that will give students the opportunity to rate professors instantly.

“What better time to rate a professor than by doing it with a cell phone,” DiMarco said.

Along with the iPhone app, Rate My Professors will let students rate school campuses, dorms and college life in general.

The 10-year-old Web site assures that the future changes will still be driven by “honest contributions,” DiMarco said.

Cal State Fullerton sophomore Javier Rodriguez, 21, was unaware of the Web site’s anniversary.

“It’s a surprise; I didn’t know about the site turning 10. But then again, I was not in college 10 years ago,” Rodriguez said.

He sees the site as a tool that many take advantage of for different reasons. “Students judge professors by what they read on the site, rather than by being open-minded students who can accept any professor,” Rodriguez said.

He also feels the site is not accurate. “The site’s accuracy is different for every student. For some, a professor can be hard, for others, they can be easy,” he said.

Senior Janet Arteaga, 23, is not a registered user but admits to using the site.

Arteaga found out about the Web site as a freshman through other students.

“Some students might think (professors) are hard, and I don’t think they are. (The site is) mostly accurate,” she said.

The site has a flagging tool, allowing users to report “ratings that (are) libelous or erroneous,” the site states, which in turn helps the Web site’s accuracy.

“There are a number of tools that help make that the case,” DiMarco said. “We make sure we check ratings. The site helps students … students need to use their own judgment, but the flagging feature has worked the best.”

This year alone 1.9 million comments have been made on RateMyProfessors.com.

The site’s goal is to continue giving present and future college students a voice and a space where they can read “current student opinions,” DiMarco said.