Since the beginning of August, Colonial Mail users have had the opportunity to unsubscribe from receiving most mass e-mails sent out from the note@gwu.edu University mailing address.
Users can visit http://amc.gwu.edu to opt out of blast e-mails that are not emergency communications, such as messages about campus safety, school closures or computer worms, said Chris Wilson, a user technical support analyst with Information Systems and Services. The new feature is coupled by an overhaul of the system in which administrators send the blast e-mails, condensing a once four-hour-long process into less than 30 minutes.
"Obviously we want to make sure that (emergency e-mails) reach everybody and, for those, the opt-out wouldn't apply," Wilson said. "But obviously we don't want to deluge people with tons and tons of stuff, (like) basketball tickets."
Some students and staff have criticized the University's handling of the mass e-mail system before the recent change went into effect. About 50 e-mails were sent from note@gwu.edu to all GW mailboxes over the past year, with topics ranging from forms to conduct human research to Medical School events to advertisements for men's basketball tickets.
Sophomore Shade Oyegbola said she's been fed up with many of the promotional e-mails she received last year.
"They have nothing to do with anything I'm doing," she said. "I guess they're useful for somebody, but they're not useful to me at all."
Oyegbola, who was unaware of the new opt-out feature, said she has been interested in finding a way to reduce these unsolicited messages but didn't know how. Without previously being able to filter out less critical messages, she said it was often difficult to determine which mass e-mails were worth reading.
"It's hard to tell at first which ones you really want to pay attention to," Oyegbola said. "Because when you get so many over a span of time you really get sick of them."
John Petrie, assistant vice president for public safety and emergency management, said he only sends blast e-mails when it contains information that the vast majority of recipients deem useful. He said he doesn't want "to end up the boy who cried wolf" by sending everyone too many message he says are all important.
Users can visit http://amc.gwu.edu to opt out of blast e-mails that are not emergency communications, such as messages about campus safety, school closures or computer worms, said Chris Wilson, a user technical support analyst with Information Systems and Services. The new feature is coupled by an overhaul of the system in which administrators send the blast e-mails, condensing a once four-hour-long process into less than 30 minutes.
"Obviously we want to make sure that (emergency e-mails) reach everybody and, for those, the opt-out wouldn't apply," Wilson said. "But obviously we don't want to deluge people with tons and tons of stuff, (like) basketball tickets."
Some students and staff have criticized the University's handling of the mass e-mail system before the recent change went into effect. About 50 e-mails were sent from note@gwu.edu to all GW mailboxes over the past year, with topics ranging from forms to conduct human research to Medical School events to advertisements for men's basketball tickets.
Sophomore Shade Oyegbola said she's been fed up with many of the promotional e-mails she received last year.
"They have nothing to do with anything I'm doing," she said. "I guess they're useful for somebody, but they're not useful to me at all."
Oyegbola, who was unaware of the new opt-out feature, said she has been interested in finding a way to reduce these unsolicited messages but didn't know how. Without previously being able to filter out less critical messages, she said it was often difficult to determine which mass e-mails were worth reading.
"It's hard to tell at first which ones you really want to pay attention to," Oyegbola said. "Because when you get so many over a span of time you really get sick of them."
John Petrie, assistant vice president for public safety and emergency management, said he only sends blast e-mails when it contains information that the vast majority of recipients deem useful. He said he doesn't want "to end up the boy who cried wolf" by sending everyone too many message he says are all important.
