Now imagine that anyone who knows where you work, including your friends, family and future employers, can log on and read about your boring presentations and shoddy sales technique.

Irish teachers have come under this kind of professional fire over the past couple of years because of the by-now notorious website, www.Ratemyteachers. ie. The site is an offshoot of the original US version, and allows past and present students who log on to rate and comment on their teachers.

It seems the Irish are keenest to get a dig in at their one-time classroom tormentors , , our national site has been up to 10 times more popular than the UK version, according to site statistics.

Comments are supposed to be limited to the teacher's professional competencies, and it claims that 60pc of the comments about teachers are positive.

Could we see the rise of Ratemybinman. ie or Ratemybankclerk. org? Tempting as it sounds, it's doubtful whether sites slating these service providers would catch the public imagination as much as Ratemyteachers. ie. Site monitors also keep the public postings on professional organisation's chatrooms pretty much smut and gossip free.

So what can you do if you're the victim of an attack on your working reputation, be it from an online website posting or a scurrilous rumour spread through the office?

Frequently, it is difficult for someone in a senior management position to recover from adverse publicity or to counter something that may have been stated falsely on a website.

Advice from the experts is that people who think they should take action in these circumstances attract more attention than they should. It is probably better to go for mediation than to take a libel action.