Students cite concerns with recent spate of listserv spamming

The volume of emails sent on the Princeton network can bring an unwelcome distraction: lots of spam. As many students spend hours checking their inboxes, some are beginning to complain about the number of unnecessary emails they are receiving, particularly from residential college listservs.

“I have gotten many complaints about the abuse to the listserv,” Mathey College Council chair Kandasi Griffiths ’14 said in an email. “We are currently working on a way to reduce the abuse to the listserv after we find out why it is happening.”

Recent emails have included a YouTube clip of a baby playing inside of a watermelon and a plea for residents of Edwards Hall to stop urinating in the showers.

Mathey resident Katrina Bushko ’14, a regular user of the college listserv, expressed her disappointment in the extreme spam examples she sees. “I really like MatheyMail, but I feel as if I get to see the really immature sides of people sometimes,” she said.

Griffiths noted that the other colleges’ council chairs said that they had not experienced the persistent problem she has seen with MatheyMail.

“We talked to friends in other colleges that really enjoyed having the listserv and mentioned the many benefits,” Griffiths explained.

She acknowledged that MatheyMail has experienced some difficulties with abuse of the system but explained that there wasn’t much that could be done to stop it.

“It is an open listserv, so we can only try to prevent future spam or inappropriate messages after something is sent,” she said. “We trust the user’s discretion to send out appropriate things to the listserv.”

Persistent abusers of the system are sent personal emails, Griffiths explained. She hopes the college council can develop a clear policy in the next semester or year to address the issue of listserv abuse. For the time being, it will be left up to the individual students.

Several disputes arose because some students felt that the level of spam had crossed a line for those who still wanted to receive the beneficial emails the listserv provides. The students noted that it is often unclear, however, what exactly constitutes “spam.”

“Spam is the sharing of information without purpose,” Wilson College resident Preston Kemeny ’15 said. Kemeny himself has been accused of sending spam to the listserv. “Spam is neither funny nor informative, only inconsequential, and as such, is different to everyone.”

Some prolific examples of MatheyMail spam included the infamous “Blue Sock” email about a Mathey sophomore looking for his lost article of clothing, which generated 13 replies and was subsequently referenced in at least 10 other MatheyMails. Some see emails like this, along with a similar email titled “Unnecessary Email No. 2,” as clear examples of abusing the system.

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Some are less clearly “spam,” such as the pre-Princetoween request by a student to borrow “Amelia Earhart cap and goggles” in exchange for access to the student’s assortment of wigs, hats and “lots of ridiculous leather items.” Requesting items to borrow is not explicitly listed as a function of the college listserv, but many see it as a useful function nonetheless.

“We hoped that it would be a way to foster college bonding and interaction,” Griffiths said. “It is also a way for students to advertise their events on campus that we wouldn’t know about otherwise.”

Wilson College Director of Student Life Michael Olin offered a similar response regarding the purpose of residential college listservs.

“The WilsonWire is meant for students to send questions, announcements and shout-outs to fellow Wilsonites,” he said.

MatheyMail is the most recent of the residential college listservs. All Mathey students were added in September of this year, with the option to opt out of the list if they chose to do so.

Meanwhile, WilsonWire — which was started in March 2011 — has also seen its share of listserv-related spats. Olin said he doesn’t see it as a major problem, however.

“My sense so far is that the Wire is not being ‘abused’ per se, but there are waves of (moderately) humorous banter that arise from time to time — usually in the early morning hours,” Olin said in an email. “I would say that a vast majority of the content on the Wire is actually programming announcements and legitimate questions.”

When asked about the prospect of monitoring or perhaps moderating the listserv to remove unwanted content, Olin explained that he thinks its current state of being a self-moderating system has been successful.

“The college staff discussed the creation of a student listserv, its benefits and pitfalls,” said Olin, going on to explain that he feels it is “best to leave the monitoring to the student community.”

“It’s encouraging that students do speak up on the Wire when they want to voice their opinion about any particular comment, and the monitoring seems to be quite effective,” he said.

It is unclear how effective this kind of self-regulation has been on MatheyMail, however.

“I do not think it was a complete success based on the goals we set for the listserv and what we expected, but I think it has a lot of potential,” said Griffiths.

But students noted that disputes are bound to arise when students are left to moderate both their own behavior and that of their fellow students.

“It’s comparable to shouting ‘shut up’ among a group of rowdy middle-schoolers,” Kemeny said. “If you have a problem with a listserv, a system dedicated to the sharing of information with a group, you can’t complain when information is shared.”