CITES Survey - 2004 - Graduate Student Comments from Services Survey

What additional communications or computing support would you like to see CITES offer?

I want my unix shell account back.  It is impossible to check email with only a dial-up now.  Your web interface takes over 10 minutes to load when I try to check my email from my parents house.  Using telnet, I could check my email from a 486 with a 28k modem.  Believe it or not, some of us can't afford brand new computers and high-speed connections.

Cluster accounts.

Blogs.

effective SPAM filters

the ability of the off site dialin lines to support windows XP

more walk-up computing

Allow shell accounts again because this webmail program we're forced to use sucks ....

Telnet for email!

Whole campus wireless

offsite access to local area networks

The netfiles utility is way to slow to be of any real use to me.  A fast ftp service would be very useful to me.

To borrow or help buy wireless cards.

wireless connection in all university housing and the Union

Technical assistance with hardware and software issues

Wireless access in the Music buildling--graduate students do not have phone jacks in our offices, so we have no way to access the internet while working.  It would also be courteous if automatic email warnings were sent out  when i'm nearing the limits of my disk quota--in the past, my account has simply been shut down with no warning and no explanation--extremely inconvenient and occasionally seriously affects my work. 

Wireless Access in every major department/research building.

a 24 hour service that actually helps and people who answer won't tell me to essentially wait til morning for a solution to my problem.

(better) spam filtering, email virus filtering, worm protection

VPN is still unstable

More wireless locations.  And MORE E-MAIL storage space.

Filtering executables from email.

I recently switched to the CITES cluster and am very disappointed with express mail. The main thing that CITES needs to provide to its users is SPAM filtering. Why should CITES be responsible for SPAM? The reason I get so much spam is because the University irresponsibly posts student emails on their web pages and many spam bots have found my email off of these web sites, resulting in dozens of SPAM sent to me daily. The Spam Assassin program though pine was wonderful but there is no equivalent for Express Mail.

none

A discounted broadband/dsl service for off-campus students.

free spam-blocking software for all uiuc.edu account users

nothing I can think of

Friendlier staff; online help so that I don't have to trek across campus for simple things like resetting my password.

-Walk-up connections that consistently work

or

-Wireless connectivity in libraries

Newsgroup

a way for off campus people to get the full ph.  If I ph someone, I can only get their office number, not their home phones.  Also, cites help desk has been very slow to respond to questions.

More wireless access points

None of the buildings I am in regularly offer VPN or wireless, so these services are useless to me until they are expanded. 

Security staff that answers the phone. The current system, call, leave a message, then they get back to you, it not helpful. If I'm away from a phone from 8am-5-pm how can they call me back? They can't I have to wait for them to call. A huge inconvienience.

email through telnet and pine

EXPRESS mail does not allow telnet access.

Having terminal access (SSH if security is an issue) would be so very helpful.

After switching over to EXPRESS from students cluster, it has been very inconvient.

The electronic overhead projectors in smart classrooms don't seem to work very well.  Maybe the new technology is too expensive, but the current system doesn't seem very effective.  I prefer the old-fashioned projectors.

1) Better course management software. Currently I am aware of more than one (blackboard, mallard) of which none is really good. I think there should be only one good solution for the campus, and not multiple mediocre ones.

Larger storage space for email.

Webspace for students with flexible administration.

Pine for people who are connecting from off-campus via a dial-up modem. Express is simply too data-intensive.

Shell acounts.

Free student webpages with a URL that isn't www.uiuc.... or such

offer free download of personal firewall (Norton, ZoneAlarm Pro, etc.) with updates in addition to existing virus scan software.

Netfiles storage may be better to with 200-250MB limit

why don't you publicize your 800 number and other availablities??? I shouldn't have to take a survey to learn what you offer!

About 20 - 30 more lines on the filters for the email. My coworker CANNOT use his email, because of the outrageous amount of spam he gets.

more support/cooperation regarding local internet providers. ( i have problems using UIUC resources from home sometimes)

more wireless support around campus; support community wireless project

Better trained tech support people at the Help Desk.  Information on how to access services that were taken from us with the cluster migration (verbose PH information, Pine access to express mail, FTP access to NetFiles, etc.) needs to be made readily available and supported, especially for users using 3rd party (e.g. broadband) ISPs.

ssh for emails

shell-accounts for email and file storage! 

increased wireless access

Train your people in the CITES walkin help office better.

MORE SPAM FILTERING!!!!

More wireless access across campus, some rudimentary spam filtering on Cites express mail, faster web interface to Cites express mail, SSH front end to Cites netfiles and express mail software

Something like SSH Client (a non web based email program) The problem with cites express is it is very slow over a dial up connection.  Outlook is better but, increases the chances of a virus.  SSH Client (or something like pine) would be awesome if it is available!

better dial-up, better email tool (express is really bad, Yahoo mail is better designed!

It is also a bit of an embarrassment that wireless on campus is so limited -- it should be everywhere, especially throughout the libraries and class buildings.

More storage space for keeping email correspondence and attachments

telnet connection to access email

Let people use unix accounts for email in addition to the web based email.

NOTHING!  Please stop with all of these features!  It's so confusing!  I just want an account, a password, a network, and a computer.

On the Cites express mail, there should be an option for 'return receipt' to assure you that the other party has received your email.  Sort of like the option that was available on webmail.

more virus protection on e-mail and faster e-mail service, some days it is really slow

wireless internet access across whole campus

more wireless access points

express mail: 

should have a task bar at the bottom of the INBOX page

should be able to have newest message on top.

better integration of Wireless PDA (e.g. Sprint PCS BusinessConnect) access to Cites express mail accounts

greater access to wireless services throughout campus

I would like to be able to access my email via a Unix shell, e.g. using Pine, as was the case before CITES Express Mail.

wi-fi..over the entire campus so I can sit anywhere in the campus and still get work done.

I don't know

Can you please start the cluster mail services again?

FASTER e-mail!!!!!!

networking assisstance

I would like to see a better settings interface in order for newest messages to be displayed first, setting undisclosed recipients, an easier to use address book, etc.

better password stystem.

anti-virus

You are surveying in the middle or early stage of a transition. I hope you have a baseline from several years ago and that you'll repeat the survey 'after' the transition... as in before/during/after a transition.

High speed access via dial-up -- better than 28000 bps

I think that CITES provides a lot for student use. I am currently a graduate student on this campus, but was here a few years ago as an undergrad. I believe that the services have expanded and are ready to accomodate a lot more of the technological advances that have arisen in these past few years.

Express mail is too slow.

It is slower than the old webmail.

FTP/SFTP, SSH access to my netfiles space!!!

NO

I would like a return to a UNIX cluster account.  I use UNIX in my office all day, I used my cluster account for 9 years.  I don't see the benefit of ExpressMail besides it allows me to view pictures.  So, did Webmail if I really wanted to.  So, what.  ExpressMail has been incredibly slow and and unresponsive compared to pine.  I don't see this as an upgrade at all.  Five extra MB seems hardly worth the effort it takes to do anything with ExpressMail versus pine and the cluster account.  I just don't see how ExpressMail is deemed better and the solution for everyone.

spam blocker for Express mail....the amount of JUNK mail/SPAM I'm getting is insane...I find myself (as a TA) deleting my students' emails without realizing it because I am so indundated with emails about enlarging anatomy, etc. If EXPRESS is so 'up-to-date' why not offer a filter?

Any that are better.  One several occasions I was put on hold for long periods of time, never reciving assistance.  In the end I've always had to figure out how to connect to the network and such.  Your department has been no help.

Advanced spam filtering for CITES Express Email--something like SpamAssasin.

i hate express mail.

i liked having the option of using telnet whenever webmail was slow.

i do think the newsgroup is important.

Better selection of software in computer labs. Right now, the computers are not useful for serious computing -- need more OS's and non-Microsoft software. Bring back WordPerfect, Sun, etc.

Add a firewall program to the security software.

webmail

Telnet email access.

Better dealing with spam.

More Wireless access (I'd use it if it were more widely available.)  I haven't been able to figure out how to get the undergrad library connection to work on my laptop (where you plug a cord into the wall).

I'd love to see the students cluster come back, but I doubt that that will happen.

TELNET!!!

I hate checking my email on the web, it is so stinkin' slow!

ubitiquous and consistent wireless networking. currently various departments each have their own wireless and it is hard to know how to connect to the wireless in any particular building.

I should be able to open my computer anywhere on campus, connect to the vpn, and have it work.

More wireless connectability around campus.

wireless networking

PROVIDE SPAM FILTERING (SPAMASSASSIN PERHAPS?) FOR EXPRESS EMAIL!!!

telnet

I would like to see CITES offer more wireless computing features. It would be nice for the main library to be such a 'hot spot.'

Higher bandwidth (faster) email

Laptops or computers on loan.

Wireless networks in all enginnering buildings

It would be nice to have wireless available in the lab.

an easy way to report spammers and get rid of the prescription medication peddlers that bug me every day.

I would like to see the continuation of unix command shell interface, especially for email if not for more.  That has been one of, if not, the most valuable services available to me.

no suggestions

So far, everything is alright.

newsgroup (souldn't be closed)

easier access to email, easy convert to outlook or more instruction on how to use the email,since it is switching every couple years

A much much MUCH better web email.  I used both Telnet and Microsoft Exchange at my previous university and both were far superior to the Express Mail I'm using here...blah - horrible system!

I'd just like to make sure that humans are accessible for troubleshooting.

CITES Express E-mail is poorly designed for user functionality.

Netfiles doesn't work very often properly. It is sometimes too slow.

Really need to improve the classroom tools, they are awkward and need more flexible. Liked the improvements made in the on-line reserves, this has come a long way since first introduced.

I liked Pine access and want it back.

bring back telnet, web-based mail is horrible and using Eudora is unacceptable because I need to access mail from home and work.

Information sessions when you just arrive to campus

Could make express mail accessible from some simple program like pine?

CITES Email storage is the worst!  Can't you add some more storage space?

no...

I hope I will not receive tons of junk mail everyday.

bring back Telnet or something similar so we can remotely access our email without using the Web.

why did CITES move email servers?  I cannot use my 3rd-party email program because email is now SSL encrypted.  I cannot telnet to check my email.  I cannot use webmail to check my email.  I can only use express.cites.uiuc.edu.

Also, newsgroups were phased out a while ago.  Luckily, the CS department maintains its own news servers.  Looking at only the newsgroups in CS, you would think many people use newsgroup, opposite of what CITES claimed.

Express Email does not display properly on IE for Macs.  The prev and next buttons are always in strange positions.

Please add any additional comments—suggestions, complaints, etc.—regarding this survey or about CITES Help Desk Support.

I would like a more user friendly email system.  One that navigtes better, allows you to change the appearance of your email, gives more storage space, and allows you to see original text (i.e. when you reply to someone)

I'm very unhappy about the discontinuation of cluster accounts to access email (pine).

I am very unhappy with the switch to CITES expressmail from the old webmail system.

I have been recieving over 15 SPAM messages per day since the increase in VIRUS activity about a year ago. This pollution is greatly affecting my work. Please invest in effective SPAM filtration technology *and* make sure that PC-based computers attached to the campus network (those at greatest risk of infection) are protected.

Email switchover was painless and extremely professional and well handled. Warnings ahead of time, Status emails etc. were great.

an online support tool

I will soon have to stop using Pine when I get switched over to Express Mail.  I really like Pine!   Sure, it's easier to open attachments in a web-based email system, but everything takes so long, and there are so many images that pop up!  I suppose the university can't maintain two systems?  Is there still a way for me to use Pine?

the new netfile Express email is very, very slow if I connect my Windows2000 machine from home via Insight cable modern. The previous pine system was very fast, and the webmail was ok.

But after I transfer to the new Express mail, it's too slow to be tolerable.  Hope you would solve this problem.

I prefer the interface of WebMail to that of Express Mail.

Express mail is way too slow.  It takes me so long to check my e-mail as compared to using telnet.  I should not have to only see 20 messages at a time and then wait for the next page to load.  Also, waiting for each message to load is a pain.

Please bring back telnet for email purposes.  The express web-based mail client is difficult to use, slow to load, and just a pain in the neck in general.

no

The university computer network is sometimes quite slow.  Also, CITES email needs much improvement.  Graduate students have far too little storage space.  Also, it would be better if we could mark the 'importance' level (the red carots) of messages ourselves...in general, the user interface is not very flexible.

I do not like the new express mail service at all. It loses email sometimes, and it is irritating to use it as a mail composer because it  times out and you lose your mail.  Not good for busy peoplewho get phone calls and visitors. I wish I had my cluster account back, as it was virtually trouble-free.

I should rather say that I hate the express mail service.  It is a real pain.  please bring back the old service.  I bet that I am not the only one, and that we are not the minority.

I do not like the switch from Unix to Webmail.

You guys should really fix that bug in the Express Mail that doesn't let me delete the trash from the trash folder, so if I want to get under quota I have to dump the entire folder.

Poorest and most disgusting services when it comes to virus attacks. A university thats pioneer in computer science and hosts world's second fastest super-computer is attacked time and again by viruses, the worst was last year when more than 1000 systems were compromised. Strong suggestion to invest more in research to fight this in terms of prevention rather than hanky-panky time-being cures.

I have heard from a university staff member that email is not secure on the Macs in the ed building. I hope this is not true.

Course Management Systems (WebCT CE, Illinois Compass, Mallard) has been a mess.  Intability plus incompatiblity make us in Physl 304 hesitate to use them.

the new cites express mail is less flexible than the previous webmail used. one of my pet peeves is that i have to use forward/inline in order for the email i'm responding to be included in my reply. it's very tedious since i have to retype the recepient's address.

It was MUCH faster to be able to use ssh to check e-mail from a dial up vs. the Express mail website!

The removal of the Students cluster is a very lamentable decision.  First of all, Web-based e-mail tends to be much more cumbersome and slower then a command line interface via Pine.

For anyone on a dialup connection it will be impossible.  I've switched to a DSL connection in anticipation of the change, but I still see a huge difference in speed and I have used Pine, Webmail, and Expressmail.  I also feel there was a lack of interest on the part of CITES in engaging the community in a real dialogue on this issue, and I don't see any advantage to removing the Student cluster other than to save money to pay for the Web-based e-mail system which most advanced users of the network would concur is inferior.

I would like an option on the express mail that blocks images.

(This input box is too small -- indicates you don't care)  Too little e-mail storage space.  I hate the bandwidth limit at my apartment (Univ. owned), I cannot download the human genome data.

NetFiles is difficult to use -- the difficulty makes it almost not worth it.

How about hiring competent staff?  Every story I hear about CITES personnel leads me to believe that you are all a bunch of incompetent morons.  Were you really stupid enough to implement your Active Directory as one big namespace?

More quota for e-mails!

I was at the university as an undergrad and I took a year off before returning as a grad student.  when I returned i had a series of problems getting my e-mail  and net-ID password to work.  I recieved incorrect information from CITES staff who had never run into a situation like mine.  I was treated as a new student when there was a record of me in the system.  I also recieved an e-mail tellimg me I had to switch from CITES cluster to CITES express e-mail when I had never used cluster and had been told opon my return to campus to use express.

Other than these two occurances this year I have had no problems as an undergrad or grad.  I would suggest that for students who are graduating and know they will be returning, computer services should be continued during there time off.

I'd like to see more community outreach services.  At the very least some formal coordination with the local primary and secondary school systems.  With all the technical expertise on this campus it's appalling to see the quality of computer services available to our local schools.

none

I was just transferred to Cites from Webmail.  I can't stand it!  Most importantly, if the 'reply' system for emails does not include the original message to which I reply, it is much, much harder to reply to students' emails about their papers.

The personnel staffing the CITES computer labs need to be better trained about accessibility. I am blind and use the accesible work stations in the labs. Some lab monitors are unaware of the existance of these computers.

Have to hold too long to get in touch with CITES help desk

I really find the web interface of CITES to be inefficient and cumbersome. 

The document viewers/overhead-type equipment that is part of the 'smart' classrooms is poor quality- most of the lights must be turned out to see the image which is not a good idea in a large lecture class.  I TA for a course that uses a smart classroom but we use the standard overhead instead of this equipment b/c of the poor quality.

The e-mail is not very user freindly. It is hard to access the address book and the listings for the address book is all over the place, none of which I was able to choose. It is a pain when want to compose;have to sift through the entire address book just to find the entry and then go through two steps just to get back to compose. 

I use Insight BB to access the campus network from off-campus, and it works well.

I get approximately 60 spam e-mails about penis enlargement per day.  I don't have a penis, and I'm tired of it.

I was forced to switch over to the new Express Mail system a couple weeks ago...e-mail now takes me literally several times longer to check and use.  To be fair, there are a couple things I appreciate about the new system, like the larger quota, seeing how much of my quota is left at the top of the screen, being able to move messages from one folder to another (though for how little I do this, the old WebMail system worked well enough), and how the spelling check highlights misspelled words and gives suggestions.

But none of these minor things could even hope to compensate how for inefficient and annoying the system is to use.  For web-based mail, it’s a really good system, but that’s why I’ve never liked web-based mail: because of how inefficient it is.  These are some of the main problems I have with Express Mail:

1. With Pine, I could literally check to see if I had any new messages in 6 seconds (I timed it before I was switched).  It takes that long just to open a web browser, much less type in my net ID and password and then wait for the Inbox page to load.

2. Express Mail, at least during the day, takes forever to load messages compared to Pine.  I usually have to wait at least 10 to 15 seconds, even when I’m using a computer on the campus network.  And that’s assuming the page loads at all.  A number of times, I’ve had errors occur, and I can’t read my messages.

3. Pine was great because it would let me know when I had new messages.  Now I have to waste time clicking the Get New Mail button all the time.  And the most annoying thing is that the system logs you off after 30 minutes.  I check my e-mail quite often during the day (maybe every hour or so) because I’m always getting new messages pertaining to my work or the activities with which I’m involved.  I should be able to set how long I want it to wait before I’m logged off the system.

4. In the past, I used Pine (via SSH) while working during the day and Outlook on my computer in my apartment at night.  I’m not sure that my ISP has an SMTP server, and so as soon as the students cluster is deactivated, I won’t be able to send any more e-mail using Outlook.  And using Outlook takes me far less time than having to log in using the web.

5. With longer messages, the spelling check uses more than one page, which is annoying.

6. When checking my quota, I’m assuming that the “Used” space is supposed to read “Free.”  I have a hard time believing that the space I’m using increases as I delete messages and decreases when I receive new messages.

7. There is no longer a PH feature, which was really nice off campus since the web-based phonebook won’t return home information, which I sometimes need in order to contact friends.

8. A lot of times, I just want to send really quick one-line messages or replies to people.  I could do that in a few seconds with Pine.  Now it can take at least a minute.

Again, for web-based mail, Express Mail is a good system.  But like all web-based systems, it’s very inefficient and time-consuming.  An extra few seconds here and an extra few seconds there may not sound like much, but I often get over 20 e-mails a day, and sometimes I think the number has topped 40.  I’m very busy, and I don’t have the extra 15-20 minutes to spend on e-mail that this new system requires.  Pine may not have had all the features that Express Mail has, but 95% of the time, I don’t need those features.  Is there some way you could set up the new system so people can use Pine via SSH to send and receive e-mail?  Is there some way you could set up the new system so people not on the UIUC network can still send e-mail through the Express SMTP server?  Can you set up the system so the Inbox is automatically updated when new mail is received?  Can you change it so the user determines how long the system waits until logging the user off?  Can you make the spelling check better and do something so you don’t have to be on the campus network to view people’s home information?

Thank you.

I am frustrated at times that the service is so slow on the campus computers; I am only checking my email and it can take up to 2 minutes to load the page for my inbox.

This new mail service does not work well with outlook express.  The web-based access is also much slower.

Why do I get more spam mail now that I've switched from my cluster to express mail?

express mail must be accessible from carle clinic and hospital. it's outrageous that you made us switch to express mail and now we cannot access email when we are at Carle.

I don't like the recent removal of newsgroup and cluster emails.

In the CITES email system, it would be helpful for the system to automatically display the page of the most recent unread mail because many times you are unaware that you have new mail because it automatically goes to the page that contains the previously read mail.

I would like to be informed about possibilities of connection to campus network if I am with my computer in another country, for example, so that I can access library contents and webpages that professor open only for uiuc domain users. I don't know if this is possible.

On 41, 42 and 43 the answers are based on a couple of instructors.  There is a wide variance in the use of the course management tools.  I think that the majority of my instructors do not use the tool/do not know about them.

I would like to see the university partner with SBC (or anyone else) to offer off campus DSL.

I REALLY preferred to access my email using PINE and the cluster, the conversion to express mail has been very disappointing, the amount of time I have to spend to read email is greatly increased and so I have had to switch to using Mac Mail to cut down on the  amount of time is wasted waiting to express mail pages to load, neither my home (dial up) or work connections are very fast and email is critical to my work and study.  Now that I use Mac Mail and express mail wastes so much of my time to use, I have harder time keeping up with my  email from home, on eveings and weekends and when I'm away from campus.  Using PINE and webmail when I needed it was much more efficient wasted far less of my time, which I have very little of. 

Sick of the system being tinkered with, and almost always in ways that make what should be routine exercises just a wee bit more of a pain in the ....  Reorganization masquerading as progress, as it often does.  Understand that there may be considerations of which I am unaware, and that you need ways to legitimate your existence, but don't really care.  And for God's

sake, stop telling me what to use for a password.  There are manifold ways to hack one's way into a system, and I'll be damned if my having a capital, a lowercase, and a numeral is really going to keep anyone out.

Fix express mail--it sucks--I don't want to see my oldest message first every time.

It would be beneficial for undergraduate engineering students to have roaming profiles, storage space integrated into the profiles, and generic access to at least computer labs in the engineering campus.

The quota that is provided in express email is not enough.   

I realize the budget cuts may make this difficult, but I would like to see CITES' help desk expand its hours on the weekends and over holidays.  I have also found the telephone support pesonnel to be surprisingly friendly and helpful.

However, the new Express system has several bugs that need to be worked out:  1. if you accidently hit the wrong key it will advance to the next page and you lose your email (if you are typing an email) 2. the spell check feature is ackward...the old webmail spell check was easier to use...all of the suggestions came up on one page instead of having to advance through several pages.  I get nervous because I've lost entire emails before with Yahoo!  3. It doesn't seem like the Express system was tested very well...I can't think of any additional issues, but there have been many occassions when I've thought 'this is like taking a step back.'

VPN should really be fixed. The virtual private network should only be active for the subset of uiuc internet addresses and not the whle internet. This causes excessive traffic to be routed through the university and it also may be the cause of problems when ssh'ing to computers outside of campus.

You guys generally do a really nice job. However, I am very disappointed at the decision to drop subscriptions to local listservs. This school should be supporting the community and attempting to integrate itself better into the surrounding community. Dropping local listservs has the effect of isolating students and faculty from the surrounding area.

Also, students and staff should have the option of shell accounts on a Unix server, particularly since this is the University of Illinois, a renown research institute responsible in many important ways for the technology that gave rise to the Internet and World Wide Web. Much research continues to be conducted within Unix environments here and it is ridiculous that shell accounts are no longer available.

Also, please debug the problems with the IMAP protocol in email clients working with Express as soon as possible. When I connect to the internet through the university (using a dial-up modem) my average speed is about 14 kb/second (I am not kidding). This was fine for using Pine, but that is no longer an option. Express is effectively rendered useless for me from home. If you are going to force students and staff to use the much more data-intensive communication service of Express, you should upgrade your modems (v.90) and add many more of them to your banks as well as make sure that the Express service works with *all* clients and protocols.

Also, I hope that the University is not gravitating towards an exclusive Windows environment. Given the recent rash of viruses and worms that have gone around, I hope it is recognized that relying on any single platform would make this worse. Monocultures are not any hardier or healthier in technology than they are in nature. A wide variety of platforms and technologies should be used.

Don't trust the 'trusted computing' rhetoric coming out of Redmond.

Notwithstanding the above comments, generally speaking you have done a nice job with the work you do.

I have a very hard time using walkup computing in the ACES library using my Apple PowerBook.

Also what was the deal with CHARGING FOR services that you should be offering for free as part of your job? At the begining of SP Semester, you offered a for-fee computer virus training

I miss the convenience of my shell account for checking e-mail.

About 20 - 30 more lines on the filters for the email. My coworker CANNOT use his email, because of the outrageous amount of spam he gets.

I used to use PINE with the students clester, which allowed me to check e-mail quickly and efficiently.  It allowed me to search for e-mail addresses, and to compose messages easily.

The only thing it didn't do was work well with attachments (either giving or receiving).  Now I can't use it anymore and am stuck with CITES Express on the web.  It's slower, harder to compose on with lots of people, and I haven't figured out how to use any kind of phonebook, although I have tried more than once.  Why can't I have shell service back?

I miss having PINE as a possible option for e-mail service. Express mail seems quite slow in comparison, I prefer the non-browser based interface.

Also, I feel this campus is lacking in smart classrooms. As a graduate student, if I want to use a smart classroom for a presentation there is not even such a room available to me within my department.

The express email system has too many windows to work through when going from the address book to searching to compose and back.  Being logged out after 30 minutes is troublesome;

a longer time would be more convenient. 

Passwords & frequent changes to them are ridiculous.

Remote access needs to include Broadband access to be very useful.  Dialup modem access isn't really even effective for email anymore.  CITES needs to provide more walkup email stations, even with web access to any server with a UIUC address, throughout campus buildings.  The Password policies have become more convoluted and detrimental to security on campus.  The constant need to change passwords, hold different passwords for different university functions, and the rules that make passwords impossible to remember all create an environment where users have to write down their passwords and post them to their computers so that they can conduct business daily. The security policy needs to be toned down so that users don't have to breach security in this manner.  The campus network is being endangered by its own policy.

- need more wireless access points across campus. Infact, the entire university should be on wireless!

- more computers at walkup computing stations

- why are there so many online learning tools like WebCT, Blackboard, Webboard, Webcompass? There should be only one with all the features combined.

It is a pitty that you got rid of the cluster email, pine, unix acounts, etc. The new solution (Express Mail) is extremely weak and has only diadvantages for people like me. Just one example: unix offers very powerful (dynamically updated)spam filters a feature that is completely missing in the new system. 

I don't understand why this change was necesssary. Not a good choice from CITES.

Express mail is NOT an upgrade from cluster.  Compared to mutt it's incredibly slow and usually lagged.   The interface is not well thought out either. I spend so much more time now with my email than I used to.

Netfiles however is even worse.  I have moved the web site I maintain for the class I teach (ECO 172) OFF CAMPUS. I tried netfiles--but changing one line in an html file now takes forever, since I had to download it to edit it to upload it.   And it imported all files without extensions as excutables, so the browser didn't know how to open them--why would a UNIX user have windows extensions on their files?

Netfiles/Express being separate is not a good idea.  As a TA I am emailed things relating to my students (grades, for example) which I then need to save.  I work on a shared computer that doesn't have the desktop cleared between users.  Now I have to be really careful to delete from the computer (and in windows, that's many steps) anything relating to my students.

While Express/Netfiles might be easier for some people, it is less flexible, less usable, and less powerful than my cluster account.  I tried them. I hate them. I've moved my web pages off campus, and I'll probably move my email to a server on campus that still gives me real access.  

Your 'upgrade' has made my life inconvient and harder, and made my students' private information less safe.  I am not impressed.

I am overwhelmed these days with spam. I would like to have CITES resolve that issue. At this time, I have to individually select email addresses to add to my junk senders list and then delete them. I get around 20 to 30 spam messages a day.

I greatly dislike web-based mail systems.  It is far too easy to lose your work, and with only one window, I either have to flip back and forth between pages or open additional windows to see more than one email at a time.  Emory University uses LearnLink, an extremely sucessful system that has web access as well as a more convenient desktop system.  It is easier to contact students and staff, see class announcements, and create message boards for student groups.  After using that as an undergrad, I am very frustrated with the step backwards!

CITES express mail is dreadfully slow... it sadly has me missing webmail which was much speedier and much more user friendly.

Cites is fine as a web based service, but telnet was much much better.  It was reliable, easy to manage etc.  It didn't look as nice as cites, but it was of much higher quality.  Is there any way to get a system like telnet in place to work with cites as it did with webmail?  This would greatly improve my satisfaction with this system.

When it comes to VPN and wireless questions, I feel I know more than the CITES peons in the walkin office.  The support here is BAD.

I am usually pretty happy with CITES.  However, ever since I converted to Express Mail, I have had problems.  Mostly this is due to Express Mail being very slow and flaky.  It should not take me 2 minutes to finally see my inbox. 

I am also mourning the death of access to my email through telnet.

The express mail system is lousy, slow, and has limited features (no spam filtering, no procmail, etc.)  Did I mention slow?  The new URLs for student web pages are stupid.  There's no reason why the old URLs couldn't still be usuable.

I sent an eamil to cites help about a month or so ago asking several questions about the switch over to express.cites from students.  I never received an answer to my questions only a reply email that said they received my email.

The software available through CITES is convenient, however, many downloads are not available for my operating system (Mac OSX).  I also find it hard to get help with software, such as virex, after i've downloaded it.

Since 'time is money', a more efficient method to access email must be available!

I am very dissapointed with reliability of Express Mail.

TWICE this year I was hung up on by the person answering the phone at the CITES help desk when trying to get assistance with the required switch to Express Mail.  I definately get the impression that CITES doesn't care much at all about helping its users.  It would be nice if the ExpressMail help files actually matched the version of Express Mail we're allowed to use.

There are all sorts of features explained which don't apparently exist.

Where do we check if we DON'T have a computer at home?

The express address book is not user friendly because of the multiple pages.  I liked the webmail address book format much better.

express mail is EXTREMELY slow at times.  I really liked having the PINE system.  It was much quicker.

CITES IS VERY CONFUSING.

I really don't understand anything about the campus network, my email, or any of the things in this survey.  Can't everything be simpler?

Thanks very much for offering this survey, my confusion with CITES has been very frustrating.  It seems like there are a dozen passwords for different accounts that I don't know the purpose of.  Why don't I have one account, with one password, to use one network?  That's all I need.

Sometimes I am very upset with the change to Cites Express mail because unlike accessing telnet, going through the website can take a lot of time.  Sometimes the site is extremely slow.

In times when you need important information fast, this can be a really big problem.

Expressmail sometimes is very slow

I generally use the school's server for everything (SOLS) so I am not sure how to answer many questions in this survey.

The latest update to Express (3/29/04) has slowed performance to an unacceptable level.  Hopefully this is resolved soon.

Express mail and Compass are unreasonably unreliable and are often too congested for efficient use.

i like former webmail where unread emails are listed first followed by already-read mails. now in cites email, the unread mails are listed at the bottom. Even worse, when you go to 'next' page of email list and delete some of them, the page always back to the first page of email list. this is the most boring thing.

Thanks

I don't like on express e-mail that my unread e-mails are at the bottom.  I want them at the top like with webmail. Also, what can we do about spam?  I get tons!

I liked telnet better than the slow web based thing that I have to use now.

adding approximate time committment  for the completion of the survey would be helpful

I tried downloading the VPN and it doesn't work on my computer, and you guys can't figure out why, so I would recommend you try to make that more accessible to students.

Section 4.2: Students

can't answer because I both agree and disagree.

The replacement of my cluster email with CITES Express mail has been horrible.  Expressmail via the web interface is at least 10 times slower than my old ability to access mail on thecluster using Pine.  HTML mail takes an inordinate time to load.  I am reluctant to use IMAP or POP to download mail at work because I already use POP at home (leaving all mail on the server).  In this fashion I have access to all of my mail in both places.  I'm not sure how the system would behave if I tried to synchronize two different computers to the mail system simultaneously.  I know there was occassionally a problem with using the cluster (pine) and POP that would duplicate all of my local mail messages and that was always a real nightmare to correct.

Improve the spam filetering if express e-mail

I changed from POP3 to IMAP for CITES Express e-mail accesss via wireless cell/PDA, but new account/Inbox created in Outlook.  Cannot integrate with old Inbox, Outbox, Sent folders.

Express Email need a good way to filter junk mail.  Really Important!!!

Why did all the graduating seniors and graduate students have to change to webmail express with when we only had two to three months to go.  This was a very poor time and inconvience that could have easily waited till the summer.  Also, webmail express is not as user friendly as old webmail and often takes two to three times more to load.  The password service is picker and old passwords which have served us faithfully through webmail are not usuable on webmail express creating yet another password to have to remember, often one that is harder to remember due to all the little conditions to get the password to be usuable by the system. 

The new email (express) is almost as slow as the old webmail for students.uiuc.edu and its too troublesome to use your address book for contacts for email.  Its counterintuitive.  Too many confirmation steps when adding addresses to an email.  Also there needs to be more options to the address book than 'personal' and 'work'.  Allow people to make folders for contacts to make life a little easier for those of us with 100 email addresses.

Express mail is always very very slow.  I don't like the set up of it at all.  I was much happier with Webmail.

somehow, we need to have more comprehensive SPAM-control on the network.

CITES Express Mail is too slow via Internet (even on the campus ethernet).

I could do an intrepretive dance of my hate for Express Mail - it is slow, stupid, and I'm unable to access my email with SSH.  If there is a way to set up SSH with ExpressMail (the web interface of which drives me crazy) could you please let me know.  I just want to read my email in Pine, just like I used to before I got booted over to terrible, awful ExpressMail.

Since I have been switched to CITES I have not been able to use TELNET.  This is unfortunate.

In section 4.2 I agreed that my intructor uses the technology effectively when he or she uses, howeverer there are some profesors who don't use technoloy at all. It should be an instruction course for profesors, so they would know how to apply the technology in their courses.

Email services (Express Mail) seems very slow at times, especially when using the JAVA display.  Is there anything you can do to speed the loading of email?

E-MAIL IS MUCH TOO SLOW!!! and not always reliable... (some messages just seem to disapear into cyberspace and won't arrive or send out to others....)

for the cites express email system, I strongly recommend that a filter be developed so that we can block the spam. I don't know how they get my email address but it is really annoying that they send those trashes everyday!

If there was some way CITES email could save a message as it is being typed would be great!  Often times my computer locks up and I have to restart it lossing any message that was currently being composed.

I'm disatisfied with Cites right now because it seems to be running insanely slow ever since Sunday's upgrade.  But I also frequently have problems with the dial-in server/slow service, I find the amount of storage space I have insufficient to receive paper-work from my students, and I find certain things (placement of buttons like delete, the 1000s of 'no space' emails sent

when the mb is close to full, all the steps one must go through in the address book to write an email -- and another step apparantly just added!) to be inelegant/not user-friendly.  On the plus side, I like the new gauge for how much space is left in the account.

Express mail response time is too slow if accessed using web browser (in average, takes 5-10 seconds, sometime take up to 30 secs to read 1 simple email). Please put cluster or prompt based email back to service.

It is TOO slow during the middle of the day that it is inconvenient when you want to send a fast message or search through your inbox quickly.  I much prefer pine which was much faster.

I am mostly pleased with CITES service, except for the random slow access days (like today--Monday, March 15th, 2004)

CITES Express email is soooo slow! It is very annoying to have to check my email via the web because of this.  I can't quite get my Outlook to work with the new email client yet.

sometimes cannot go on the webmail to check my email. Why?

Excellent questions but your timing is off ...

I have an office on campus and have tried to hook up to the internet in my office.  I have run my computer and the hook up on my computer has no problems.  I have searched for information on how to hook it up but am unable to find any place.  I have not tried to email CITES about it but find it frustrating because I do not see it as very user friendly.  I have talked to other faculty and staff and there computers hooked up just fine. 

Your services have gone down in quality since you made all these changes ... its embarrassing

My only issue is that as a graduate student there was a lot of back and forth here and there I had to go through to get my netid and password up and working. I think part of it may have been because I was a student here about two or three years ago, but this caused me a little trouble with getting my e-mail started, and it has still given me some trouble with logging onto computers at the campus sites like the Union or Oregon lab.  One comment would be regarding printing. The system is fixed right now where any printing is charged to my student account. There was a program only on the CITES system instead of at the Medical Sciences Building that I specifically went to the Union to use. It was a little bit of a pain to know that my printing was now going to be tacked onto my bill with all of my other student account matters.  If there was some way to still have the ability to print with the copy card like it was once done before I think it would be helpful. Thank you for your time.

The MassMail messages about the changes in file storage have not been completely clear. For example, I didn't initially realize that the Foreign Languages Building's file storage would be replaced by NetFiles. It's difficult to know about all the technology tools available to us as teaching assistants.

I can't believe how badly email viruses affect the CITES network.  It's a major pain for your users.

Express email is horrible.  When you hit reply, it needs to copy your previous correspondence.

None

FIX Express e-mail!!!  The new messages come in at the bottom, its hard to tell them apart from the old messages, and I get more junk mail than ever!!!

Please, please, please, make SpamAssasain available on citesExpress.  I used it with students.uiuc.edu and now have too much spam to deal with since I migrated.  Couldn't you add a button to upload a .procmailrc file in the citesExpress settings?  The simple mail filtering available is not adequate.

I know it's dumb, but I really liked PINE.  It was fast, it was easy, it wasn't great for looking at files, pictures, etc. but for regular e-mail, I liked it.

I was forced to switch from the students cluster to the express service and I don't like it. The service is slow and cumbersome. I was happier with the students cluster.

see #52.

The computer system at this University is unimpressive.  As a graduate student, I feel that one of the largest complaints I have with this institution is the poor computer services and facilities that are provided (or lack there of).  Lastly, wireless hubs would be a massive improvment in many ways and for many reasons at this institution.

I just got my e-mail switched to Express and I'm spending at least twice the amount time checking my e-mail compared to using ssh to check my previous students account.  Although the system is otherwise very user-friendly, it is otherwise a significant degradation of the e-mail services provided.

Thanks for an prompt and efficient customer service! Keep up the good work!

I was recently switched to ExpressMail.  The web-based interface lacks many of the options that I want to use my e-mail account effectively.  One issue is to have the interface remember the manner in which I want the e-mail sorted on the screen.  The help pages are less than helpful - I had to look through several pages before finding something as simple as the IMAP server (and the port number is never mentioned).

Expresee Email is not user-friendly program at all. It's so hard and inconvenient to use. I use Express Email only when I need to show that I belong to UIUC to the other party. 

I was pretty upset that my address book didn't 'migrate' from webmail.

Also, you have to jump through too many hoops to use CITES Express address book.  Can you simplify it and make it more like the old webmail one?  Thanks.

I really don't like having to switch from the cluster e-mail to CITES e-mail.  With my dialup connection, Pine was MUCH quicker.  I find that even when I'm on a university computer, the

'Express' e-mail can be quite slow.

express mail needs some (very specific) improvements in order to be user friendly.   As is, it is sort of a copy of yahoomail, but doesn't work as well as yahoo.  I am seriously

considering using yahoomail to correspond with my students.

your password requirements are nasty.  i dont always know which password you want when asking for one. another thing is requiring them to be different is going to force me and most everyone else t star writing them down, breaking down your so called security.  another thing is he different charactr requirements, sure as n able body im sure you guys who type take 2 nanoseconds to put in your pw well w/ my limited arm function it can take me 10 seconds to put it in.  now when accessing the web so called 'express' mail.  what are you guys trying to do, define the word oxymoron?  theres nothing express about any part of your express mail.  also many times he back button on the browser wont work, i that has anything to do w/ the programming on the site thats absolutely disgusting.  one last thing, not to leave on a negative note.  the website explaining w/ pictures on how to set up my eudora account w/ the new express cites service is excellent!

I want Pine access back! It is frustrating when i can only access my email via a klunky web interface. After we lose ssh / ftp access to our accounts in the summer, my UI account will be useless, forcing me to go elsewhere for a usable research account.

Basically, Cites sucks.

I have two complaints about the CITES express email service, having switched this semester from the students cluster.

The first complaint is that there is no smtp server available for off-campus emailing.  At the moment I get around this by tunneling through my old students account, but this is not a viable long term solution.

The second complaint is related, and that is that the only way to directly access messages in my email is via the web interface, which is slow and inconvenient.  For example, I currently am receiving large numbers of virus infected emails.  These are blocked by McAffee, but in order to delete them from the server I have to log into the cites expressmail site, which is timeconsuming and inconvenient, in comparison to using telnet or ssh to delete these messages. 

I had a problem with my home network, which ended up being nothing related to the university.  However, I called the CITES Help desk and they worked patiently with me.  Through all of the troubles they ended up providing me with enough information so that I could call my own ISP and let them know what the problem was with their network.  I felt that this effort by the CITES Help Desk was above and beyond and am very thankful for it.  Well done CITES Help Desk.  I think the operations you have there is excellent.

I had a question for CITES recently.  I emailed it in on February 23, I got an answer on March 8.  I had a followup question that I'm still waiting for an answer for.  I called the help line, and got help immediately.  Either discontinue the email help line or make it work.

the new cites email is much worse than webmail as far as accessing, the image of the emails, it's not as obvious which mail is new(nothing is bolded), it puts old mail on the screen first, etc. etc. etc.

The library card catalog is sometimes very slow.

I recently moved my account from students to cites express. One feature that I would like to have added is that when I reply to an email that the text from the orginal email be attached to the new email. The only way this can be accomplished now is through forward, but I then have to put in all the email addresses myself. It would be so much easier to reply and include the test.

I recently followed instructions and switched my email from the 'cluster' to CITES Express, but was dismayed to learn (afterwards) that the new format was incompatible with the Outlook Express program I use to access my email at home.  This was disappointing and unexpected and I think CITES should provide necessary software to students if they are *required* to use new programs that are only compatible with fairly new applications - I don't fel I should have to purchase a new email program just because of CITES Express.

I don't like that if you receive an email that puts you over quota, you are not able to delete it until it times out after five days so you have to get 'mailbox full' emails after every other email for that time.

When I get long, rambling emails from CITES it makes me cringe. If you could make more of an effort to explain various CITES issues in concise language, that would be very helpful. As it is now, I just hit delete and figure I'll hear about the problem from my co-workers.

loosen up on the password constraints.  you make it nearly impossible for a person to select a password they can memorize and you force them to have to write it down and you therefore compromise the whole idea of a secret password

WHEN WILL SPAM PROTECTION BE ADDED TO EXPRESS MAIL?  I WAS RECENTLY FORCED TO CONVERT TO EXPRESS EMAIL, AND LOST THE USE OF SPAMASSASSIN ON THE STUDENTS CLUSTER.  I RECEIVE ABOUT 40 SPAM MESSAGES IN MY INBOX PER DAY.  THERE IS CURRENTLY NO SPAM FILTERING ON EXPRESS EMAIL.  FOR A UNIVERSITY AS TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED AND AS NET-SAVVY AS UIUC IS SUPPOSED TO BE, THIS IS SURPRISING.  PLEASE, PLEASE PROVIDE SPAM FILTERING FOR EXPRESS EMAIL.

I don't know how b/c I never use my school email address for personal use, but I keep getting these annoying emails from prescription drug retailers (@refillrx.net, @rxdrug.net, etc.).  I can only block so many before I question how they are getting my email address....

Better virus control. PLEASE.  You've got people spoofing your addys, and nothing being said for an entire day.  Massive spam floating around, with seemingly no way to clean the accounts.

CITES Express mail has been unusually and prohibitively slow recently (for the last 2-3 weeks).  This is my primary interaction with CITES and obviously doesn't positively influence my opinion.

I was recently switched over to an express cites email account and so far I am very unsatisfied with the features and changes.

please add more information about current viruses and how to fix them

I can't believe you guys dropped newsgroups and uiarchive.  Talk about two things that *made* this campus seem up2date with technology.  Additionally allowing virus e-mails to spread is unbelievable.  Is there really no better solution... like maybe... filtering attachments with .pif, .com, .exe attachments ?  seriously!

The new express.cites.uiuc.edu webmail is slower than the old students.uiuc.edu cluster (I used pine), particularly during the day.

Regarding the change to cites express mail...I have been at this university for 5 years and have just made the change to the cites mail. I have found that it is extremely slow in comparison to webmail on any of the computers i have used. In addition, there are less changeable options, for instance, new mail comes on the bottom and I have yet to find an option to change this that is permenant so I do not have to change it every time. Also, new mail is no longer bold. The only indication is an open envelope that is decieving.

I think CITES could do a better job of advertising their services

It would be nice to have an introductory class for new incomming staff and students to introduce the services you provide and to go over general university computing policies.

place a report spam/network abuse icon in the express tool bar or whatever at the top of the screen.

Keep the command shell interfaces.

FILTER SPAM!!! Please!

There are way too many restriction for the passoward. It's hard to come up with one, and quite frequently, it is not accepted.

none

I really don't like cites express.  The old system was far superior.

It would be nice if computer labs offered a means of hooking laptops up to either ethernet or wireless.

I had no idea that the dial-up was available, nor do i know where the wireless is available.  It would have been nice to receive information regarding these services when I started here as a grad student.

I like the fact that the survey was organized in a way which allows us to skip through sections which are not applicable to us.  Nice!

newsgroup (souldn't be closed)

email isn't very hi tech, address book is messed up in transfer from old system, can't hold a lot of files, doesn't prevent spam well, could add IM? make it more student friendly so everyone doesn't have to have a aol or hotmail or yahoo account as well as student/staff account

Netfiles is the key to my work day

I am VERY dissatisfied with current email services. The express system is slow, unreliable, and uncustomizable. I am very unhappy about no longer being able to use Unix/Telnet/Pine. Email space issues continue to be prohibitive to my work (sharing scientific data). Also, Webfiles is a nice idea, but it is very slow and unstable and, again, 100 MB is an extremely restrictive size limit.

The only real complaint I have is about the unreliability of walk-up computing or whatever it's called on the 3rd and 4th floors of Grainger.  There have been many instances where I have plugged my laptop into one of the carols and could not for the life of me get a connection to the network even though I was connected (checked to see if I had a valid IP address and I did).

I am very unsatisfied with the express webmail.  For many operations it is more than an order of magnitude slower than the students cluster was.

I found express email very disappointing compared to webmail.  I wish I wouldn't have switched until the deadline.  The spell checker is annoying and the format is not logical.

Most of the time I solve my own problems and often provide CITES staff with the solutions, which I'm happy to do. It just seems a little backwards to have the customer telling the provider solutions...

The proliferation of different passwords on campus systems is getting to be a security problem. The recent introduction of the Enterprise password systems, that clearly duplicate an area where I have found Bluestem to be both effectively and user-friendly, is simply stupid. I realize that Enterprise is probably not a CITES issue, but the confusing nature of multiple

password protected-systems leads to passwords being written down. This effectively negates the minimal added protection that I suppose some management type thought they were gaining by introducing this essentially superfluous addition to the passwords I have to keep straight. I thought there was a committee at one time that was suppose to address password proliferation?

Apparently, it has disbanded or is powerless to address this issue.

Pine far exceeded the new CITES program I was forced to switch to. It was easier to get rid of junk mail and manage my email in general.   The ability of CITES to remove SPAM is terrible. At least with TELNET I was able to protect my PC from viruses.

I am very disappointed that  there are problems with CITES mail and Apple Mail.   Previously I have done all my email through either Outlook or Apple Mail and it is quite frustrating to have it cut off.  I know there aren't as many Mac users but there are definitely some and those I've talked to are not at all happy about this.  Is this a matter that is being looked into?

My only suggestion would be to reinstate the open 24-hour schedule that was terminated  - Though I realize with budget cuts this may be too difficult.

CITES Email storage is the worst!  Can't you add some more storage space?

I recently got kicked off the cluster e-mail and now have to use express.  While this web version is certainly much better than the former 'webmail,' I still find the web-based express

inferior in ease of use to the original Pine, especially through a dialup connection, because now it takes about twice the time to check my e-mail because I have to wait for everything to

load.  Thanks for wasting my time through this move toward 'progress'...

fairly good...

better spam filtering if we all have to use cites express mail. Procmail and spamassasin were indispensible on the cluster email.

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