Yet even the most benignly intended improvements in technology sometimes catches the wrong news in its net.
Such is the case for scores of disappointed Virginia Tech men's basketball fans who missed the student season ticket registration deadline because of an error in the newly-added Junk Mail Manager feature used by the Tech e-mail system.
On October 4, hokietix@vt.edu sent a school-wide e-mail reminding students of the opportunity to purchase season tickets from Oct. 8 at 12:01 a.m. until Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. However, many students never received this message because the new spam filtering software incorrectly marked it as illegitimate.
"It was a mistake and a mishap," said men's basketball head coach Seth Greenberg. "But we're handling it, and obviously working very hard to make sure that we take care of our students."
Because of concentrated efforts by the athletic ticket office and the basketball marketing team, the deadline on to purchase tickets has been extended to Thursday, Oct.18 at 3 p.m.
"We're going to address the issue, and make sure our loyal season ticket holders are put in position to once again have ownership in support of our team," said Greenberg.
Randy Butt, the associate director of financial affairs for the athletic department, also recognized students' dismay at missing the deadline. He helped make sure that efforts were put in place to remedy the situation on the athletics department's end.
"We're making every effort for the students to have the opportunity to apply (for the tickets)," said Butt. " We have extended the deadline, recognizing students have had a problem with the Junk Mail Manager."
The lapse was reported to the basketball office through several e-mail complaints.
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