User Responsibilities

Users are expected to follow some fairly obvious rules of conduct (in addition to those in the document Policy on Electronic Citizenship, which is published in the Rensselaer Handbook and on the web):

• Don't abuse the equipment.
• Leave the labs at least as nice as you found them.
• If you notice a problem with a piece of equipment (e.g. a computer doesn't respond or a printer doesn't print) or the room in general (e.g. cooling, heating, lighting) please report it to labstaff immediately. Do not attempt to fix the problem yourself.
• Do not adjust the heat or air conditioners. If you feel the temperature is not properly set, inform labstaff; we will attempt to maintain a balance that is healthy for people and machines.
• Never turn off a machine unless a member of labstaff has specifically told you it is OK to do so.
• Do not attempt to reboot a computer. Report problems to labstaff@cs.rpi.edu.
• Do not remove printers and machines from the network without being explicitly told to do so by labstaff.
• Don't monopolize equipment. If you're going to be away from your machine for more than 10 or 15 minutes, log out before leaving. This is both for the security of your account, and to ensure that others are able to use the lab resources while you are not. If you need to leave a workstation for a short time, using xlock is a good idea.
• Try to schedule large print jobs for off-hours. Do not print out documentation that is available elsewhere, and never more than one copy. Xeroxing is much cheaper than printing, and copiers handle the extended use better. Class notes should be copied and made available by course instructors rather than having students print them themselves. If you are not going to be able to pick your printout up right away, wait until later to print it so that it does not get messed up or recycled.
• Use disk space responsibly. You share a partition with a lot of other people. Graduate students are expected to keep their usage under 250 megabytes, undergrads are expected to keep their usage under 100 megabytes, and guests and alumni are expected to keep their usage under 25 megabytes. If you have a special project which requires a lot of space, please arrange to have project space set up.
• Make arrangements with labstaff if you need to run processes in the background for periods longer than when you are logged in.This helps ensure that machines do not get overburdened, accumulate runaway processes, and that programs do not cause unnecessary competition for resources.
• There is absolutely no smoking on campus.
• No food or drink is allowed in any of the CS labs or near any of the equipment. This includes equipment in offices. Aside from the fact that it leaves a mess and attracts pests, spilling anything on a keyboard or other piece of computer equipment could cause permanent, irreparable, and costly damage. (and in fact has) If you need to eat or drink, take a break and do so in the lounges.
• Please be considerate of those around you, especially in terms of noise level. While labs are a natural place for conversations of all types, kindly keep the volume down.

-- StevenLindsey - 04 Apr 2012