A review on ACADA is one student's honest account of one course. You can write one after three days in a course and a fifth of the way through it. Say what the course and its material were like, not what you think of the person who made it. Instructors can reply, but cannot delete, reward or steer reviews. Reviews we believe are fake come down, and the accounts behind them lose their standing.
This summary is for orientation only. The sections below are the operative terms.
1. Who this applies to
This policy applies to everyone who writes, replies to, asks for or is the subject of a review on acada.ac: students, instructors, collaborators and affiliates. ACADA L.L.C., a Tennessee limited liability company (ACADA, we), sets these rules and enforces them.
2. What we expect
Write what you found. Let others write what they found. A rating is worth something only when nobody has put a thumb on it.
3. Who can review
- Students who have used the course. You can review a course once you have been enrolled for 3 days and have completed at least 20% of its lessons. One review per student per course, with a rating from 1 to 5 stars and, if you want, a written review.
- Not the people behind it. The course's instructor and collaborators cannot review it. Neither can an affiliate who has earned commission on it.
- After a refund. A review written while you held access stays up if you later refund or leave. Once you have refunded, you cannot write a new one.
4. What a review is about
A review is about the course and its material: the content, how it is taught, how it is laid out, and whether it delivered what its landing page promised. "The examples in module 3 are out of date" is a review. "The instructor is an idiot" is not. Three things do not belong in a review.
- Nothing about people. No comments on the instructor's or other students' character, appearance, beliefs or anything else about them as people. The Community Guidelines apply to reviews as they do everywhere else.
- Nothing off-topic. A billing problem, a refund request or a bug in ACADA belongs with support@acada.ac, not in a rating of the course.
- No promotion or private details. No links, no advertising your own course, and no one's personal information.
5. Editing and deleting
You can edit or delete your review at any time. An edited review shows that it was edited. Nobody else can change it: instructors cannot edit, hide or delete reviews of their courses, and we change a review only by removing one that breaks this policy. Your review stays yours; we may quote a public review in ACADA's own marketing with your display name, as the Intellectual Property policy says, and deleting the review ends that.
6. Instructor replies
The course's instructor may post one public reply under a review. It must be civil, and it may not ask the reviewer to change or remove the review, or offer anything for doing so. A reply that argues about the person rather than the point is removed like any other breach of section 4.
7. Asking for reviews
Instructors may ask every student for an honest review, inside the course or in the course room. Beyond that:
- Nothing of value for a review. No discount, refund, gift, XP, certificate, extra content, bonus access or anything else in return for a review, for a rating, or for a better rating.
- No picking who you ask. Asking only the students who seemed happy, or only after a good result, is not allowed.
- No steering. "Leave a review" is fine. "Leave 5 stars" is not.
8. How ratings are shown
A course page shows every review the course has, newest first, and an average of all of their ratings with the count. On the marketplace, in search and on category pages, a course shows that average once it has 10 reviews, and "highest rated" puts courses with 10 or more reviews first, by their average. A course with 10 or more reviews that average under 3 stars is not listed in those places. Its page and links to it still work, and it is listed again once its average reaches 3. The marketplace home page shows a selection of written reviews rated 4 or 5 stars as testimonials, labelled as a selection; it is not a summary of any course's rating, and the course page is.
9. Fake reviews
A review that is not the genuine account of a real student is removed and the course's average recomputed. That includes reviews from extra accounts, reviews traded between instructors, reviews bought from anyone, and reviews written by someone who did not use the course, and reviews written by AI rather than by the student, as the AI Content Policy says. The accounts involved follow the steps in the Account Enforcement & Appeals policy: a written warning, then restrictions, then closure. Running or buying from a review-selling operation closes the account at once.
10. Reporting a review
To report a review, use the Report button next to it and choose the reason: fake or paid, not about the course, harassment, spam, or something else. A person reads every report and tells you when it has been dealt with. Instructors report reviews of their own courses the same way; a report is not a way to remove a review you disagree with.
11. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we change the date shown at the top. If a change adds a rule or a consequence, we post a notice in the app at least 14 days before it takes effect.
12. Related policies
- Community Guidelines: conduct in reviews, and the one-account rule.
- Course Content Policy: what a course must deliver, which is what a review judges.
- Affiliate Marketing Guidelines: how affiliates may and may not talk about courses they promote.
- Account Enforcement & Appeals: the enforcement steps in section 9, in full.
- Educational Disclaimer: reviews are opinions, not our assessment of a course.
- Intellectual Property: you own your review, and how we may quote it.
- AI Content Policy: a review written by AI is not yours.
- Terms of Service: the agreement this policy is part of, governing law, disputes and the limits of our liability.