I know spammers are stupid and this thread isn't really about them, but about mistakes that normal people make but:
I really hate it that I have a .co.uk email address and I'm getting American mortgage spam, or phishing spam saying "Your account was used in Europe". I'M IN EUROPE!! That's the worst bit of social engineering ever.
I don't understand why people get upset when their mom sends them 'Jesus Loves You' or 'Smile It's a wonderful day' emails. Your mom thinks it's cute and she loves you. You can handle a couple stupid emails from her!
None of this stuff bothers me. *shrug* I just delete and move on.
Clara said:
People don't seem to know what it is. I don't know much about it myself, but I do know this one thing that the 87,456 people who like to forward junk mail to me don't:
When you are emailing groups of people who may not already know each other you are supposed to put your own email address in the "to" field and BCC everyone else. You are also supposed to delete all the email addresses from the body of any email you forward. These steps ensure privacy and reduce the amount of additional junk mail people are likely to receive.
Please, if you don't already do this, start. And share your own tips that people seem to often ignore here. I know I could probably learn some things.
If you must send out a mass email, this is what you should do. I will also suggest, though, that you inform the recipients in the first line of the email that you have done so, and the approximate number of recipients.
threejane said:
...inform the recipients in the first line of the email that you have done so, and the approximate number of recipients.
Why?
So that it is easy to identify the "type" of audience that the letter was meant to reach. It's the same concept as getting mail that has a handwritten address, rather than a bulk-mail label. It allows the recipient to know right away whether this message was meant specifically for him, or for some group of people.
Imagine how you would feel if you got a personal-looking email asking how you were doing and what you were up to these days, and informing you of what the sender was up to. If you later found out that it was a template email, BCC'd to 200 names from an address book (with templates for names that were automatically filled in as the email was sent), you would probably feel a bit misled. Maybe not, but many people are and I've always been told that it is cosidered courteous to "describe" the BCC list.
This can prevent some embarrassing situations, for example if an announcement is made to a small group of people (e.g. an engagement) but has not been made known "widely".
Edit: I forgot to mention another thing it prevents: if your circle of friends is forward-happy, and you get a funny forward from someone that is BCC'd, you have no idea whether the sender just sent it to a few people (for example if it is from a family member) or whether it was copied to a huge list of mutual friends. In that case, things can get annoying quickly if a couple recipients decide to BCC the thing to all those mutual friends again.
threejane said:
I forgot to mention another thing it prevents: if your circle of friends is forward-happy, and you get a funny forward from someone that is BCC'd, you have no idea whether the sender just sent it to a few people (for example if it is from a family member) or whether it was copied to a huge list of mutual friends. In that case, things can get annoying quickly if a couple recipients decide to BCC the thing to all those mutual friends again.
I see what you mean, but if you're sending an email to people who already know each other wouldn't it make more sense to avoid using the BCC field? Unless you intend to send it to your friends who know each other and some who don't, I guess.
threejane said:
I forgot to mention another thing it prevents: if your circle of friends is forward-happy, and you get a funny forward from someone that is BCC'd, you have no idea whether the sender just sent it to a few people (for example if it is from a family member) or whether it was copied to a huge list of mutual friends. In that case, things can get annoying quickly if a couple recipients decide to BCC the thing to all those mutual friends again.
I see what you mean, but if you're sending an email to people who already know each other wouldn't it make more sense to avoid using the BCC field? Unless you intend to send it to your friends who know each other and some who don't, I guess.
Yeah, I often get forwards and updates from a friend in L.A. whom I know from another message board. She also has a circle of professional friends (she's a lawyer), friends from an organized group of atheists, and friends from various other internet messageboards. I'm glad she doesn't give my email address out to all of them, but it is also nice to know the scope of emails I get from her.
dem_z
United Kingdom
June 2004
APR 18, 2005 04:49 AM