Ban Bebo In College

The Agogo

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?

Paul Tergat

personally don't use it myself but have no problem with other people using it.

It shouldn't be banned as its a good way for people to socialise/interact with each other.

in fairness if you leave an essay until minutes before thats really your own fault (i know i've done it before too). and i would be sure if you asked the person on bebo to quickly let you print out your essay they would let ya.

Chinafoot

Totally agree with the OP. The PC's in the library and labs shouldn't be used for bebo/facebook/myspace. When I was in UCD it was the same thing. Queue of 5 or 6 people waiting to do work while almost half of the people currently using the PCs are on these social networking sites.

I think there was a brief period where they attempted to block it in the library. I remember seeing one of those comment pages where someone had actually argued that "bebo contained important coursework I need to access."

The computers provided, as far as I'm concerned, should be there to aid your studies, not help your social life.

edit:

p_larkin99 wrote:

personally don't use it myself but have no problem with other people using it.

It shouldn't be banned as its a good way for people to socialise/interact with each other.

The computers are there to enable you to research and type essays and assignments. There's plenty of social clubs and societies in the college to allow people to interact.

p_larkin99 wrote:

in fairness if you leave an essay until minutes before thats really your own fault (i know i've done it before too).

I'd accept that if the OP had complained that the computers were all being used by people doing work. You shouldn't have to consider that people will be hogging the PCs to talk to their mates about how hammered they were the previous weekend.

During second year my computer was in the hospital and I needed to type my essays on the PCs in college. Often I would be typing it on the day it had to be handed in as I had just completed the essay the day before. Now, perhaps you'll say it's my fault for leaving it so late but you'll be hard pushed to find people with essay-heavy subjects that have their assignments done a week in advance. People shouldn't have to stand there looking at these people sending messages to people, who lets face it, they most likely see every day.

p_larkin99 wrote:

and i would be sure if you asked the person on bebo to quickly let you print out your essay they would let ya.

That completely depends on the person and I have seen people being told to fúck off for even attempting to point out that people are waiting to do work while others are looking of pictures of their mates on bebo. Besides, if people will willingly sit there on bebo while there's a queue of people waiting to do work (as evidenced by the stressed heads and bundles of notes) they're not going to be too happy to move, are they?

College computers should be used for college purposes. Chatting to your mates shouldn't be one of them.

I-like-eggs,mmm

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!

AckwelFoley

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

Tom65

I'd definitely ban it in the standing up computers. I've seen people spend 15+ minutes on those just on Bebo, usually while I'm waiting to print off an essay or check my schedule. In the computer areas like the Daedalus I'd be less certain. I have checked facebook in those, but only if there's enough computers to spare for someone who actually needs one. Otherwise I'll leave it.

x keo21

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

agreed, waiting until the last minute to finish an essay is just waiting for trouble i personally have no sympathy for you in this.

To lose grades because of beboers first time, shame on them
To lose grades the second time, shame on YOU

elgriff

the best solution would simply to have a section where it is banned, or one or two computers per set

Chinafoot

x keo21 wrote: »

agreed, waiting until the last minute to finish an essay is just waiting for trouble i personally have no sympathy for you in this.

To lose grades because of beboers first time, shame on them
To lose grades the second time, shame on YOU

Right so no consideration taken for perhaps the OP not having a printer at home, the OP having some personal/family problems that prevented him getting in before that time?

The bebo brigade can ignore the real issue being addressed by the OP and just jump on the fact that he said it was a last minute print out. The fact is, the use of social networking sites on college computers takes time away from students needing those computers for college work. If these sites were blocked then the OP would have no complaint should he be late with is essays. As it stands now, he does.

The Agogo

The argument here is that apparently priority should be given to Bebo users. If i have five, ten or fifteen minutes before the deadline, it is still legitimate time that people with essays due should not have to defend.

On the point of "getting it done earlier" - this is obviously written by someone who has never dealt with up to three essays per week on top of the required reading.

Essays (on my behalf) are done accordingly. That is, they give the titles on a monday and set the deadline exactly a week later. With the essays alone it is manageable, but with other things such as a part-time job, college social activities and sports i would argue that i am cutting it fine, only to be stopped by people who have too much time on their hands.

AckwelFoley

The Agogo wrote: »

On the point of "getting it done earlier" - this is obviously written by someone who has never dealt with up to three essays per week on top of the required reading.

.

Touche

Red Alert

Trouble is if you start banning specific sites then who gets to decide which sites? Do you really think that gang who run computing services wouldn't abuse their new power?

The Agogo

you're right. All i can do is piss and moan about it. It'll definitely never happen on campus, but i do know that they have something done with porn sites. Same application?

AckwelFoley

But then they could ban... boards.ie! :eek:

Stepherunie

There is nothing done with most sites in UCD.

Due to the medical courses typical filters can't be used to block sites, thus ucd access is rather free.

To be honest there are so many ways to get pcs now, I mean there's the hire a laptop for a day, the stand up and surf, and the labs, yes you may not be able to get a pc in your ideal location but if you know you have an essay due why not borrow a laptop for a day and use the wirelss printing? I mean that would sort your problem.

I agree that the bebo thing is annoying though, though it must be said it does seem to have improved compared to other years.

Informing people of the code and asking them to leave is an option - yes you'll sound like a dick doing it but if you need to print then so be it.

rotten_eggz

You shouldn't be able to dictate what websites people can or cannot surf. You can put forward just a good argument to have boards.ie banned or any other forum websites can't that be seen as just as much as a waste of time? In fairness if you went printing essays minutes before they were its your own damn fault and the fact you left it happen twice is just silly. You have to realize that people don't just use the computers or academic work. It's not that black and white. Maybe the students should take a vote on it on Tues & Wed seeing as we're paying for it?:D

princess-sprkle

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?

anyway, back on topic.Bebo shouldn't be banned, because then you'd have to ban myspace, facebook, other social networking sites. Where do you draw the line at banning websites? Boards.ie :O pfft.

Theresalwaysone

get up earlier.

Chinafoot

I'd be for banning all social networking sites tbh. Bebo was probably just mentioned in the original post as it appears to be the most popular one.

College PCs for college work imo.

Mr. Presentable

princess-sprkle wrote: »

anyway, back on topic.Bebo shouldn't be banned, because then you'd have to ban myspace, facebook, other social networking sites. Where do you draw the line at banning websites? Boards.ie :O pfft.

For what it's worth, college is about education, not browsing your social life. In fact, if you're on bebo etc that much you probably don't have a social life and should get out more. And, yes, boards.ie included.

Colleges should build a db of acceptable browsing and lock out anything else. Let the users apply for access to unlisted resources and when they are accepted add to the db.

Tayto2000

We had the Bebo debate a few years ago, the VP for students (Mary Clayton) at the time said the college don't want to go down the route of censoring websites and IT services definitely don't want the extra hassle. Banning Bebo ain't gonna happen folks.

Like Steph said, the existing rules are that PCs are for academic use, if it's urgent, suck it up and tell them to move. If they tell you to f*ck off, go to the nearest IT desk and get them removed.

stolenwine

Oh noeS notZ 2 banz da bEboZ me needZ it 4 importante CoURZ wRK LOLZ K BAI XxX

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Banning anything is ridiculous. Freedom people. Everyone should have the freedom to do what they want. Think about the poor student on campus, who can't afford a laptop and are too broke to go out every single night to socialize. Do they not have a right to network online?
I've never had a problem getting a computer when I needed to print off an essay at the last minute - you're just looking in the wrong place. At least half the students in UCD have laptops now (including myself) and don't use the college computers at all. Moaning about it on boards, is the least productive way of getting anything done anyway.

Stepherunie

hmm yes because IT services never look at boards.ie......

We were talking for ages about stand up and surf spaces and we got them, now I'm not saying that it was because of boards but still, ideas come about here.

Where is your statistic about the numbers of students with laptops from??

I wouldn't say it's that high.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

66% of statistics are made up. Never trust statistics, just throw out some new ones. I never said they don't look at boards, it just seems like a pointless place to moan about. Go talk to IT services or start a petition or a campaign - something more likely to work.

Stepherunie

IT services will just tell you that the policy is that PC are for academic use and tell you to ask them to give up the pc.

And a petition?? seriously??? I would see some laughing at you for that one.

Bartronilic

I go to Trinity but it REALLY annoys me even though i do it sometimes (but only on stand up computers where microsoft office cant be used)

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Stepherunie wrote: »

And a petition?? seriously??? I would see some laughing at you for that one.

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.

x keo21

Chinafoot wrote: »

Right so no consideration taken for perhaps the OP not having a printer at home, the OP having some personal/family problems that prevented him getting in before that time?

Actually in the case of my post I said shame on beboers for the first time, but as this happened twice it is shame on him,
if there was a family problem etc, why didn't op get an extenuating circumstances form as an acceptable excuse , he didn't, so i presume this didn't happen.
so your argument doesn't stand, Good luck with that

Edit
lets take it further,
If the op had a personal problem.... etc blame that for handing in late, not some arbitrary statement like ban Bebo. For God sake. Your criticism of my post is wearing thin!!!!!!!!!

boardian

it can be annoying when theres a que for computers and you look around and most of the screens have a bebo page open but i wouldnt go as far as to ban it

MuddyDog

banning bebo will never happen. the extra hassle for IT services won't be worth it plus there's many many simple ways to get around the block but doing so would put more of a strain on bandwidth and so once word of mouth catches on about the way around it it'll slow up the ucd network.

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 .