Email for Idiots

I'm sorry, but I have to post something about email ettiquette. People...really...STOP HITTING "REPLY ALL".

I sat through an hour and a half long "reply storm" created by some poor guy that used the wrong distribution. What's worse is the number of aimless people that kept replying to him and COPYING THE SAME LIST! I mean, really...really? You didn't know that your reply saying "hi, for some reason I got this email and I can't figure out why." would then be shot to the same distribution list that you got the email from..??? really...???

So I put together a little response. and here it is.


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Here are some good rules for email. PLEASE READ THIS!

You are experiencing a “reply storm”. This happens when someone puts out an email to a large distribution list and people on that list start responding to all with a reply message. Then more people respond to the response telling people to stop responding…then managers weigh in…etc. It quickly fills up your inbox.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1) Never respond to an email storm like this. If you get an email that is not intended for you directly, then simply look at the “from” the “cc” and “bcc” lines and respond ONLY TO INDIVIDUALS! Don’t respond to lists or “all”. The only reason you should respond to “all” is if you really, really need to inform every single person on a list.
2) Think twice before hitting “reply all”. This is a powerful tool that is often misused. ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE ALL OF THE PEOPLE YOU ARE RESPONDING TO! You would be amazed how many times this would include people who do not care about your response.
3) NEVER SEND A RESPONSE TO ALL, telling people to stop responding to all…this will just keep the storm flowing. If you want to help, send a message to each person replying to all with this message. Teach them to stop this behavior. It’s time consuming but if we all do this they will learn and stop.

Thank you for your consideration and have a great week!

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What did I do with my frustration in getting 100 emails that had nothing to do with my day? I could have just deleted them, but instead chose to help educate the masses. I sent this message to EVERYONE to responded to the original email (can hit reply all).

I have to say, the few resonses I got back were positive and quite heartening. Most said they were jsut frustrated by the reply storm and regretted adding to the fray...

We'll see what they do next time. I have their addresses saved up for the next storm. They come about once a month.