School of Arts and Sciences computing will update its e-mail system beginning today to change the way users delete messages.
Webmail users will no longer have the option to hide e-mails that have been marked for deletion.
The change will prevent students from clogging in-boxes with e-mails that they might not even know exist, according to SAS Information Technology Director Brian Doherty, who is in charge of dealing with student complaints.
Doherty said that students currently have two options for deleting e-mails: They can move deleted messages to a trash folder or simply mark them for deletion.
Under both settings, when a user tries to delete a message it remains on the server and continues to contribute toward the person's inbox quota, a predetermined storage capacity.
However, when students opts to mark a message for deletion, they can choose to hide it from their inbox. The message then disappears from view and is inaccessible under normal settings.
"Students accidentally turn on that setting and then think the box is empty," Doherty said. "It turns out there are hundreds of e-mails in there anyways."
Doherty added that SAS Computing decided to make the change after receiving inquiries from students who were confused by the old system.
"We are trying to make sure that deleted messages are visible to students," he said.
After the change is made, any deleted messages that were previously hidden will reappear in in-boxes. However, they will be differentiated from ordinary e-mails with a new background shade.
A student will then be able to permanently remove the e-mails from the server by using the "purge" option in the inbox.
Doherty stressed that the change will have no effect on students using default Webmail settings. He does not foresee any problems during the transition.
"There shouldn't be any disruptions at all," he said, adding that he is optimistic that the change will be welcomed by the majority of students.
"We haven't received any negative feedback about the plans," he said. "It really seems like it would be a minor change that would benefit a lot of people."
Nina Vyas, a College senior, is unsure how these changes will improve the system.
"I don't understand ... the point," Vyas said. "It seems like they're not really doing anything that's going to change it."
- The School of Arts and Sciences is planning changes to the Webmail system that will extend through this summer - Today's change will alter the options that students have when they delete messages - Deleted messages will no longer be forwarded to a folder that is not accessible under normal settings - On Sunday, Webmail crashed because of incorrect coding associated with long-term Webmail changes that the system will adopt during winter break - Officials said that it is highly unlikely that the system will crash again because all further updates will take place over vacation - Computing plans to increase the size of the SAS inbox quota to 65 megabytes from 35 - Students will receive advanced notice of times during which the system will be down over break - The charge stems from student confusion over the old system
