🚀 go-pugleaf

In the referenced article, dan@cubmol.bio.columbia.edu (Daniel Zabetakis) writes:
>
>    We are having a problem with a full mail spool. Some users have
>large amounts of mail kept there. I am pretty sure that much of it is
>from mailing lists that they don't want to dump into thier account mbox,
>but don't really want to delete. Well, it is going to have to go now.
>
>   My question in regard to policy is whether it is OK to threaten to
>remove the mail.

I would not do this if I were you.  A couple of stopgap
solutions I have found are:

1.  Peer pressure.  Inform the other users that if everyone
    doesn't clean up their mail, NOBODY gets mail any more
    (due to the filesystem being out of space), and simply
    list all users with their mailbox sizes.  Let them argue
    it out amongst themselves.

2.  For the occasional users, compressing their mail will buy
    you some extra space, and it will still be there if they
    log in and yelp for it.  This also has the advantage that
    you don't have to read their mail (which I avoid at all costs).

    In real emergencies, you can dump their mail off to tape
    until they come back and ask for it.  Again, you haven't read
    their mail or deleted it, so their privacy is protected, but you
    get the space you need.

Wendy Nather
Swiss Bank Corporation, Zurich
	pooh@apple.com
	wendy@il.us.swissbank.com