Postmaster Guidelines and Procedures

	Introduction

postmaster@Virginia.edu	This document is an attempt to quantify some of the common situations the UVa electronic mail (e-mail) postmasters encounter: it is not all-inclusive and, as with everything in computers, is out-of-date the moment it is published. This document is meant to be a "how to" manual for reading the electronic mail postmaster's mailbox at the University of Virginia for most of the ordinary situations you will encounter as an electronic mail postmaster. It tries to balance the needs of our customers (and their electronic mail correspondents) with the needs of our staff to attend to other tasks in addition to dealing with messages that arrive in the postmaster's mailbox.
One response	Reading and processing messages in the postmaster's mailbox is an evolving process; as we find better ways to manage how the messages are handled, as our mail system change, as technology changes, as we share e-mail postmaster duties in new ways or as our customers have new and differing needs, we adapt and change what we do. It is important, however, for our users to receive a clear and consistent message from our multiple postmasters: we need to appear as if we are one person. For this reason, we ask that you use the approaches described herein. If you encounter a situation not described, please ask for assistance, first from other postmasters and then, if needed, from someone in Network Systems.
Assistance from Network Systems	When a postmaster has a problem that cannot be resolved within the postmaster team, the postmaster seeks assistance from the on-call person in Network Systems, who may refer the postmaster to one of Network Systems' email specialists (the U.Va. "Postmaster Generals.") As a part of the postmaster team, you are a member of the mailing list that is named itc-pstmst@Virginia.edu. Through this list you will receive copies of messages sent to abuse@Virginia.edu as well as what is typically a weekly mailing that provides us with the Network Systems call-down list. If you lose your copy of this message, ask one of the other postmasters the name of the Network Systems contact du jour.
Review of postmaster work	While most of what we do as postmasters will have few long-term consequences for our customers, the increasing reliance people have upon email, however misplaced, does mean that what we do could have large effects upon our customers. To help provide for consistency in what we do, the postmaster coordinator will review, on a regular basis, the work that is done by all postmasters.
Confidentiality	When we work with messages in the postmaster's mailbox, we try to avoid seeing message content if this is possible. At times, we will see message content as we try to determine how the message should be routed. Please remember that should you see the content of a message, you are obligated to forget it after the message has been processed. Talking about something you have seen in the postmaster's mailbox is not allowed, unless you are talking with other postmasters.
Security of the mail.virginia.edu machine	The computer mail.virginia.edu holds all of our mailing lists and the queues for all of the mail flowing through the address @Virginia.edu. For this reason, small postmaster mistakes can have major ramifications. Please remember that we need to: do what we know ask questions when we do not know what to do seek help if something (anything) unexpected happens It is far better to make a mistake and seek help quickly than to compound a mistake by keeping silent about it and hoping that nothing happens. This is not a normal Unix machine and we need to approach it with common sense and well as some caution. We do not "try it" on this computer nor do we go exploring.
A position of trust	The sometimes sensitive nature of both of the above means that being a postmaster is not just another task we perform to assist our customers, but is a real position of trust within the U.Va. organization.
How to change a process/change this site	There are many ways to approach any task and those contained herein may not always be the best . We ask that you work as a postmaster for at least a month or more so that you understand what the duties are before you begin to suggest changes. When you think of ways to approach this task that may be better than those currently being used (either an automation or a process), please bring these ideas to the postmaster team before you use them with our customers, before you work on implementation of them and before you talk about them with non-postmaster staff. The notion of working within the postmaster team is important: we must be able to work comfortably together or we will not be able to provide a transparent "one response" look we want for our customers. When a change is suggested, the postmaster team (and, if needed, others) will meet to talk about the implications of the change(s) and try to determine the most appropriate way to implement/pilot the suggestion(s). Implementation of new processes, automation of processes, etc., are the responsibility of all postmasters though it is helpful if changes are coordinated before they are begun. If you find errors or out-of-date information contained in this site, please inform the postmaster team so that revisions can be made.
Contacting the postmaster team	You can contact the postmaster team by composing an email message to: itc-pstmst@Virginia.edu