The lynx space competition...

Arse Biscuits!

I still think that was bad form of the SAA to send out that e-mail with regards to the lynx space competition. It was totally unfair on any other student that was in the competition, which I am myself. Your man is after gettin over 1100 votes and is coming 22nd. It was a good idea on his part to send it to SAA, fair play, but they shouldn't have actually sent it to everyone. Their emails are a joke, I know there's a thread about it already but this has just pissed me off now because they should have realised that they were going to be playing favourites. What you think?

And did many people get that letter about having to pay fees, despite already showing them the grant letter? I know a few people who did, me included, what's the story with that?

AlwaysRight

I have always liked that the SAA would send out emails like that. Just went to show the good nature with which most staff of the University treat their students, willing to help with any reasonable request.

There are many other Universities that treat their undergrad students like children or the scum of the university ladder. I always found it heartening to think that in UL there is a different attitude, one that prides itself on the student experience.

I can see the point about favoritism but in fairness, who in SAA is going to be well up on the whole Lynx Apollo thing. They were just being helpful to a student request which I thought was nice of them. Unfortunately in campaigns to get into space it is a game of tactics and that lad came up with a good tactic before any other student, it was good thinking. Unfortunately it is not likely to work for other students now but that's just the name of the game.

As for all the other emails reception sent out, I think its a shame that people abused staff for trying to help students. Its a student email account, the point of it is for internal university communication and I think it was fair, nice and useful to some.

freyners

AlwaysRight wrote: »

I have always liked that the SAA would send out emails like that. Just went to show the good nature with which most staff of the University treat their students, willing to help with any reasonable request.

There are many other Universities that treat their undergrad students like children or the scum of the university ladder. I always found it heartening to think that in UL there is a different attitude, one that prides itself on the student experience.

I can see the point about favoritism but in fairness, who in SAA is going to be well up on the whole Lynx Apollo thing. They were just being helpful to a student request which I thought was nice of them. Unfortunately in campaigns to get into space it is a game of tactics and that lad came up with a good tactic before any other student, it was good thinking. Unfortunately it is not likely to work for other students now but that's just the name of the game.

As for all the other emails reception sent out, I think its a shame that people abused staff for trying to help students. Its a student email account, the point of it is for internal university communication and I think it was fair, nice and useful to some.

Its not even this email, the SAA are constantly sending out emails that to most are useless spam, along with all the other spam we get like organic gardening, endless surveys and the great rates in the arena.

At the moment the problem is people are missing sulis notifications or lecturer emails because they accidentally delete the message which is covered under all that spam. While you might say thats there own fault (and i'd agree) its still a problem.

The big worry i have with the SAA/Reception now adding to the spamfest is that it is an important email address that should and is used for important messages. People now are getting so used to getting useless emails from them there is going to be a situation where someday they are going to need to email something really important (emergency on campus or something) and it wont be seen because people are so used to receiving useless spam from them they will either auto delete it or just no read it

AlwaysRight

That is a fair point, and to a certain extent I agree. To be honest with you I have no interest in organic gardening course either and I do just mark as read. Yet I have never missed an important email - and I never understood deleting emails, you don't run out of space!

And some of the courses they offer are actually very good sometimes, brilliant stuff for the CV at a fraction of the cost. So they may not be always relevant to everyone, but they will to some. Why start being so selective, someone will be annoyed they will be left out.

Finally the constant bickering towards genuinely nice staff will bite us in the arse someday because they won't want to help students anymore. Why bother running TEFL courses at a fraction of the cost when all you get back is abuse for sending the email twice.

They university email is essentially a notice board, check it and pick out whats relevant each day. Its really not a difficult task for university students. Apathy and laziness aren't really excuses: catering for the lazy person isn't the way to run a university and it isn't what employers want in graduates.

freyners

AlwaysRight wrote: »

That is a fair point, and to a certain extent I agree. To be honest with you I have no interest in organic gardening course either and I do just mark as read. Yet I have never missed an important email - and I never understood deleting emails, you don't run out of space!

And some of the courses they offer are actually very good sometimes, brilliant stuff for the CV at a fraction of the cost. So they may not be always relevant to everyone, but they will to some. Why start being so selective, someone will be annoyed they will be left out.

Finally the constant bickering towards genuinely nice staff will bite us in the arse someday because they won't want to help students anymore. Why bother running TEFL courses at a fraction of the cost when all you get back is abuse for sending the email twice.

They university email is essentially a notice board, check it and pick out whats relevant each day. Its really not a difficult task for university students. Apathy and laziness aren't really excuses: catering for the lazy person isn't the way to run a university and it isn't what employers want in graduates.

Can see what your saying but tbf cant hey just not roll it into one email or just do an e notice board. Do i really need to get 5 different spam emails in the space of 2 hours?

I use my studentmail for a job application, waiting on a reply atm and everytime i see one new message and its another spam email I begin to hate people more and more:p

AlwaysRight

I can see how that would be annoying.

You'd be best off to use a personal email address for job applications for 3 reasons

1) With a digit based email (and a very long one to type) the chances for error when they type it in are high
2) If you submit a CV and they end up keeping it "on file" and try to contact you after you graduate (I am fairly sure you lose your UL email after you leave)
3) You have control over who you give your personal email address to and have more control over what you receive.

Problem with rolling it into one email is it increases the chance of missing the message. People don't read emails past the first few lines, and I'm not a betting man but I would bet my money on that. And even if you did scroll the email, the chances of skipping something would be high. And like I said, while it may not be relevant to you it may be for others.

Funny enough they do use an e-notice board located here https://sharepoint.ul.ie/SiteDirectory/Students/default.aspx
which has very useful Lost & Found and For Sale & Wanted, but hardly any students use it, so what is the point of a notice board nobody uses! :P

Staff tend to use this, and they get an update via email about every addition to it, as far as I know...now that would be a lot of emails compared to what we get.

Arse Biscuits!

AlwaysRight wrote: »

They university email is essentially a notice board, check it and pick out whats relevant each day. Its really not a difficult task for university students. Apathy and laziness aren't really excuses: catering for the lazy person isn't the way to run a university and it isn't what employers want in graduates.

That is a very good idea actually... why doesn't the University set up a notice board style webpage where courses in TEFL, gardening etc etc. are posted? It would reduce the amount of people complaining and it would allow them to post whatever they want, in particular if it allowed for feedback and comments (prior moderator approval needed) under each course so that we could see things from a students perspective and of how much value/relevance the course/class being advertised is.

Chimaera

Back in the old days, we used to have the Public Folders enabled on the email server, where a lot of this sort of mail was posted. It was at students' discretion whether or not they read the mails, and personal inboxes weren't filled with all-user emails.

I wasn't aware the Sharepoint noticeboard existed, but I think it'd be a good idea perhaps for UL admin to publicise that and use it more.

The other thing you can set up is filtering on your inbox. Create a folder in your inbox called e.g. "Reception Emails" and set a rule that any mail arriving from UL Reception is directed in there. That way, all the mails are still there for you to browse/delete as you see fit, but it's not clogging up your main inbox view. It takes about 5 mins to set up.

eoins23456

Oh quit bitching!

Jester252

Nobody is going to be sent into when they stink like a cheap teenager

Arse Biscuits!

Jester252 wrote: »

Nobody is going to be sent into when they stink like a cheap teenager

What? :rolleyes:

Arse Biscuits!

eoins23456 wrote: »

Oh quit bitching!

Public forum, I'll bitch as much as I want :rolleyes:

Jester252

Arse Biscuits! wrote: »

What? :rolleyes:

Nobody will win the competition no need to get worked up about it

Cossax

freyners wrote: »

Its not even this email, the SAA are constantly sending out emails that to most are useless spam, along with all the other spam we get like organic gardening, endless surveys and the great rates in the arena.

At the moment the problem is people are missing sulis notifications or lecturer emails because they accidentally delete the message which is covered under all that spam. While you might say thats there own fault (and i'd agree) its still a problem.

The big worry i have with the SAA/Reception now adding to the spamfest is that it is an important email address that should and is used for important messages. People now are getting so used to getting useless emails from them there is going to be a situation where someday they are going to need to email something really important (emergency on campus or something) and it wont be seen because people are so used to receiving useless spam from them they will either auto delete it or just no read it

Whatever about the rest of your argument, that's a joke, right?


As for the general gist of this thread, ITD sent out a notice to all staff this week about not abusing/spamming the AllStudents mailing lists so hopefully you'll see less of that.

freyners

Cossax wrote: »

Whatever about the rest of your argument, that's a joke, right?


As for the general gist of this thread, ITD sent out a notice to all staff this week about not abusing/spamming the AllStudents mailing lists so hopefully you'll see less of that.

Meh its what ive heard from people, I dont understand them, its not like there does be hundreds of messages, but its what Ive heard

HogieBear92

Arse Biscuits! wrote: »

I still think that was bad form of the SAA to send out that e-mail with regards to the lynx space competition. It was totally unfair on any other student that was in the competition, which I am myself. Your man is after gettin over 1100 votes and is coming 22nd. It was a good idea on his part to send it to SAA, fair play, but they shouldn't have actually sent it to everyone. Their emails are a joke, I know there's a thread about it already but this has just pissed me off now because they should have realised that they were going to be playing favourites. What you think?

And did many people get that letter about having to pay fees, despite already showing them the grant letter? I know a few people who did, me included, what's the story with that?

Well Arse Biscuits! (love the name) I'm the lad that pragmatically sent the link to the SAA. First off I never even thought they would send it to all the students on my behalf. I was very surprised, yet grateful, that they actually sent it out. The woman that emailed back said that she even took the liberty of voting for me, which surprised me even more, I'll let that nibble away at you! Seeing as you, and a lot of other people, get flustered and overreact over a little tiny email that is sent out! To be honest there's no need for that carry on at all. If something like that ruins your day and you feel the need to give out about it to random people on another website then that is a sad state of affairs! It's a ****in email lads get the **** over it! Obviously it seems as you all are stuck to your laptops/computers/Ipads/Smartphones etc. day in day out so I can see how an email that is rather a waste of time would ruin your day, if that's the case I am truthfully sorry! So back to you Arse Biscuits (haha love it, really do) I did get a great response and people sharing it on their Facebook's and Twitter's and having a good auld jolly laugh about the whole thing, which is all it was in the first place.. a ****in bitta craic lad stop being a dry ****e! I never felt as if I was going to win the ****in thing I was aiming for 1,000 votes and I exceeded my expectations! Many thanks to the SAA of course! Anyways that's all I've to say on the matter! Best of luck in the lynx competition, you seem to be mad to go to space, I'd give you my votes if I could, I would... but I can't!

AlwaysRight

That response is probably a bit over the top and insulting for no particular reason. Which is a pity. I agree with the side of the argument that people shouldn't be bothered by an email but insulting people is the worst way to defend your point.

Anyway, I am glad to hear the staff in SAA replied and voted for you. Just reiterates my point about UL staff being sound!

HogieBear92

AlwaysRight wrote: »

That response is probably a bit over the top and insulting for no particular reason. Which is a pity. I agree with the side of the argument that people shouldn't be bothered by an email but insulting people is the worst way to defend your point.

Anyway, I am glad to hear the staff in SAA replied and voted for you. Just reiterates my point about UL stuff being sound!

I felt that when I was writing it yes, but forgive me, I tend to not give a **** when I'm defending myself and arguing against people that complain for a living!

Thanks though, and I'd agree and I really do believe UL staff are more than helpful in many varying ways that filter from professors through to the general staff such as the secretaries and cafe workers and bar staff etc! I had a lovely conversation with the Librarian dude with the glasses one day out of nowhere which, quite frankly, made my day! One of the other ladies halved my Library fines as well which was awfully sound! Love that woman!... lastly! and again, sorry for the outburst! I only found out today that there was an actual thread on this that gives out about the everyday goings on in UL.. that really grinds my gears! people should get a grip on themselves!

AlwaysRight

I will forgive you, but then I wasn't insulted in the first place.

Fair few accounts of good UL staff there...maybe you should start an anti-complain thread!

Jester252

Dude you might what to tone it down a notch. You don't what to piss people off here

AlwaysRight

I assume your not referring to me, I thought I was being fairly reasonable...

HogieBear92

Jester252 wrote: »

Dude you might what to tone it down a notch. You don't what to piss people off here

No I definitely think it was directed at me! I was pissed by most of the comments, it doesn't bother me in saying that! If I want to piss people off though however, well that's a completely different story altogether! I've said my bit anyways and people can make of it what they will! Like my dear mother always said "You've made your bed now you may lie in it!"

wnolan1992

AlwaysRight wrote: »

I will forgive you, but then I wasn't insulted in the first place.

Fair few accounts of good UL staff there...maybe you should start an anti-complain thread!

Already exists.

HogieBear92

Now that has made my day!!

TheSean

Did many Irish qualify?