A few days ago, I received a negative review on my course. I flagged it to Udemy because I truly believed it was unfair and didn’t reflect the actual quality or effort behind my work. Earlier today, I got a response from the Trust & Safety team saying that the review doesn’t violate any policy and that “all instructors receive low ratings sometimes.” That message made me stop and really think about everything that’s been happening.
I spent seven months completely re-recording my course. I did it with total dedication, believing that delivering the best possible content would make a real difference. The result? I ended up developing vestibular migraine, something I had never experienced in my life - a direct result of months of extreme effort, sleepless nights under the pressure of ratings, and the constant demand to make everything perfect, as students EXPECT from us instructors, while they pay the bare minimum for it. Vestibular migraine can be truly debilitating - episodes can last for days or even more than a week, leaving you with constant dizziness, imbalance, nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and a disorienting feeling that the ground is moving beneath you. At times, it becomes nearly impossible to work, record, or even look at a computer screen without triggering another wave of vertigo.
And after all that, I discovered that Udemy is actually competing with me through the Personal Plan, redirecting students away from my course to random others.
It’s easy for Udemy to say things like that when they’re not in our shoes. We live this every single day. We record, edit, answer questions, update content, try to improve every detail — and still, we receive unfair reviews that often don’t even come close to reflecting the effort, the time, or the quality behind what we do.
Comparing course reviews to movie reviews is just wrong. We don’t sell entertainment — we sell knowledge. And we teach people who don’t know yet, which means some will inevitably misunderstand the purpose, the method, or the content.
These unfair reviews hurt more than just numbers. They discourage us, they wear us down, and they make many instructors wonder if it’s still worth it to keep going.
Honestly, Udemy isn’t what it used to be when I started. And from what I see in the instructor community, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Everyone’s tired — and a big part of that comes from these unfair reviews and how they’re handled. This collective exhaustion isn’t good for anyone - not for us, and not for the future of the platform itself.
At some point, you start asking yourself: is it really worth sacrificing your health for this? When your body starts breaking down because of the stress, the pressure, and the constant feeling that your best is never enough - is that still success? When you can’t sleep, when you can’t think straight, when your inner ear turns against you and the world starts spinning - what’s the real cost of all this? Because no recognition, no badge, no “top instructor” label can make up for losing your health and peace of mind.
I’m 27 years old. I’m not an old man, not someone with fragile health or a long history of medical issues. Yet here I am, with a weakened body, dealing with a condition I never thought I’d have — all because of the pressure to keep everything perfect, to meet unrealistic expectations, and to constantly prove my worth in a system that often gives little back.
OBS: I'm not simply talking about platform ratings. So please don't reduce it to that. I'm talking about how the platform treats us. I'm talking about what we have to endure to continue existing. I'm talking about how the platform has become a competitor to us. I'm talking about effort versus return. I'm talking about HEALTH. I'm talking about all of that, except for ratings. Unfair ratings are one reflection of a larger problem. Look beyond that and don't reduce it to just that, please. I have almost 10,000 students on the platform. I already understand how all of this works. Once again: IT'S NOT ABOUT RATINGS.
