Well I am a little older, so I think that people who break the rules will eventually get what is coming to them. I do not feel the need to verbalize it or even write it down.
My mom always told me “Never write anything down that you do not want your worst enemy to read.”
Remember that anyone can sue you for defamation.
If I was a trial lawyer, I would be lubricating my joints in anticipation of this potential windfall for the legal profession from Millenials who think that they can say anything, anytime, anywhere.
Not putting things in writing is exactly the strategy that abusive people use to hide harassing communications and for maintaining one-sided records within malignant organizations in which administrators keeps documentation but you as the employee or student do not know about and additionally are not privy to seeing so that you are unable to contest their documentation of what they claim to have transpired. Because of my experience in toxic organizations, I always follow up any and all discussions with a recap email with an invitation to add their addendums to my impression of what was discussed and agreed upon and that non-response will be interpreted as agreement with my recap. This is meant for their records and mine so should something come up later, especially if contradictory, I have prior documentation to refer to.
Lawyers always coach us to document well as part of CYA. If it wasn't documented, it didn't happen and thus we are responsible for our own record keeping. If you were to lodge a complaint to HR, the state board, or be involved in a lawsuit, shouldn't one have some kind of evidence to back up one's claims?
And I don't agree that public vitriol is healthy.
I also find it interesting that you were so quick to label potential discussion as public vitriol. Bringing up the potential issue of defamation may have been well-intended in your mind but it seems to have come across poorly based on the responses of others. I would even go so far as to say that your suggestion of trial lawyers gearing up to make some libel money sounds preemptively accusatory as if residents would come here to make some knowingly false claims. HOWEVER, there are definitely cases in which doctors have tried to sue people who wrote negative reviews. Doctors usually do not win these cases because of the standard of having to prove at least a negligent if not reckless disregard for the truth or knowingly and intentionally communicating a false statement. Opinions, especially with evidence, will not come across as having disregard for truth or intention to make false or misleading statements.
As peers in having attained a DMD/DDS, if informed consent and decision making is valued in the contexts of medical practice and in other contracts we make, why does that philosophy seem to vanish when it comes to applicants having more complete information about employing institutions? We go over risks, benefits, and alternatives with our patients for any irreversible procedures. Why are applicants potentially obliged to make life-altering decisions based only on discussion of benefits without discussion of risks? Rank lists result in binding contracts that may jeopardize our futures for a significant amount of time or even irreversibly if the prospective resident opts to back out or drop out. To be clear, I am asking as a serious question, not rhetorical.
A department within a certain institution I shall decline to name had a significant number of residents drop out this year. That should be alarming to any relevant regulatory body and be taken very seriously by our community at large. When we allow malignant people to teach, administrate, or practice without any meaningful accountability for their actions and corrective actions, these individuals harm our collective professional reputation. And "it was worse back in my day" is neither a legal defense nor is it an adequately ethical or professional response. Would any of us speak so dismissively before a court of law if we were being sued? "Well, the patient didn't die, they're still right here!" I think most if not all of us are smart enough to not convey a flippant, dismissive, or contemptuous attitude in public. We know it would look bad in front of a jury. Yet in seemingly semi-private interactions, some folks get too disinhibited too easily.
I can empathize with having a visceral reaction at "name and shame" but honestly, who is going to report legitimate grievances if quality evidence is difficult to obtain, we fear retribution, and potentially risk our eligibility for board exams and certificates if the program is not accredited? Given the precarious nature of our position, who would carelessly and knowingly post lies about another individual, program, department, or institution? Why should the responsibility for residency improvements fall on residents or "resident leadership"? Where is the accountability? I agree with being careful to not become what we loathe, but that same energy needs to be kept in regard to faculty and attendings rather than giving them a free pass because they're "hard to replace". Hurt people hurt people. I try to remember that when having unpleasant interactions with others but some folks make it challenging for me to maintain my empathy and patience.
Also worth considering is that we as individual doctors are publicly listed if we get Enforcement Actions and you need to know what you're looking for to find it. It doesn't pop up as a top Google result by default. It seems that only the truly egregious cases become public by way of news outlets. Two emergency medicine attending cases and one family medicine in NYC between 2000 and 2017 quickly come to mind. Is there a good reason as to why applicants shouldn't know about prospective employers and work environments? In the armed forces, many bases maintain an"Off-limits list" of establishments and slumlords that soldiers are explicitly instructed to not do business with as a means of protecting soldiers from being taken advantage of. Part of protecting the future and image of our profession should include protecting our own against exploitation and abuse rather than accepting it as the cost of doing business.
We are smart people. Aside from the rare exceptions, I don't think any of us entered this profession intending to be malicious, malignant, incompetent, or intentionally unkind to others. We hoist ourselves by our own petards when we protect and enable abusers rather than hold each other accountable. Lastly, I would like to gently remind everyone that in the age of smart phones, video social media, and cancel culture, we should all be a lot more careful about all of our interactions. We can't and don't know who could be recording us at any given moment.