The web-based P.O. Box is used for class and majors mailing lists. P.O. Box was created to restrict who can send to the lists thus eliminating spam and 'Reply All' mail storms.
This service allows faculty and staff to use a web form to send messages to groups of students based on class enrollment, academic major, and academic minor. Students receive messages in their e-mail and can reply to the sender. Students cannot post to the P.O. Box unless the list owner assigns them this privilege.
Besides increased security with communications, P.O. Box offers the advantage of having messages available on the web site for the entire academic term. In addition to receiving messages in their e-mail, students can also log into the site to read the messages or can see them by subscribing to the RSS feed for their class. In general, class lists are available for the current term, two previous terms, and the next term.
When you log in to P. O. Box, you usually see the lists for the "current" term. P.O. Box switches the future term to the current term at the end of the third business day after final examinations are completed for the current term. For example, if final examinations for summer session end on Friday August 13, P.O. Box will consider the fall semester as the current term the morning of Thursday, August 19. Exception: The spring term becomes the current term the day after winter term classes end.
Attachments can be included in messages posted to P. O. Box lists. Rather than delivering attachments to every recipient's e-mail account, attachments are stored on the P. O. Box server and can be downloaded at each recipient's convenience. In addition, all attachments are scanned for viruses prior to being made available for download.