{"id":274,"date":"2009-01-12T00:01:37","date_gmt":"2009-01-12T08:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=274"},"modified":"2009-01-12T06:32:05","modified_gmt":"2009-01-12T14:32:05","slug":"reply-all-go-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=274","title":{"rendered":"Reply All: Go To Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"

I understand the necessity for a Reply All command in an e-mail program, but I don’t think most of humanity gets it.
\n
\nThere was a brouhaha<\/a> last week at the US State Department over a reply all storm<\/em>. That happens when an e-mail message is sent out to a massive number of people and one of them replies, with Reply All, to say something silly or innocent.<\/p>\n

For instance, you and 3,000 other people get a message that says,<\/p>\n

The company-wide meeting tomorrow will be at 1:30 not at 12:30.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You make a mental note of it, but some doofus replies, choosing the Reply All option. He writes,<\/p>\n

Thanks, Jenny. I was hoping you changed the meeting because of my lunch with Andr\u00e9.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That reply goes to everyone<\/em> on the original list. Then another doofus replies, again hitting Reply All,<\/p>\n

Lunch with Andr\u00e9? Sounds like a movie!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That reply again goes to everyone on the list. Then you get round after round of messages saying,<\/p>\n

Please stop hitting Reply All!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And,<\/p>\n

Remove my name from your silly, stupid e-mail replies!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently the chain got so long and heavy at the State Dept. that it actually shut down the e-mail system for hours last week. That’s a reply all storm in action.<\/p>\n

There are three solutions here.<\/p>\n

First.<\/strong> The idiot who originally sends the message must use the BCC field, not the TO or CC fields. Unless you’re working with a small group and you want replies to everyone, there is never a need to use TO or CC for a mass e-mail. Most importantly, whenever you’re forwarding a joke or something, don’t waste people’s time. Use the BCC field.<\/p>\n

Second.<\/strong> People need to understand the difference between Reply and Reply All. Hell, they need to understand e-mail etiquette in the first place! The TO field is used for a direct recipient. The CC is a Courtesy Copy; it’s an in-the-know field, but one that doesn’t require a direct response. Finally, the BCC field is for mass e-mailings as well as people who don’t want their names know or included in any reply.<\/p>\n

Third.<\/strong> Some e-mail programs can be configured to re-map the Reply key, often Ctrl+R, to Reply All. That needs to change. I believe Reply All should be a specific command and never a default. Reply All must be a deliberate thing. With all the doofuses out there ignoring my first and second solutions, this solution would probably clear the problem up for good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I understand the necessity for a Reply All command in an e-mail program, but I don’t think most of humanity gets it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}