Pelted by cyber-tomatoes

The Guardian

When are online student comments about lecturers free expression, and when are they harassment?

There was a time when a gripe about a university lecturer went no further than a grumble over a pint in the union.

Now social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Myspace have created a forum akin to public stocks for professors who, as their students would see it, do not cut the mustard.

Such websites get to the heart of the row about the internet. On the one hand, it is heralded as a great democratising force where the voiceless can have a say. What greater way to tear down the ivory towers of academia than via the great leveller of the internet? Students view these sites as their domain, more so than a general public forum.