This question-and-answer list doesn't answer all the questions that people often have about expired accounts, but here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Please direct unanswered questions and problems to us at accounts@cs.uwaterloo.ca.
Q: Why is my account going away?
A: Accounts exist because they have a sponsor. The Dean sponsors basic accounts for students in the faculty, individual instructors sponsor accounts for their courses (which will temporarily give accounts to students from outside the faculty), and researchers sponsor accounts for themselves and their assistants. When an account no longer has a sponsor, it expires, and this message is sent to the account warning that it has entered a period of grace during which the owner may do cleanup, such as copying valuable files to somewhere else.
Q: What about my disk quota?
A: Now that your account is no longer sponsored it will remain for a short grace period (21 days). During this time you should take copies of whatever files you may need.
Q: Can accounts be retained for collaboration?
A: Researchers in the School of Computer Science can sponsor accounts in this linux.cs.uwaterloo.ca environment. If you are a past grad student, and could continue to use linux.cs.uwaterloo.ca to collaborate with your past supervisor, they might sponsor your account.
Q: Can I sponsor an account myself?
A: CSCF does not have the means to sell computing resources. Neither can other departments such as IST and the Office of Alumni Affairs. However, the Computer Science Club (MC 3037) provides free accounts to its members, who may be current or previous students in any faculty. See them for more information. And the Office of Alumni Affairs provides a permanent email forwarding service for graduates. There are also many commercial vendors of network access and computing resources.
Q: I know it's going away. Why do you have to keep telling me about it?
A: The repeated warnings are sent to make sure people really know that their accounts are going to be deleted. If you are certain you no longer need your account, let us know and we'll remove the account immediately.