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| Typical habitual forwarder |
Everyone that uses email knows that one person who forwards every joke, picture, political commentary, or slide show to all of their friends daily. The rest of us know that less is more and would like for the forwarder to enjoy a long vacation. I have exactly two friends and the only time I forward something to them is when the message reaches a nuclear level of funniness, insightfulness, weirdness or interestingness. So how do you know if you are a forwarder? If you have to ask yourself, “Am I a forwarder?”, then yes, you are.
Next to Forwarders, people who don’t know how to “Bcc” irritate those of us who do. You know those emails you get that have dozens or even hundreds of email addresses listed in “Recipients”? That is bad. Very bad. Many of us may not want our email address going out to people we don’t know - especially if it is a politically charged message. Not all of us agree with what you are forwarding and don’t want our names being listed in the long list of recipients.
To alleviate this, use the Bcc option when forwarding a funny. Bcc means “Blind Carbon Copy.” When you type names into the Bcc field (instead of the standard “to” field) the recipients cannot see who else the mail was sent to.
When you forward a good one, clean it up a little, will ya? When I receive a chain mail that has been
forwarded over and over, it usually has the “header” information included (including subject line, email addresses and previous comments) that force the reader to scroll down and down and down until we get to the meat of the message. Not cool! Please clean the message up before sending. We will love you for it.
BE CAREFUL when you hit the “Reply” button and make sure you don’t hit the “Reply All” button for sensitive emails. I recently read a story of a woman who was in torment over a busted romance. She wrote a lengthy, detailed reply to a girlfriend, adding that her ex-boyfriend preferred men to women (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But instead of hitting Reply to a previous message from her girlfriend, she hit Reply All. Her secret was sent to dozens of people she didn't even know, plus the aforementioned ex and his new boyfriend.
Next to Forwarders, people who don’t know how to “Bcc” irritate those of us who do. You know those emails you get that have dozens or even hundreds of email addresses listed in “Recipients”? That is bad. Very bad. Many of us may not want our email address going out to people we don’t know - especially if it is a politically charged message. Not all of us agree with what you are forwarding and don’t want our names being listed in the long list of recipients.
To alleviate this, use the Bcc option when forwarding a funny. Bcc means “Blind Carbon Copy.” When you type names into the Bcc field (instead of the standard “to” field) the recipients cannot see who else the mail was sent to.
When you forward a good one, clean it up a little, will ya? When I receive a chain mail that has been
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| Faux Pas! Faux Pas! |
BE CAREFUL when you hit the “Reply” button and make sure you don’t hit the “Reply All” button for sensitive emails. I recently read a story of a woman who was in torment over a busted romance. She wrote a lengthy, detailed reply to a girlfriend, adding that her ex-boyfriend preferred men to women (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But instead of hitting Reply to a previous message from her girlfriend, she hit Reply All. Her secret was sent to dozens of people she didn't even know, plus the aforementioned ex and his new boyfriend.
There are some things you just don't do via email. Breaking up with a girlfriend/boyfriend, firing an employee, apologies and cuss-outs should all be done face-to-face or over the phone. While we’re at it (and this is a very hard one for me) try your best to wait 24 hours before clicking “send” on an angry or reprimanding email. Yeah, I know, easier said than done but how many of you have sent something you wish you hadn’t? A cool down period might have alleviated that stress.
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