An email mix-up resulted in annoyance and hilarity Tuesday night, as students spammed a University-wide email chain that began with a message about spring break travel resources.
Assistant Director of Residential Life Robert Bones sent the original email at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, to a listserv—an email directory of nearly all students on campus. Later that evening, junior Tahreem Kamal inadvertently replied to the entire directory with a question about whether spring break shuttles would stop at the Rochester Megabus station.
Student participation quickly took off after junior Neil Stalter responded to Kamal, again including the entire directory in his reply. “The amtrak station is right across the street from the bus station!” Stalter wrote.
Stalter said he did not intend to email the entire student body. He also noted that his reply was, in fact, incorrect. While the Greyhound bus station is indeed across the street from the Rochester Amtrak station, Megabus only maintains a curbside stop in downtown Rochester—about one mile away, on East Broad Street.
Some students expressed annoyance, but many saw the mistake as an opportunity. Junior Jean-Marc Boullianne asked if anyone could drive him “home” to Omaha, Nebraska, and said he has since received multiple offers. Boullianne thanked the student body for their “overwhelming” response.
Most students seemed amused by the situation, sending sarcastic replies or referring to the holiday as “Sprinkle Break.” Others flexed their comedic muscles, including sophomore Samantha Dinga, who sent an email containing the entire screenplay of the 2007 animated comedy “Bee Movie.”
Bones said the listserv was recently created to improve communication with students. “I accidentally left the reply-all feature on, and it only took a few students to get the ball rolling.” He apologized for the incident and said it was an honest mistake.
At press time, Bones had removed all students from the directory and said he hopes this will stop the reply chain, although such a high volume of students replied that “there are emails still stuck in limbo.”
In December, an email to University parents about the kidnapping of two seniors resulted in a similar situation as parents replied-all to the email.
Kamal said she was annoyed by the large volume of emails, and that she had only received two helpful responses to her question. She added that she will likely take a taxi to the Megabus stop, as it is not served by University shuttles.
