Good, now if they'd only go after the people who don't remove previous quotes that turn a one sentence reply into pages of text you've previously read.

Can we get rid of loud talkers and smelly food eaters as well?

The only thing worse is the legion of idiots who then promptly reply-all starting an unstoppable chain reaction.

To: All. "Your a idiot. You replied-all to that message"
To: All. "No, your a idiot. You replied-all telling him he's a idiot for replying-all"

Usually followed by a secondary reply-all chorus of:

To: All. "Please take me off this mailing list I don't want to see these messages anymore"
To: All. "You can't unsubscribe..."

Any distribution list that contains more than 50 names needs to be automatically treated as .bcc



eddyatwork: Good, now if they'd only go after the people who don't remove previous quotes that turn a one sentence reply into pages of text you've previously read.

This too...

Click to expand that Distribution List in the CC, so everyone can see everyones name who is getting the mail, no matter how private or unrelated the people CC are to one another, its vital they all see each others email addresses and know they now have something in common.

Isnt the internet great .

I am in favor of waterboarding people who "reply to all."

So why are these mails sent with everyone in the 'to' or 'CC' anyway ?

Eddie Adams from Torrance: The only thing worse is the legion of idiots who then promptly reply-all starting an unstoppable chain reaction.

To: All. "Your a idiot. You replied-all to that message"
To: All. "No, your a idiot. You replied-all telling him he's a idiot for replying-all"

Usually followed by a secondary reply-all chorus of:

To: All. "Please take me off this mailing list I don't want to see these messages anymore"
To: All. "You can't unsubscribe..."

+1...our section works on most projects together so we normally have section-all emails when working that way everyone stays on the same page.

So I e-mailed someone about a work-related project and copied the whole section on it. A co-worker of mine e-mailed me back to say that a phone call would have sufficed. I replied back and said no it wouldn't have. She replied AGAIN telling me that I'm clogging her inbox.

I was like lol wut? Stop talking...

Too bad the dumb arse State Department never heard of 'blind copy': problem solved.

Surely "Reply to all" is just Government jargon for "I have no farkin idea who does this shiat around here, if I send it to everyone (a) somebody might actually do something, and (b) I have covered my ass by sending it to everybody.

Just saying...

Set away message to reply all. Compose message to entire company address book including self. Send.

That used to kill Groupwise, thankfully our company axed that crap program.

When will people learn about using the BCC field when sending to a distribution list?

Eddie Adams from Torrance:
eddyatwork: Good, now if they'd only go after the people who don't remove previous quotes that turn a one sentence reply into pages of text you've previously read.

This too...

I agree.

Borrowed from /.

This is a configuration error, not a newsworthy event.

For sendmail [sendmail.org], it would be a configuration directive in their sendmail.mc (or whatever theirs is:

confMAX_RCPTS_PER_MESSAGE("100") ... or a modified line in sendmail.cf:

O MaxRecipientsPerMessage=100

In MSExchange [microsoft.com] it would be a registry change

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSys t em\Max Recipients on Submit

DWORD Value 100

Mail storm. Happened a few years back in my province, only the first person to email used the "email all provincial employees" alias. Schools, hospitals, all government departments, public utilities, etc. Email was something lame, but I forget what.

And then the Reply All complaints started. 12 of those not only brought down the government email server, it trashed it so badly the server apparently had to be rebuilt from scratch.

Then, not two weeks later, some other idiot sent a "request for chairs for a meeting" to "all users, province-wide". Thankfully, no mail storm that time.

The "all users" aliases got removed.

Eddie Adams from Torrance: The only thing worse is the legion of idiots who then promptly reply-all starting an unstoppable chain reaction.

To: All. "Your a idiot. You replied-all to that message"
To: All. "No, your a idiot. You replied-all telling him he's a idiot for replying-all"

Usually followed by a secondary reply-all chorus of:

To: All. "Please take me off this mailing list I don't want to see these messages anymore"
To: All. "You can't unsubscribe..."



Oh dear God, I love those email threads

Most of the "reply all" goons in my office are just being "know it all" idiots, who want to make sure we all know that they know it all. Know what I mean?

Sounds like that stupid Outlook® "Recall Email" thing played a role too - since all it does is send out another email saying "I didn't want you to see that other email". "Oh, I shouldn't have sent that to everyone? Okay, I'll just 'recall' it from everybody..."

I work for a government institution and actually got written up for emailing a list with the actual government guideline on "reply to all". Perhaps I shouldn't have recommended they all read "Email for Dummies".

/Getting a kick, etc.
//Thanks for the tech tip Lars

We have people in our company that do this all the time -- thankfully we only have around 200 employees. It would help if the "reply" button and the "reply to all" button were not next to each other (Outlook) -- I'm sure it's a mistake a lot of the time. It's just like having "save" and "delete" buttons next to each other -- just asking for problems.

Sounds like another day where I used to work. It'd usually start with an email to "All Bank Employees" about some customer who wanted their overdraft fee refunded, followed by a few "why am I getting this?" replies, then a whole slew of "stop replying to all!" emails. I'm sure other idiots probably just read the original email and refunded the fee, causing the customer to have a windfall of cash.

Then there was the time someone told off a co-worker and CCed "All Bank Employees". Hilarity ensued that day.

Epicanis: Sounds like that stupid Outlook® "Recall Email" thing played a role too - since all it does is send out another email saying "I didn't want you to see that other email". "Oh, I shouldn't have sent that to everyone? Okay, I'll just 'recall' it from everybody..."

What I love are the ten notification emails in my in box letting my know I have exceeded my maximum allowable space of received emails, and it just keep filling up my in box with more emails telling me my in box is full.

Well, all I can interpret from the article is that nobody in the corrupt government knows how to use e mail correctly.

yellowcat: We have people in our company that do this all the time -- thankfully we only have around 200 employees. It would help if the "reply" button and the "reply to all" button were not next to each other (Outlook) -- I'm sure it's a mistake a lot of the time. It's just like having "save" and "delete" buttons next to each other -- just asking for problems.

Yeah, next thing you know they're going to put the brake and accelerator right next to each other in a car, or the saftey on a gun really close to its trigger.

Why should users have to care about email queues and clogging the tubes? That's solely an issue for IT to manage - which its very clear that its not doing very well. In the wake of a meltdown, this IT department is trying to blame everyone but themselves. I'd have Mr. Patrick Kennedy strung up by the nutsack for even suggesting that users should be disciplined.

And, really, a couple thousand emails (or, really, a handful of emails with a couple thousand recipients) are bringing down their system? Something is very wrong here on the server side. Smarten, up Pat, take responsibility for your own mistakes and FIX THEM.

strathmeyer: yellowcat: We have people in our company that do this all the time -- thankfully we only have around 200 employees. It would help if the "reply" button and the "reply to all" button were not next to each other (Outlook) -- I'm sure it's a mistake a lot of the time. It's just like having "save" and "delete" buttons next to each other -- just asking for problems.

Yeah, next thing you know they're going to put the brake and accelerator right next to each other in a car, or the saftey on a gun really close to its trigger.

I think the garbage disposal switch aught to be right next to the over the sink light switch.

Its_A_Tarp:
So I e-mailed someone about a work-related project and copied the whole section on it. A co-worker of mine e-mailed me back to say that a phone call would have sufficed. I replied back and said no it wouldn't have. She replied AGAIN telling me that I'm clogging her inbox.

I was like lol wut? Stop talking...

Remind that snotty wench to be a team player and to STFU!
/i'm not saying I'd do that..but it would be really funny if you did

After this happened a couple of times, we finally set up moderation for our largest email groups (around a thousand addresses). Nothing goes to those lists until I've had a chance to look at it. Works great, and is also helpful when a spammer tries to email the list and it gets through the filters.

Addicted: Why should users have to care about email queues and clogging the tubes? That's solely an issue for IT to manage - which its very clear that its not doing very well. In the wake of a meltdown, this IT department is trying to blame everyone but themselves. I'd have Mr. Patrick Kennedy strung up by the nutsack for even suggesting that users should be disciplined.

And, really, a couple thousand emails (or, really, a handful of emails with a couple thousand recipients) are bringing down their system? Something is very wrong here on the server side. Smarten, up Pat, take responsibility for your own mistakes and FIX THEM.

1) As a user, it annoys the living hell out of me to get huge reply-to-all messages that clog up my inbox with crap

2) As an IT kinda guy, I'd ask if you intend on a) hiring people who actually know what they are doing instead of just having a scrap of paper "certifying" they do and b) plan on spending enough budget so that the IT guys can actually get the things they need to do their farking job right. (IT is so often given way less budget priority than they need)

neomatt: Its_A_Tarp:
So I e-mailed someone about a work-related project and copied the whole section on it. A co-worker of mine e-mailed me back to say that a phone call would have sufficed. I replied back and said no it wouldn't have. She replied AGAIN telling me that I'm clogging her inbox.

I was like lol wut? Stop talking...

Remind that snotty wench to be a team player and to STFU!
/i'm not saying I'd do that..but it would be really funny if you did

Better to leave an anonymous gift of a dead fish under her desk.
She would gain the nickname of skank for an eternity.

Addicted: I'd have Mr. Patrick Kennedy strung up by the nutsack for even suggesting that users should be disciplined.

Can't we do both? Implement a tech solution, definitely. But consider that it's 2009 - if someone doesn't know the difference between reply and reply-all by now, they just might not be cut out for an office job.

thus explaining her clogged "in box".

The inboxes are probably full of
-lists of blonde jokes,
- chain e-mails that will force your true love to call you before midnight tonight
-pictures of cute kitties
-or "Footprints" or other vaguely "inspirational" poetry

EdNortonsTwin: bcc

I'd say that most people under 30 don't know what a Blind Carbon Copy is. Carbon? Huh? Like charcoal?

When is the last time anyone used carbon paper anyhow? 1986? Why does MS Outlook still refer to it?

I only use "reply all" to enjoy the hell out of my co-workers when someone uses the mailing list for retarded purposes.

For instance whenever I get the same email four times, because some mouthbreathing tard has sent out an email to three separate section/branch lists I'm on, in addition to the all employees list.

I regard it as just spreading and fueling the hate, making sure that IT cracks down on assholes like that.

know a story 'bout a dude, sent a lovely christmas greeting card to ALL. Only to have some other dude, send back to him/ALL, that he shouldn't be sending a "christian" message such as this when he is the supportive father of a lesbian daughter, recently married to her partner....sinner ...going to hell ....prop 8 blah blah blah... now they ALL know

god love him

At my job, we used to use telnet to mess with each other, or just to talk without e-mail. One day, a contractor messed up the syntax and ended up sending a message containing his target's username and "monkey" to about 80,000 people. Good times.

smeegle: I think the garbage disposal switch aught to be right next to the over the sink light switch.

Why? That wouldn't be practicle, it would just be dangerous. Oh, I get it, you're stupid.

mcreadyblue: EdNortonsTwin: bcc

I'd say that most people under 30 don't know what a Blind Carbon Copy is. Carbon? Huh? Like charcoal?

When is the last time anyone used carbon paper anyhow? 1986? Why does MS Outlook still refer to it?

My workplace keeps a stock of carbon paper, so I'm getting a kick...

/University
//Students wanting to get a copy of their exam, can get carbon paper for this purpose
///Only ever used my students from medicine or law, and rarely more than for a couple of students every year

So I guess they aren't getting a kick out of those replies.

These happen at my workplace once in a while and they're usually comedy gold. The last gem was in regards to an electric motor, a big old GE 440v unit. A maintenance guy meant to email out the info to the other facilities people but hit the wrong list and it went out to something like 4500 people. I saw it and blocked it to my offices (we moderate everything). The replies started coming in, mostly "remove me from your list" to "will this fit in my husband's boat" to my favorite, the ALL CAPS "PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME ANY MORE OR YOU WILL BE WRITTEN UP" (sent by Amy, who, as a part time secretary, thought she had the pull to get people written up". I sent a new email to the person who wanted it for her husband's boat saying that it was a motor for a piece of machinery, not a boat - she replied to me AND the original list wanting to know why anyone would email her. Then I replied from a hotmail account with pictures of the motor. Eventually they killed it but it was funny for a few hours. I think some folks have their reply all button programmed to enables caps lock.

I moderated my lists a long time ago. Some folks can send anything w/o it being stopped but everything else is held up. It's sort of stupid to email out our statewide list if you're in Raleigh and need a ride to pickup your car from the repair place. Or if someone 9 hours away is leaving and you're having a luncheon for her. There are times I wish we could moderate outgoing emails.

The big pisser for me is those who reply all and leave attachments in.

smeegle: What I love are the ten notification emails in my in box letting my know I have exceeded my maximum allowable space of received emails, and it just keep filling up my in box with more emails telling me my in box is full.

Maybe you need a bigger box, precious one.

After an incident involving an email sent to the entire company by accident and everyone Replying All to it, IS made it so you can't send to a mailing list over 25 people unless you're a member of said list.

Unfortunately, they weren't good about letting everyone know they did that, and one of my jobs is to distribute critical production issue notices to large mailing lists inside the company. So now I belong to a stupid number of distro lists.

Recently some guy sent out a personal ad, in German, to the whole company. Luckily there aren't many Reply All storms because we get so many accidental Global/North America/Canada messages that people get used to it and just hit delete.

I don't think this was confined to just the State Department. I work for the Army, and we were told on Friday that there was an immediate moratorium on mass emails. Of course, none of this is surprising when people in my office use "reply all" to reply to someone who is literally sitting 10 ft from them.

strathmeyer: smeegle: I think the garbage disposal switch aught to be right next to the over the sink light switch.

Why? That wouldn't be practicle, it would just be dangerous. Oh, I get it, you're stupid.

It was a joke silly.

"Would like to recall this message" is also awesome when your office routes its Exchange mail through a linux gateway, and thus the Recall messages don't work.

A "Would like to recall" is the cherry on top of the fail sundae.

robotpirateninja: smeegle: What I love are the ten notification emails in my in box letting my know I have exceeded my maximum allowable space of received emails, and it just keep filling up my in box with more emails telling me my in box is full.

Maybe you need a bigger box, precious one.

Nnno my box is small and efficient. I like it nice and ti...dy.
But on a long flight for business ,,it fills up fast.

eddyatwork: Good, now if they'd only go after the people who don't remove previous quotes that turn a one sentence reply into pages of text you've previously read.

This too...

Actually, I hate it when people respond out of context. I need the thread.

/gets ~75 emails per day
//distribution lists arte abused
///adopt a distribution list today

mcreadyblue: EdNortonsTwin: bcc

I'd say that most people under 30 don't know what a Blind Carbon Copy is. Carbon? Huh? Like charcoal?

When is the last time anyone used carbon paper anyhow? 1986? Why does MS Outlook still refer to it?

Because in this context it stands for Courtesy Copy. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cc (new window)