Things We Shouldn't Have To Tell You
(But Apparently We Have To Anyways)
It has become apparent from recent events that a brief discussion on
appropriate user behavior is in order.
This page is dedicated to those aspects of MEnet accounts that fall
into the categories of "common sense" and "common courtesy". In
general, the MEnet rules can be summed up as
- Don't Be Stupid
- Be Nice To Each Other
(Note that in cases of conflict that there is a reason they are rules
one and two). Virtually all MEnet rules are simply specific instances
of one or both of these rules.
To enumerate some specific examples (all of these are combinations of
both rule 1 and rule 2):
Do not distribute copyrighted software unless you have permission!
This includes distributing materials such as serial numbers and
"cracking" programs without permission.
Distributing software in violation of copyright rules is a felony
punishable by up to $250,000 fine and 5 years in prison. Enough said.
Do not mess with computers and/or printers that are obviously not
in working order!
We've had a rash of users messing with computers and printers that
have either been shut down for maintenance, or are under repair. Many
times the MEnet staff has left "Out of Order" notices on machines,
only to come back and find that a user has removed the sign, partially
re-assembled the machine, and attempted to boot it up. Trust us, if
we say it's "Out of Order", it is out of order.
Don't mess with the public lab printers!
The public lab laser printers (especially the color ones) do not take abuse very well. "Abuse" can be defined as any of the following:
- Manipulating the toner cartridges. Ham-handed tampering with toner cartridges has broken many of our printers.
- Pulling the paper drawers out while the printer is printing.
- Feeding anything other than plain, new, white paper to the printers (with the single exception of printing transparencies on the color155 printer).
- Opening a printer with a "do not open" sign on it.
Come on, folks, show some sense!
Do not ask the systems staff for help breaking the rules and/or
the law!
(For example, pirating software)
We made these rules for a reason. And in the case of breaking the
law, we don't want to go to prison with you.
Do not give out your door card to anyone!
Our computers represent a large amount of money, and hence we tend to
keep them locked up. Giving out your door card is equivalent to
leaving the rooms unlocked.
We've lost thousands of dollars of computer and video equipment in
the past, we'd like to keep the rest of it.
Do not share your account!
Your account is for your own personal use only. If
someone else needs to use the computer systems, they can come see us
in 155 and get their own account.
There is never any reason you should be sharing
accounts. Period.
Account sharing includes
- Giving your password to anyone else for any reason.
- Letting someone else use your account, even if you didn't give
them the password.
Do not touch the screen!
All touching the screen does is make it dirty and hard to read. At
the very least you shouldn't touch the screen as a courtesy to those
using the computer after you leave.
Plan Ahead!
"Failure to plan on your part does not necessarily consitute an
emergency on our part." We can't be expected to work ourselves into a
frenzy when it was your lack of planning that is causing the problem.
Plan ahead.
Classic example: A user needs to borrow the overhead lcd panel for
a presentation. 30 minutes before their presentation, they arrive to
check out the lcd panel and discover that their computer doesn't work
with it.
Read The Fine Manual!
User manuals, man pages, and web pages are there for a reason:
providing you with answers to your questions.
If you don't have time to read the manual, we don't have time to
read it to you.