There are some rules…
E mail is a widely used form of communication. I send a lot and I get a lot. I often read through over one hundred a day, and that’s not a lot compared to others.
Things that annoy me when people use e-mail but forget the basic rules.
1. When someone uses the CC or “copy all” button.
This means everyone’s e mail address on that e-mail is visible to people receiving it. Now that GDPR has come into effect this practice means that you could be sharing someone’s e mail without their consent. If you don’t know that someone is ok with their e mail being shared, you need to stop doing this.
2. Over use of the reply all button.
This one drives me insane. People hit “reply all” when replying to a mail and often, ie most of the time it’s NOT NECESSARY. You end up with a mail trail you have to wade through to get replies you want and to keep track of what was said and also deal with uncessary mail replies that you have been included in, like an endless chat session that keeps your in box buzzing.
3. Use of the reply all button to share information or conversations that only need to go to one recipient.
Again, why?? Why do 32 people on a mail trail need to see you telling one person something?
STOP IT!
I personally think the “CC” and “reply all” buttons should come with a warning when you hit them saying “are you sure you want to do this? Are you REALLY sure?” so that people ACTUALLY have to think before they send that mail reply to the 52 people on the e mail they have just received or send an e mail sharing peoples details without their consent.
In fact. It would be better if these options were banned and if you wanted to use them you had to pay each time. That would mean people would actually use them sensibly…
(Ok, I may only be partly joking on that one but it might work!)
Next time you get an e mail, and there’s an option to reply all, or you are sending one. THINK about using the BCC button. This means you can add as many people to your mail trail as you like but you aren’t sharing details and you aren’t opening up the option for a mail trail that will either never end or will annoy people so much they’ll start blocking e mails (not that I’ve ever done this, you understand!)
That is all.
Next week we will talk about over use of the caps lock button when someone is TRYING TO MAKE A POINT! 😉
Happy Friday. This rant was brought to you by someone who deleted a mail trail this week after it became annoyingly impossible to read and keep up.
