By Cathy Bogaart
Ryerson’s information highway is guarding itself against a chain-letter traffic jam.
Dave Mason, director of the School of Computer Science, sent messages to five students, warning them that sending chain letters through the electronic mailing system was against school policy. “Chain letters on the system can create enough useless electronic load to do some serious damage,” Mason said.
Ryerson’s e-mail system handles about 7,000 messages daily according to Paul Ribeiro, the manager of the Matrix system. Matrix is an inter-computer information system that feeds e-mail to Ryerson. Ribeiro said Rye’s e-mail has only a limited amount of computer space and passing chain letters through the system could overload its capacity. If this happened, new mail would be rejected due to the backlog.
“I’m not sure whether the policy is spelled out in great detail, but the student code of conduct states that students are not to abuse the system (via chain letters),” Mason said. He discovered the problem when he received two letters on his e-mail account. One had been sent by a student and one from another member of the faculty who thought Mason might find the letter amusing. Mason said the chain mail is dangerous because of the unnecessary clutter it creates in people’s mail boxes.
Mason realizes most Matrix traffic is personal or social and supports a system that allows for easier communication within the student body. “E-mail contributes to a rich environment,” he said. “We don’t mind what it’s used for, as long as it doesn’t stop others from accessing the system.”
Mason is confident the students he warned will co-operate and stop sending the letters now that they know the policy.
First-year Computer Science student Manish Handa says he will stop sending chain letters after being warned, but admits the school’s punishment for students who abuse their e-mail privileges is “fairly generous.”
In the past, Mason has disciplined students by suspending their accounts for one day for a first offence, two days for their second and so on. However, more severe problems will result in a longer suspension.
This isn’t the first time Mason has issued warnings about chain letters on the Matrix but he admits students will make mistakes because the email system is still in its preliminary stages. “People have to learn what’s reasonable by experience,” he said.
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