User Etiquette

There are some things which you should always do, described in Good User Etiquette.

There are also things you should not do. If you do things that are on the Worst list, your account will be locked, and it is possible that your account will be revoked permanently. Depending on the activity, it is also possible that University disciplinary proceedings might be initiated, which could result in your expulsion from UR. Also, for some activities on the Worst list, you could face criminal prosecution.

If you do things that are on the Worse list, your files might be damaged, you might get in trouble, and it's likely that the systems staff will lock your account if they see the activity. If you have a history of being locked for Worse list offenses, your accounts might be revoked.

If you do things on the Bad list, your files could be tampered with by malicious users, causing you to lose data. Also, if you do Bad things, malicious users might be able to do things using your account that could get you in serious trouble.

Good User Etiquette

• Read the man page before executing new commands.
• Contact the consultant for help in learning new utilities.
• Contact the operator when a machine seems to be down or severely crippled.
• Use a password that is not based on a single word in any language.
• Use a password that has a mix of upper and lower case letters, numerics, and puncuation.
• Use the away command to notify ITS if you are using your account from outside the Rochester Area.
• Use quota -v to see how much disk you are using and to avoid over-filling your disk quota.
• Be sure to always logout when you are not using your account.
• Read the message of the day when you log in to check for machine availability or other important news.
• Use the msgs program to read about changes to the system (for example, new versions of programs, new programs, new peripherals available, added functionality, changes in e-mail, routing, etc.) and other items of interest to UNIX users.
• Send E-mail to problem when things seem broken.
• Send E-mail to problem when you read about scheduled system changes which you believe may have a damaging effect on your work. System changes are carefully planned to have minimal effect on the users, however you can always help improve the scheduling by making your exact needs clear before the change takes place.

Worst Activities

• Do not continually and/or deliberately perform activities that are on the Bad or Worse lists below.
• Do not share your account with anybody, especially over the net. This includes sharing your password and granting priveliges to others via your .rhosts file.
• Do not threaten, harass, or intimidate other users. This can constitute a felony under state and Federal law.
• Do not execute administration commands (located in system areas outside of the public directories).
• Do not attempt to break passwords.
• Do not attempt to crash or reboot a machine.
• Do not intentionally hog system resources (CPU, memory, disk).
• Do not forge electronic mail or Usenet messages.
• Do not misrepresent your identity to other users.
• Do not start or forward a "chain letter" of any type, even if it does not ask for cash. A chain letter is any letter which asks the recipient to forward the letter, via any means, to others while maintaining the request that the letter be forwarded.
• Do not send unsolicited mass mailings or spam newsgroups.
• Do not run any daemon processes.
• Do not run any process that provides network services. This includes programs which provide TCP/IP access, such as TIA and SLiRP.
• Do not cause a mail forwarding loop.

Worse Activities

• Do not store more than 1 megabyte of email in your inbox on the server.
• Do not execute scripts or programs which use commands you are not familiar with.
• Do not install or execute binaries foreign to the system.
• Do not give world write permissions to your files and directories.
• Do not allow others to execute commands from your account, or leave your account unattended.
• Do not print large files or manuals (over 100 pages).
• Do not print object or executable files.
• Do not interrupt other users while they are working (i.e. sending talk requests, banner, write messages, etc.)
• Do not play games, including network games such as MUDs, MUSHes, and IRC.

Bad Activities

• Do not execute commands from another user's account.
• Do not search through, read or execute any commands while in another user's directory.
• Do not hardcode your path into your programs. We may need to move your directories for disk space.