20% off all products!   Sale ends tonight at midnight EST.

Return to Main Discussion Page
Discussion Quote Icon

Discussion

Main Menu | Search Discussions

Search Discussions
 
 

Abbie Shores

12 Years Ago

Bcc And Cc Emails

I love getting emails from people, even the soppy poetry ones BUT, please, please, please, PLEASE stop using the To or CC to send all these emails to your contacts. I am really fed up with it and you are endangering both my privacy AND my computer

When you send an email using TO or CC, it is open and, anyone receiving that email, can view every single email address you are sending that message to.

That means that total strangers to me, have my email. They, in turn, then send that email to several other people and now, total strangers to you also, have my email, AND YOURS

Many spam email harvesters get emails this way to send viruses and spam to. So it could be YOUR fault I am getting that latest message from Nigeria!

So, NEVER send emails to many people using TO or CC

On your email webpage, or programme, you also have a setting BCC, situated just under the CC line.

This works exactly like To and CC but it hides the email addresses. Yes, it hides them and that means NOBODY else can see your friends and my email address!

Be Careful & Considerate !!

Instead of clicking CC, click BCC.

------------

Best way to send emails on to mass addresses.

In your email address book, make a fake email account, or make yourself another email account to send things to when mass mailing.

When you get an email you want to send to loads of people, in the TO line, put the fake or specially made email address.
In the BCC line add all the other email addresses you want to send the email to
Press send

So easy. So safe.

Be Careful & Considerate !!


Reply Order

Post Reply
 

Tezz J

12 Years Ago

I hate circulation list emails.......it is dangerous as you say Beth.....but it's also like someone sending you a photocopy letter which they've sent to everyone else......rather not receive it, thank you very much.......

I had a friend the other day sent me a circulation email to say her inbox had been hacked into and not to reply to anything that didn't sound like her.

A few days later she sent her new email address.....................by circulation email....................

 

Abbie Shores

11 Years Ago

old post... reminder

 

Georgiana Romanovna

11 Years Ago

Good reminder. No one has a right to hand out email addresses to whom ever they wish. It is such bad netiquette!

 

Abbie Shores

11 Years Ago

Absolutely!

 

Loretta Luglio

11 Years Ago

Aside from all the above, it makes the email very unprofessional looking. I do several newsletter and in the TO area send it to the organization or owner (me) and the distribution list goes in the BCC area.

People just don't think. Another problem I have are folks asking me for my email list of names. This is available to them but they are too lazy to look up and create their own.

It is a real invasion of privacy.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

I am rebumping this as I am starting to get emails from people to vote for them in the contest. These are coming to my personal email accounts which I am not happy with as I have NOT signed up for these. EVEN WORSE I am being CC'd on the things

USE BCC NOT TO or CC. I cannot stress this enough!

BCC

Be Careful & Considerate !!

 

Regina Valluzzi

10 Years Ago

If you must send circulation emails, look into a secure free service like "Mail Chimp". The BCC feature can be hacked pretty easily.

 

Andee Design

10 Years Ago

Why is CC even an still option? That should be removed from all emails as even an option, and

only should BCC with an email to self at the recipient be the way to send multiples I hardly ever

send multi emails very rare if I do and only to family and really old family friends.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

Cc is a business attachment if you like. We always used it when I was a secretary. I use it even now on legal letters to councils, lawyers, or financial papers.

You add a Cc to whoever and add at the bottom of the mail

CC'd Name Of Person Here

So Cc is used still.

Mail Chimp is okay but, these are normal people sending to family and friends and they just use their email programme or site. BCC is still better than nothing but yes, if sending real newsletters etc from your desk, use a programme like that definitely

 

Regina Valluzzi

10 Years Ago

CC = "carbon copy"
BCC = "blind carbon copy"

I get that "normal people" want to just use their email. But sending distribution emails around to a big circulation list full of people who are not acquainted with one another walks the fine line on "normal" email use. The standard programs really aren't intended for this.


You can do a standard text, non HTML, just type it in, email in Mail Chimp (and there are others, some tailor made to be normal email friendly). The added features? People on your distribution list can unsubscribe with a click - no need to ask the spammer ... errrr mailer .... and hope they dig through the CC or BCC and follow through.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

I am trying to say, badly, that 99% of the emails I get are people just sending to their family and friends. We cannot get them to use MailChimp or similar. They just would not do it even if they could understand it. It is hard enough to explain to them where BCC is on the email but I keep trying as that is the lesser of the two evils

 

Regina Valluzzi

10 Years Ago

OK, I get your point. Maybe a tutorial on how to find the BCC feature? Some of the email handlers hide BCC and you have to go into tools or options to get it to show. Not so easy for family members (my family also have varied levels of computer skill)

Do you really get a unique google when you plug in Abbie Shores art?

 

John Ayo

10 Years Ago

IIRC, Roger Ebert wrote an article offering similar advice back in the 90s.

 

Abbie Shores

10 Years Ago

I am Beth. I changed my name...there is a thread somewhere

 

Abbie Shores

8 Years Ago

Bump

 

David Bridburg

8 Years Ago

Very timely advice, thank you....BCC

 

Robert Kernodle

8 Years Ago

Good to know, for sure. Thanks.

 

Abbie Shores

7 Years Ago

Just a reminder

 

Frank J Casella

7 Years Ago

Thank you Abbie. Great reminder, I do it all the time. It's important to note that any addresses you put into BCC should be included in your address book, otherwise the coding in the email programs might view it as spam.

 

Abbie Shores

7 Years Ago

I did not know that. But I have everything added to my contacts as soon as I start writing to people

 

Frank J Casella

7 Years Ago

Yes, I have also noticed that most email providers have a limit on the number of addresses into BCC. The average is 100 addresses or it won't send. The reason they say they do this, is because if you get over that number you should be using an email marketing program.

 

Roy Erickson

7 Years Ago

Outlook doesn't have BCC. If you are using Mozilla Thunderbird - there is a drop down where the "to" is and you can choose the BCC. (I would presume that FireFox is the same)

 

Joy McKenzie

7 Years Ago

The practice of sending "gang" emails is a huge pet peeve with me. I actually lost a friend from high school because she couldn't understand that I didn't want 45 strangers to know my email address. I told her with great delicacy that I loved hearing from her...but didn't want my email address on blast. She couldn't see what she was doing was inconsiderate, took it personally, and never emailed me again.

If you've worked in any capacity that deals with the Web, you already know this. Sending gang emails (not family emails or those between a few friends) is actually extremely rude. To me, at this point in time, only a very inexperienced person (as far as email) would do this....perhaps someone who emails the annual Christmas letter, and little else.

I use the BCC, but very infrequently. But it's there if needed.

 

Abbie Shores

7 Years Ago

Outlook does have BCC

Click on CC and a box opens for you to choose the address of a contact

At the bottom, see BCC

 

Abbie Shores

7 Years Ago

Let's pop this back up now the spammers been sent on his merry way

 

Loretta Luglio

7 Years Ago

Good advice. When I managed a community website a few years ago I tried to impress that recipients should always be placed under Bcc. Spammers look for the To: and Cc: field with multiple names. Also the reply all button doesn't go to Bcc thankfully, Some caught on but others still use the To: and Cc fields to this day ... oh well

 

Joseph Westrupp

7 Years Ago

Wow, Joy, my knee-jerk response is good riddance.



Joseph Westrupp, bestilled.com

 

Chuck De La Rosa

7 Years Ago

Where I see this abused the most is well intentioned, but seldom researched "scaremail", in which a virus warning or similar is shared among as many as possible. Almost always these are hoaxes which makes it all the more annoying. After a bit of quick research I used to do "reply-to-all" to a family member who sent these out, showing it was a hoax. After 2 or 3 of those she took me off her email list!

 

Frank J Casella

7 Years Ago

I hear you Joy! About a decade back we had some friends who kept sending us chain emails. Some of them we would forward. We found over time that some of the people it was forwarded to would add us to their chain emails. Our inbox became a mess of chain emails, so we told our friends that we would no longer participate. Most of them took it the wrong way and left us. When things got quiet again we realized how stressful the content of those emails was to our marriage.

One thing that is commonly known today is to have at least two email addresses. One private for a select group of people who you know and trust. The other for public and general family use. I also use a third address for our newsletter subscriptions and utility providers accounts.

 

Greg Jackson

7 Years Ago

BCC: I thought that was Blind Carbon Copy, but the Be Careful & Considerate is much more definitive. :)

 

Jane McIlroy

7 Years Ago

@Chuck - that's exactly what I had to do a while ago - it worked for me too!

 

Abbie Shores

7 Years Ago

Yes Greg. Need something people may remember. Not many people know how what a carbon copy even is.

 

Greg Jackson

7 Years Ago

"...Not many people know what a carbon copy even is."

Good point, Abbie. :)

 

Richard Reeve

7 Years Ago

At work the usual rule of thumb is send an email "to" the people that you want a direct response from, "cc" those who should be informed but who should not be rate-limiting on the information being discussed, and "bcc" only if you need to "cover your ass" and don't want others to know who else has been forwarded the information (I hate it).

HOWEVER, in the case of communicating with lots of people in a less controlled environment (aka. the wild web) your use of the BCC makes 100% absolute perfect sense. One alternative though is to use a closed email system, such as FAAs own email communication or perhaps a mail service like constant contact if you do this regularly.

Either way, I like the "Be Careful and Considerate" moniker, Abbie!

 

Abbie Shores

6 Years Ago

Bumping up as I've just had another

 

Shelli Fitzpatrick

6 Years Ago

Thanks for this post! I don't send group emails myself but I do get them from others sometimes. The only thing I hate worse than that is group text messages because they work just like that giving out your phone number to whoever is in the group.

 

Marlene Burns

6 Years Ago

I especially appreciate when I'm on a list and someone hits the
'reply to all'

NOT

 

Lois Bryan

6 Years Ago

agreeeeeee!!!!!

 

Mary Bedy

6 Years Ago

I have a freind who was texting a bunch of people at once and if they are not in your contact list, it just comes through as a phone number. I told her to STOP, all of a sudden about 20 people I don't know have my phone number now. That's not as bad as the email thing, but I wish people would think before they send.

When I have to send a work email to a bunch of people who are working on a project for me and I need to notify them of something, I send the email to myself and BCC everybody else because it's none of their business who else is working on the same material (at least in my line of work).

 

Travel Pics

6 Years Ago

The worse thing is when everyone replies to everyone on the CC list and you get flooded with stuff you really don't care about from who knows who.

◕‿◕

Michel
https://photos.travelnotes.org/

 

Peggy Collins

6 Years Ago

It is a terrible thing to do to a person and it should be punishable by having their computer/laptop/phone taken away from them and given to someone who knows how to use these things properly.

 

This discussion is closed.