UCD gmail acc to be closed

JaManSnowFlake

I just received an email from UCD saying my gmail email address will be closed. I have used this address for a number of job applications and as you can imagine have most of my college work organised though this account. I had assumed we would have the account forever as an information resource and formal contact email address.

"Any data you have should be backed up and any contacts you have should be advised of a new email address to reach you on from Friday, 29 March 2013, when your account is due to close."

I'm quite surprised and annoyed at this inconvenience. I know many Trinity students who have not had their gmail email addresses deleted and use them many years later.

IrishKnight

It is part of the T&C when you reg that your account will close something like 9 months after you finish, the account is used as a formal contact for the university to you not the other way round.

I think you can extend it for a few more months if you contact the IT department. Otherwise, get yourself a professional looking gmail username...

tony81

JaManSnowFlake wrote: »

I had assumed we would have the account forever as an information resource and formal contact email address.

That was a strange assumption to make!

At least they informed you rather than just going ahead and deleting it as they did in previous years.

JaManSnowFlake

tony81 wrote: »

That was a strange assumption to make!

At least they informed you rather than just going ahead and deleting it as they did in previous years.

When the service is provided on the basis of advertisement revenue I figured that it would not be shut down. Do UCD pay for this service?

IrishKnight

JaManSnowFlake wrote: »

When the service is provided on the basis of advertisement revenue I figured that it would not be shut down. Do UCD pay for this service?

Are their advertisements in your UCD gmail? Looking at my account atm and I see none. UCD would likely use some form of Google Apps for univeristies, thus hosting it on their system rather than on Google's

JaManSnowFlake

IrishKnight wrote: »

Are their advertisements in your UCD gmail? Looking at my account atm and I see none. UCD would likely use some form of Google Apps for univeristies, thus hosting it on their system rather than on Google's

The advertisement are no different to the normal gmail service.

If UCD host it on their systems they are paying for storage and bandwidth, this is a real cost and likely more expensive than Google can provide it. So this is why they close it down?

tony81

IrishKnight wrote: »

UCD would likely use some form of Google Apps for univeristies, thus hosting it on their system rather than on Google's

I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

Polar Ice

Yes, UCD have to pay money for the Google Apps service. (I'm not sure how much it costs them, but google apps for business has an advertised cost of 50USD per user per year)

It's hosted on google's servers.

Raphael

Google Apps for Business is not free, but Google Apps for Education is. The university doesn't pay google to facilitate the email.

Why they don;t let it last forever, I'd imagine, is to do with name turnover - If there's already a bob.bobson@ucdconnect.ie, and your name is bob bobson, you get bob.bobson.1. For common names, these numbers can get fairly high. So rather than end up giving people emails with numbers at the end that are confusing and look unprofessional - I've never used my ucdconnect for a job, because the 1 at the end bugs me, I just registered my real name @gmail - they delete your email 9 months (or whatever_ after graduation so they can give it to the next bob bobson.

IrishKnight

Polar Ice wrote: »

Yes, UCD have to pay money for the Google Apps service. (I'm not sure how much it costs them, but google apps for business has an advertised cost of 50USD per user per year)

It's hosted on google's servers.

I see, I see

[Jackass]

I've thought about this too, it's kind of annoying. They should really have an alumni account it can be switched too, rather than UCDConnect - Such as @UCDAlumni.ie

You should have to apply for it rather than being given it by default, I would imagine the take up level would be about 25%, as not many people would be bothered, but some people would want to keep their UCD address for job applications etc and at least you'd have a choice.

JaManSnowFlake

Yes I like this idea(even if it's second best to a permanent address), in this way email's could still be fwd on to the new address while bob bobson has not registered for the new semester.

ironclaw

I'm pretty sure you can have all mail forwarded (Past and future) by IMAP or POP to another account, and its very easy to do in Gmail.

I forward all my mail to own Gmail account so that I never lose it. All of the info is under Mail Settings -> Forwarding

[Jackass]

Yeah I just have all my UCD mail default set to get forwarded directly to my regualr gmail account also, and I have a tab set up that it all automatically goes into a "college" folder, so never even log in to my UCDConnect mail...

Would still like to keep the UCD address though for future use!

the evil lime

If you've graduated, you should be able to get an alumni mail forwarder address on the alumni site, which may at least solve your professional looking address issue.

hyde

Hi Folks,

Just reading over the above, when they close your email account upon leaving, do they then reallocate this email address (or plan to) in the future, as Raphael alludes to? (Because otherwise setting up a redirect would obviously break in the future).

Mind you, if you set up a redirect on the studentnumber @ ucdconnect.ie email, as it's a unique number (as it includes the year of entry in it), you could possibly receive email sent to that years later (but who hands out that email address/alias in fairness I suppose).

Also, just to note, TCD also use google apps for their email service, however they let you keep your email address when you graduate (and it's on the main domain also, i.e. bloggsjo @ tcd.ie). Just an FYI anyways, I'm sure that if/when TCD move away from google apps and have to pay for hosting on their alumni's emails, that this will be revisited (although maybe this will be a trivial cost in terms of storage and bandwidth in the future...).

RayCarley

I'm pretty sure your address does get reallocated eventually. And I don't think you can have it forwarding forever, but I couldn't be completely sure.

I've always considered my UCD Connect email to be completely useless since startin in UCD because you don't get to keep it. Also it's a really ugly email. I mean if it was @ucd.ie that could be cool, but ucdconnect.ie is ugly. Gmail addresses are far more professional in my opinion, and if you really care what your email address looks like, get a proper professional one or your own domain or something. I feel like if you're ever using your email for jobs or anything important, you should be using a permanent email, who's to say your CV won't be in the system for a number of years at a company before they contact you.
But yeah, as others have said, I've always just forwarded all my UCD mail to my Gmail so I can keep it. It's not hard to move your mail using Outlook or something similar if you never set up forwarding and want to keep a copy of all your UCD messages.