Quoting Peter Ross (Peter.Ross@bogen.in-berlin.de):
Whoever wrote it.. but the bit over the "entire system administrator profession" is wrong.
All me to introduce myself. Hullo, I'm Rick Moen, senior system administrator. A very large percentage of my job is creating, fixing, administering, and decommissioning technical solutions to social / sociological problems. This has been the case for some decades.
I'm making no comment whatsoever on the technical notion that prompted this digression, merely on Edwards's Law.
I see where you are coming from, and I understand that some sociological problems have very elegant technical solutions. I don't think this is one of them. Problem: Students are sending SMS's, distracting themselves and others. Solution: Ban SMS's (and maybe ban mobile phones altogether) Problem: Students are now communicating via facebook, distracting themselves and others. Solution: Block Facebook Problem: Students are now using other IM applications Solution: Block IM applications Problem: Students have found a way to run IM applications even though we've blocked them. Solution: Better blocking ... And now the OP is up to delaying emails. I suspect it won't end there. People love to communicate and you won't stop them without putting a significant damper on their ability to do what they are supposed to be doing. James