Students' Union newspaper / People Finder

thecheekofyou

Something mad happened! I started two new threads and they both disappeared. Maybe I did something wrong. Anyway I was inquiring about the Students' Union Record, which doesn't seem to have appeared yet, and about what happened to peoplefinder. Thanks

thecheekofyou

Oops I just noticed that I have a message threatening me with banning, and hell. New posts are not allowed or something. At least I know for the future. Apologies.

Nietzschean

it was 3 threads(within a few mins), and all of which could have been in one post , in the rant bitch and moan thread......

I don't mind new users, but really i don't need to see a string of new threads...

thecheekofyou

I profoundly apologise. Damn newbies eh! They just don't get it. Anyway. What was the other thing. Oh yes the "sister colleges" bit on Wikipedia. Anyone know anything about that? That's not a rant, bitch, or moan. Roysh, anyhoo, Pat Rafter.

ApeXaviour

Yeah, they're oxford, cambridge and dublin universities (or colleges within them more specifically). Making up a trinity, what of it?

thecheekofyou

Did you know about the twinnings before they came up on Wikipedia, "ApeXaviour"? I didn't.

wheresthebeef

i would also be curious to know what happened to the Peoplefinder, it was an excellent tool that ISS decided in their infinite wisdom, was not needed. It made my job as a class rep so much easier.

Nietzschean

probally led to undue level's of spam on people, and i guess since people had no option for x-directory it hadda go... though i dunno really... as iss...

John

People finder for students is coming back according to ISS, I emailed them and they said it would probably be in a new location.

Stargal

Did they say anything definite? I heard that it won't be back until at least next year (if ever) because currently students don't give their consent to have their e-mail addresses put up in a public place (well, local at least) so it would have to be included for registration or something next year.

Bring it back.

Scarinae

Wasn't it scrapped because of something to do with people sending spam?

wheresthebeef

that sucks. it used to be part of the SIS, and then it was available separately at http://peoplefinder.tcd.ie but it only does lecturers and staff now.

It was local access only. Anyway, its not like your college email is designed to be private, its for the hoards of the colleges staff and students to keep in contact with you. And im sure there is a spam filter on the incoming mail.

I received this over 2 weeks ago, for your viewing pleasure.

---

Dear Dónal,

Thank you for your email on the subject of the Peoplefinder.

College takes seriously its responsibility of protecting each student's personal information. I understand that the Local Homepage is accessible generally on the web and College could not have a situation where information on a student would be accessible to third parties. College has an obligation to each student not to disclose his or her personal data to another person. An email address is regarded as private information about the individual concerned. Students may well choose to inform others of their own email address but this is a matter for each student to do for himself or herself and it would not be right for the College to interfere in this private decision of a student. In addition to this, the disclosure of email addresses increases the risk of the addressees receiving unsolicited, unwanted or even unpleasant mail.

With best regards,

Tom (Information Compliance Officer)

patzer117

The student union's newspaper's front page story about Coca-Cola is ridiculous. It's all lies, damn rotten stinking lies. I wouldn't mind if some of the allegations still stood but all of them have been rebutted and Coca-Cola have been honest throughout. Don't get me started though...

patzer

europerson

I am incredibly unhappy about the loss of PeopleFinder. It was a very useful tool, when we could once look up other students' e-mail addresses. I think it's highly anti-social, since it discourages communication between classmates. At least, put it back in place for local access only. I really wouldn't mind typing in my user name and password every time, if PeopleFinder could only be brought back!

John

It always was local access.

wheresthebeef

i agree.

We could get a petition going. or stage a sit in in Aras an Phiarsaigh.

snorlax

the system was open to abuse by spammers

wayfarer

Only from students within the college. Since you have to enter your password to view the local homepage, there must have been a way for them to track for programs and even if there wasnt at the time, it couldnt be that hard to set up. I don't do CS or the likes but I would have thought that programs such as the one used on the Lorna Jennings campaign would be easy enough to pick up on using a script. What other sort of spamming was there?

Pet

John2 wrote:

It always was local access.

Nope. I definitely remember using it before I'd even gotten my tcd username or password.

John

Really? I only ever remember it being on the local page.

Pet

Yep..it was on the local page, but you could access it externally without a password. I remember Dec posted a link to it (for something or other), and I went to look myself up, and was delighted at the email address they had assigned me. This was in September of last year, before I'd even registered. But they may have changed policies afterwards, I can't remember.

My understanding of it was that it was accessible from all over the world. There is a link from the local homepage, and that's about it. I'm at home now, and can access it (and I don't think that has changed)

WigWam

Technically if you want to find out someone's email address, you can find it by looking up their surname under "My Network Places". It would be great if some computer techie from the Hamilton end of College could write a little user-friendly scriptie. Any takers?

John

Yeah but if you're looking for someone with a really common first and second name and it's doej1, doej2, doej3... which one do you email?

TheIceMaker

Why did they take it down? this is awful

thecheekofyou

Go My Network Places, Search Active Directory then name.

Nietzschean

emmm it lists the usernames, it doesn't tie them to people's real names or courses does it? its alot more ambigious as to being a information leak than people finder...

thecheekofyou

Go My Network Places, then Search Active Directory. Type in the name you're looking for, or their second name. Usernames will be listed; right click and properties to find full name.

Not as good or as handy as peoplefinder, particularly for stalking, but it still works.

Zachary Taylor

The Hist now have a people finder service on their website for Trinity students. It's due to be launched properly tomorrow but it's up and running now on http://www.thehist.com/peoplefinder/, although there are only a few names on there at the moment. Feel free to add your details to it.

thecheekofyou

That's going to be about as popular as an acid enema. Why not use the Search Active Directory method, it has about 15000 more people on it.

PHB

There are too many problems with that system:

1. It is based on user names, and thus inaccuate, since some usernames dont have their full names, e.g. davobrie for Dave O'Brien

2. Many people have similar names and thus you could end up emailing anyone, and this is thus only somewhat effective for people with weird names.

3. Its got a horrid interface

4. Its quite difficult for people who understand basic search fields and the submit button, thats it.

p.s.
Who cares