An email I ACTUALLY SENT!! (Sophie)
Dear Student IT abuse,
I would like to contest the temporary suspension of my account for 2 weeks from August 14th to August 28th 2006 due to reason suggested in your email to me of “one complaint about misuse of your email account. The complaint is that you have been attempting to sell (or buy) text books (or other goods or services) on the student email lists.”
Firstly, I would like to request details of the specific complainant as I have reason to believe that a certain individual may have been involved in the initiation of this complaint. If Student IT is enforcing a punishment on account of this individual, they therefore may be liable to Section 4.1 of the University of Melbourne’s Student Grievances Policy.
Secondly I would like Student IT to consider how strongly they adhere to their ‘Email Abuse Policy’?”
Last semester I contacted Student IT-abuse to complain about the large number of textbooks being advertised via the University email accounts. My complaint was brushed off through the reply that only “specific” complaints could be dealt with. This required the copying and forwarding to IT-abuse of all individual emails sent regarding textbooks.
Most students cannot be bothered to go through this time-consuming process and hence, decide not to complain. This in essence allows students to continue advertising text books with no punishment, hence indicating Student IT’s conflicting ‘Encourage Then Punish’ Policy. After seeing continual emails sent out this semester regarding the advertising of textbooks and no end to the constant tirade, after much conscious moral debate, I decided “If you can’t beat them, then join them.” I do not consider myself at fault however after my conscious efforts in the past to follow “Policy” were later dismantled by poor management at Student IT.
It must also be mentioned that in addition, many students have no clear understanding of the actual Student IT policy regarding email accounts – possibly because the regulation document regarding Student IT is a tiresome eleven pages in length.
Above all however, it must be clear by now that in actual fact, Student IT could conserve resources and increase overall efficiency by CREATING a Student IT specific service which allows Melbourne University Students to list personal textbooks for sale, and for email users to sign up to alerts for textbooks that they may be interested in. A decrease in administration because of ‘email misuse’ in regards to advertising textbooks would conserve staff resources, while both textbook advertisers and email users would be happy (and love and cherish Student IT) because of the new, improved email system for dealing with the selling of textbooks (an issue many Melbourne University Students feel is bothersome and stressful at the beginning of a new semester). Overall, the IT-abuse reporting system itself would not be targeted by individuals willing to smear the reputation of fellow students such as myself.
In finale, perhaps a reversal in attitude by IT-abuse staff towards my case would help with the overall Growing Esteem program that the University is trying to implement?
I am available for further discussion on my case at any time during the working week. Otherwise with fondest respects, I look forward to your online response.
With best regards,
Sophie
For someone who did actually break the rules, that is an impressive set of beauracratical (sp?) claws. REEEOW!!!
Remind me to never, ever, ever get on your bad side.
I don’t get many e-mails trying to sell text books. Maybe science students are different? Anyway when ever I do see these e-mails I don’t usually bother to read them but also don’t feel cruel enough to complain about them.
It should be very clear that you can’t sell text books considering at the top of every e-mail to these lists is:
“# Use for financial gain, eg buying and selling textbooks, is not allowed.
# Penalties apply. Do not reply to this message if it is of no interest to
# you. Conditions of use are at:
# ”
And if the Student IT people were to go and store every e-mail that went through their system, and check through it, they would have little time for other more important things. (Such as helping students to set up their e-mail accounts, MU-Wireless trouble, free classes [Basic iMovie I’m going to on Wednesday], etc.)
I also get the feeling that you are assuming other’s arn’t being punished. They probably are and there might be more e-mails regarding text books being sent out by people for similiar reasons that you did Sophie. You don’t notice the same person trying to sell text books over and over again do you?
On the issue of trying to sell text-books the student union is starting up a co-op where students can sell there text books for the same price as they are sold. As in you give them your text book and set a price, when someone buys it you get the money from the sale. (Although I think it might require Union Membership to sell.)
There is also http://www.textbookexchange.com.au/ where you can advertise for free. And of course you can use the notice boards in the relavent departments.
The issue that Soph’s trying to raise is more so the “selective” method of dobbing people in and waiting for people to be vindictive enough to report others to the IT abuse desk. I’m with her in so far as that, if you’re going to police the system, then it needs to be policed irrespective of whether you get reported or not. The irregularity between how her complaint was addressed and how the specific complaint against her was addressed isn’t fair.
That said, Soph, you DID actually break them rules…! ah well live and let die
xoxoxo
jez
Should we now say that the police are doing a s**t job just because they are not catching every single person who is stealing? Not catching every single speeding/mobile talking/drunk motorist?
I don’t even want to imagine how many e-mails go through those lists! It’s not that hard for someone to report. I just still don’t see any evidence that the others are being let off. If you were talking about every e-mail being checked before it got sent to everyone, than we would have a very inefficient system. I’m also rather sure to prevent outside abuse that e-mails can only be sent to the lists from University of Melbourne e-mail accounts.
And from the e-mails that I get about such things, there are very few. So it would seem that maybe their policy actually can work to prevent such e-mails from being sent in the first place.