Ban Bebo In College

Breezer

People using Bebo on college computers was part of the reason I bought a laptop. Thing is, I wanted one anyway; not everyone does and not everyone can afford one. I have no problem with Bebo being accessible from the stand up and surf computers - that's what they're for, surfing. However, computers in labs and in the libraries are for working on as far as I'm concerned. Daedalus is debatable.

Bebo and Facebook are the most popular of these sites, and should be banned IMO. Throw in MySpace for good measure. I've never seen masses of people on Boards.ie holding up queues but if it were to be banned on the same premise, so be it. Provided they're all still available on the stand up and surf computers I don't see the problem. It's not censorship or taking away freedom, it's enforcing the already existing policy that students haven't been respecting.

As for people saying 'get up earlier,' I'm going to be confrontational here: cop onto yourselves. I'm sure every one of you has pushed a deadline for whatever reason, on many occasions. You're not going to claim extenuating circumstances because something relatively minor (as in not illness, family death, etc.) yet still time consuming came up and you had to leave printing an essay till the day it was due. If the OP would have made the deadline only for people abusing college resources against the stated policy, then he/she has a legitimate complaint.

seraphimvc

The Agogo wrote: »

i don't know about you, but i personally am sick of coming in to college to print of an essay that'd be due in a matter of minutes and being stuck waiting for some arsewipe to finish looking at himself on the internet.

Twice this has happened to me where i have been deduced grades in an essay over a matter of a couple of minutes.

Can looking up bebo not wait till you get home? Is it as important as a student's grades?

Anyone for or against?

twice?jesus,you have no idea how many times i have faced those selfish bastord knew that there is a long queue for the computer(obviously ppl need the pc for important stuffs!look at their blue faces!) ,and myself seriously need to print/submit something urgently,and you know what happens the rest....

i dont really care what people do on the pc really,but just,being a college student ,thats simply disgrace on this kinda stuffs.banning a website for IT admins within campus is easy enough honestly,so ,ban or not ban,we will see that in the future:p

seraphimvc

snyper wrote: »

I kinda agree in the bebo thing, but perhaps you could try and get your projects done a little earlier so you dont havethe panic of the last min printoffs

snyper?the hottest man from AH?lol

but meh,i dont agree your crazy statement((and the others who think same as ya):
there are rapists out there,so you lady better no wearing any sexy skirt,or walking on street after 8!or else,if ya get raped ,you deserve that!

Red Alert

The point is once you give somebody in computing services power to ban sites what's to stop them banning a site critical of the university administration, or banning sites of political parties for example? Computer services' personnel neither have the competence nor integrity to be allowed ban sites.

OP: insure yourself by buying a laptop, Tesco had very cheap good ones last time I was in there. Then you can use it when you want, where you want.

cathald

I don't use it, but I wouldn;t like to see it banned, any tool that keeps people connected is good in my book!

Tayto2000

Red Alert wrote: »

The point is once you give somebody in computing services power to ban sites what's to stop them banning a site critical of the university administration, or banning sites of political parties for example? Computer services' personnel neither have the competence nor integrity to be allowed ban sites.

I think you're being unfair to IT services here, they were one of the most vocal groups in coming out against banning certain sites, and they would have to be instructed by the college authorities to start doing so anyway. Look higher up if you want to talk about competence and integrity.

I find the most disturbing thing here is that it's not the UCD bureaucracy censoring websites in an autocratic fashion, but students calling for it to be done...

the evil lime

Just to point this out... for some people, bebo can be legitimate course work. I'm pretty sure that linguistics sets stuff on it, and I know there's an essay in second year commerce that covers the area too. Not many people though. But I've had a laptop since I got to college (commerce, we have to), so I've never really experienced the problem.

P_1

Well I have to go off and print an essay off on one of the college PCs. There had better not be a backlog of people using Bebo :mad:

Notorious

It can be annoying when you're rushing around college looking for a free computer for whatever reason, but I don't think banning bebo is the answer. I'm sure if bebo was gone, the same people would find something else to look at.
Its a pain to have to wait on people to finish looking at their friends girlfriends bothers bebo page, but who are we to say what people can and can't look at on the internet? The internet is a free resource for everybody, and we can't call in the internet police just because people like me who leave things to the last minute! And to be honest I doubt a lot of people care about your grades or the fact that you could be late. Personally, I'd let someone work away with my computer but thats just me.

x keo21

CaptainNegative wrote: »

Well if that's the reaction you expect to get from a petition, then it's the same reaction you'll get here... A petition could work. I'm sure there's about 4,000 students who'd sign it.

fair enough , but theres about 16000 that wouldnt

Breezer

Notorious wrote: »

The internet is a free resource for everybody, and we can't call in the internet police just because people like me who leave things to the last minute!

The internet itself may be a free resource. Internet access is not. UCD are under no obligation to provide internet access to students other than that required for course work and research. They do provide it with the proviso that the computers are for academic work and that this takes priority over personal computing. The problem is, this isn't enforced and the system is being abused.

The solution shouldn't be for people who actually want to do work to buy a laptop. Rather, those who wish to have unrestricted access to social networking sites regardless of others' requirements to access a computer for academic reasons should buy the laptops. Or go to an internet cafe. Or use the stand up and surf computers.

Red Alert

The rules on the wall specifically say that the PC's are for academic purposes. Now we all know that there isn't a problem with people using them for e-mail and whatnot assuming that nobody wants them for academic purposes. However how are they to know if you don't tell them you need to use the PC? Grow a spine and speak up! Common sense is always better than regulation.

christo82

I-like-eggs,mmm wrote: »

Yep, it can be very annoying trying to find an available computer to print off an assignment!!

Why don't you just explain your situation to whoever is using the computer for bebo?? If someone approached me in college to use the computer to print off an assignment and I wasn't doing anything important... I'd have no problem letting whoever it was use it.

Be brave, I dare ya!

But you're a star. The problem is what differnet people regard as important. Some regard their beboing as being in their Top 10 important activities in their lives.

Breezer

Red Alert wrote: »

Grow a spine and speak up! Common sense is always better than regulation.

Of course it is. But common sense would dictate that if there's a queue of very anxious-looking people waiting to use a computer, there's a high likelihood that at least one of them isn't queuing to get on their Bebo. It's all very well saying 'grow a spine' but bottom line is that no one wants to (a) single a particular Bebo user out and ask them to give up the computer rather than someone else, or (b) become known as 'that guy who always comes into the computer room and announces that he needs to print essays.'

This is a similar issue to the 'people talking in lectures' thread. Some people will stop talking if asked nicely. Others will tell you where to go and will only shut up when a lecturer roars at them or kicks them out. Regulation is necessary in this case.

Similarly, some people will give up a computer when asked reasonably. Others will tell you where to go and will only stop checking their Bebo when they're physically prevented from doing so.

I don't want to sound like one of these people that occasionally comes in here preaching about Christian values and whatnot, but there is a very selfish streak in some members of society. You see it every day on a bus or train with elderly people being made to stand rather than being offered a seat. The Bebo thing is just another extension of this and, unfortunately, regulation seems to be the only way to solve these kind of issues in a lot of cases. Case in point: the amount of people posting in this thread telling the OP to do their essays earlier, because they have a right to be on Bebo. Basically there's enough people that don't care to cause a problem.

fatal

I totally agree with the OP.I don't care if people say that the college shouldn't be able to dictate what sites students visit etc.At the end of the day its the college's server which is being used to access bebo.The IT services should cop on and ban the effin thing

rain on

the evil lime wrote: »

Just to point this out... for some people, bebo can be legitimate course work. I'm pretty sure that linguistics sets stuff on it, and I know there's an essay in second year commerce that covers the area too. Not many people though. But I've had a laptop since I got to college (commerce, we have to), so I've never really experienced the problem.

Linguistics has changed since my day! (Though I remember doing an essay on Cosmopolitan magazine in final year, that was fun). Anyway I was going to say something about that too; I'm doing a masters in E-Business now and we have to do essays on Web 2.0, which includes social networking. Ironically our department (in UCC) has banned Bebo, Myspace and Facebook from our PCs. We all get around it with proxy servers anyway, but it's pretty ironic that one of the only departments that could conceivably require you to look at social networking sites for legit college purposes is also the one that bans them.

Blut

Breezer wrote: »

It's all very well saying 'grow a spine' but bottom line is that no one wants to (a) single a particular Bebo user out and ask them to give up the computer rather than someone else, or (b) become known as 'that guy who always comes into the computer room and announces that he needs to print essays.'

How often exactly do you leave it so you only have 5 minutes to spare before a deadline? I've been in that situation exactly 3 times in the last 3 years in UCD, each time I've had no problem asking the nearest person to me on a PC in daedalus 'hey sorry I've an essay due in a few minutes, any chance I could spend 30seconds printing it off?', never had the request refused and I seriously doubt I've somehow become well known around campus as 'that guy who always comes into the computer room and announces that he needs to print essays.' If youre leaving your essays late enough regularly enough to seriously be in danger of that then its really nobodies fault but your own.

I really second that 'grow a spine' comment, no need for any ridiculous banning of websites from UCD's PCs, just man up and ask the nearest person to you to use their PC.

convert

princess-sprkle wrote: »

well in all fairness, to leave an essay to the literal last minute is your own fault, i wouldn't go blaming beboers there! and yes, i've had like 4 essays some weeks so i know its hard. Get up a bit earlier?

While I agree with the fact that it's not actually the "beboers'" fault that there are students trying to frantically finish typing or printing essays, I don't think it's entirely just to be so harsh on those students.

While it's easy to say that the essays should have been completed much further in advance, how many students out there can honestly say that they've never ever been rushed finishing an essay or who have never frantically been submitting an essay pretty close to the deadline?

How many times have you seen staff frantically printing off lecture notes, tutorial notes, hand outs, over-heads, etc at the last minute before they run to the lecture/tutorial? It's not just students who do it.

Regarding banning Bebo:

While I would love to see Bebo banned (I hate the site), I do feel that if one such site was banned, then all similar sites would also have to be banned. That could then potentially lead to other sites being banned, such as youtube, boards.ie, etc. Then one could also ask, why stop there? Why not limit access to all sites except email and academic sites? Then there could be no complaints about students wasting time on social networking sites.

However, I do feel that people need to have more consideration for their fellow students. Why would you be so rude as to tell someone to 'f**k off' just because they asked you to help them by allowing them print off their essay? Seriously, that's just disgraceful! Surely their time would be better spent actually working as opposed to wasting time on these kind of sites? Moreover, how many of the 'beboers' will later be the students who will be frantically trying to put the final touches to and print off their essay just minutes before the deadline?!

Essentially what I'm trying to say is please have some consideration for your fellow students!

Breezer

Blut wrote: »

If youre leaving your essays late enough regularly enough to seriously be in danger of that then its really nobodies fault but your own.

Have you ever had to do a group project where extracting work out of your colleagues is akin to getting blood from a stone, references are something people with letters after their name bother with, and the end result is that you, because you're the only one who speaks English well enough to edit the thing, have to stay up well into the small hours in the nights before the deadline and then submit the thing with the deadline looming? What if you were stuck with that group for every single project you have to do for 3 years? I've been in that situation many times and I'm not the only one.

True, that isn't the Beboers fault, but they don't help the situation and as stated many times already, UCD's computers are provided for academic work.

Anyway, like I said in my first post, it's not an issue for me anymore: I bought a laptop. But I do sympathise with the OP and clearly I'm not the only one who believes Bebo in particular is causing a problem.

convert wrote:

Essentially what I'm trying to say is please have some consideration for your fellow students!

I agree, this is far preferable to regulation. But the fact is people clearly aren't showing respect, so much so that Bebo was already banned once (and subsequently unbanned). As I've said, see the 'people talking in lectures' thread. There's enough people who couldn't care less about their fellow students out there to cause a problem.

MuddyDog

bebo is great for perving .

Blut

Breezer wrote: »

blah

So what youre saying is essentially yes, youre afraid to simply ask people to let you use their PC for a minute to print out your essay? You seem to be making rather a lot of excuses rather than just admitting this. If you ask people to let you print off your essays youll have no more 'bebo problem', simple as that!

Breezer

Blut wrote: »

So what youre saying is essentially yes, youre afraid to simply ask people to let you use their PC for a minute to print out your essay? You seem to be making rather a lot of excuses rather than just admitting this. If you ask people to let you print off your essays youll have no more 'bebo problem', simple as that!

Well, no, if you read my post you'll see that I don't need to ask people this because I don't use the college PCs that often, I use my laptop. I'm not really sure where you drew that conclusion from.

And I also pointed out, as did other people in this thread, that not everyone is entirely willing to give up their PC when asked. I hardly consider that an 'excuse,' since clearly people are asking and it's not working in all cases.

I hope that by repeating myself I've clarified this for you. Then again, since you read my other post as 'blah' you'll probably read this post as 'blah blah'. Not a very mature attitude. Come back to me when you have something to add to the argument.

Stepherunie

Seriously people, all they you are doing is criticising.

Do people not look at the solutions around the place.

Yes you can buy a laptop, you can rent a laptop in the library, you can rent one for the day. You can use a different building that may have a pc free at peak hours.

Some day people will stop being moaning unhappy and snivellling people and actually see that if you just open your eyes and use some lateral thinking that you can actually deal with it.

Sure bebo is annoying at peak times, but so are people complaining like hell and doing nothing about it, or talking loudly in the library or in lectures.

boneless

MuddyDog wrote: »

bebo is great for perving .

But to get on topic... I personally hated the way college pc facilities were abused when I was an undergrad. I was often waiting to use a pc as I had none at home at the time; but when I saw what some students were using this valuable resource for I was appalled. In some instances people were using the computer to chat/interact with someone not 10 feet from them!

One solution could be to dedicate one computer lab to the bebo etc. type activities at certain hours during the day and the pc's thus will be free to be used by those who need to do course work and research.

The argument about buying a laptop if you need to do course work is laughable to me. Buy a laptop if you are only using one for your social life and leave the college pc's for those of us who need them.

convert

Stepherunie wrote: »

You can use a different building that may have a pc free at peak hours.

Has it ever occured to you that possibly, just possibly, the over-use of Bebo isn't unique to just one building, but that it's a campus-wide phenomenon; that maybe it doesn't matter to which building you go, it's the same story everywhere: queues of people who want to get academic work done, and a significant number of individuals using computers for social networking, etc.

Using Bebo is fine, but seriously, have some consideration for the students who actually want to work in college and do well rather than waste their time social networking with their friends, who are probably somewhere around campus. Would it not be better to actually meet them in person, go for coffee, something to eat, or a drink, rather than messaging them online?!

stereoroid

If I may get technical for a minute... how would the IT people go about banning Bebo, anyway? Adding it to a "blacklist" on the Proxy server? There are various ways around proxies... or all the users would move somewhere else. (Orkut, anyone?)

It would be an arms race, and once they started, they couldn't stop. Or they could install a "Net Nanny" package that gets updated blacklists from some company. Both options would cost UCD IT time and resources that would be better spent elsewhere, such as fixing borked PCs, or fixing some of those broken ZenWorks application installers.

Here's an idea: if you're doing anything non-essential on a UCD PC - even reading boards.ie - just take the occasional look around you. Your eyes need a break from the screen anyway, and if you see a queue forming... wind up whatever you're doing, and move on. Consider it a test: do we do the right thing, of our own volition, or do we need common sense to be regulated? :cool:

Stepherunie

convert wrote: »

Has it ever occured to you that possibly, just possibly, the over-use of Bebo isn't unique to just one building, but that it's a campus-wide phenomenon; that maybe it doesn't matter to which building you go, it's the same story everywhere: queues of people who want to get academic work done, and a significant number of individuals using computers for social networking, etc.

Yes i'm so intellectually challenged that I never ever stopped to consider such a scenario.

Just how stupid do you think I am???

I am speaking from personal experience about there being free computers in other buildings at peak times, I've never had a problem getting a computer at a peak time providing I was willing to actually go to a different flaming building.

seraphimvc

lol love everyone ignore my rapist theory:

there are rapists out there(overwhelming abusing computers for non academic work),so you lady better no wearing any sexy skirt,or walking on street after 8!or else,if ya get raped ,you deserve that!(so ya people get ready for that,if ya face problem,deal with yourself!its your own fault for not 'embarass' people like asking,may i use your computer for my urgent essay printing please?)

i mean,ffs,of course people need a break,i always do my work while browsing around the net,school or home.but i have seen countless time while 10 people queing in library 3rd/4th floor for more than 20mins+ while lots of people on the computer just simply dont care at all keep doing their bebo stuffs...

Bubs101

Just use the PCs in ag science, problem solved

convert

Stepherunie wrote: »

Yes i'm so intellectually challenged that I never ever stopped to consider such a scenario.

Just how stupid do you think I am???

I am speaking from personal experience about there being free computers in other buildings at peak times, I've never had a problem getting a computer at a peak time providing I was willing to actually go to a different flaming building.

I was being sarcastic!!

The situation around campus has definitely been alleviated with the introduction of more computers on campus in recent years, but, in fairness, students who do try to find free computers around campus at peak times can still waste a huge amount of time that could have been avoided if other students had some consideration about their use of computers.