Robert, While it's commendable that you are one of the few people who have the guts to write their full name on the Internet, it doesn't mean that others HAVE to follow suit.

Many who post on here (myself included) would much rather keep their personal details, private. The reasons for that are various and subjective, but I'm sure you can understand why people prefer things that way. There are unfortunately a few posters on this forum and other forums, who instead of just debating the content of somebody's post, often make vindictive and spiteful personal attacks on people's backgrounds, morals and character. Now I for one would not feel comfortable posting my full name and e-mail in that kind of environment. In an ideal world of course...

On the point of people posting negative posts about agents. Well as it is a school and RECRUITER REVIEW forum I don't think people can be blamed for reviewing recruiters, as it is obviously the purpose of this forum. Yes, most reviews are negative in the sense that more recriuters and schools are criticized rather than praised, but that in itself doesn't mean that the posts are not beneficial. I know that some posts are too sweeping and vague, but a well written, specific critic of a school even when negative can be positive in the sense that it acts as a WARNING and protects those that heed such. Yes, a well written post that mentions the negative points of a recruiter or school can actually be POSITIVE!

There are quite a few here who seem to think that this forum and the teachers discussion forum is biased in that most people blame the ills of EFL in China on Chinese schools and recruiters alone. Even if FTs were as much to blame for the problems of EFL in China, can we really expect a non-biased attitude on a TEACHER'S DISCUSSION FORUM and a SCHOOL AND RECRUITER'S REVIEW FORUM? As these forums are aimed at foreign teachers then of course we will expect to hear mostly from them. If schools and recruiters want to review FTs then they could open a "School Leader's and Recruiter's Discussion forum," or a "Teacher's Review Forum".

If we post on this forum, I think we should criticize fairly and be balanced, specific and logical. However, I think a lot of emotional rants, although often wrong, should be understood in the sense that an FT on his own in a foreign environment is likely to suffer a lot at the hands of a corrupt school. Most of us are over here by ourselves with little in the way of a support network. On the other hand, a good school that ends up with a corrupt, no-good FT, although genuinely inconvenienced, would not generally have to go through anywhere near as much suffering. Most school leaders have the support of their managers, support staff, family, friends, and quite often the local PSB and government. They also, often have the advantage of being able to communicate better with everybody around them, and of being in a more familiar environment.

You may have had a positive experience with Frank Zhang, Robert, but that doesn't mean that everybody else has. Everybody, whether their experiences have been good or bad, has the right to post their view about recruiters on this forum even if it does get tiresome sometimes reading the same old posters ranting on about the same old recruiter. We've got a choice though haven't we? If we don't like the posts on this forum we don't have to google this forum and read them do we?

Based on my own personal, yet brief experience with Frank Zhang, the experience of a former colleague of mine, and the incredible amount of negative reviews Frank Zhang has been receiving for a good number of years on many forums, I do not wish to use his services and I would advise all newbies to play it safe by avoiding him. Of course he will get it right sometimes, but I think it's better to err on the side of caution. In the event of problems, it's usually the newbie FT who ends up splashing around in the deep end crying for help.