Better Living through Software

Every couple of months, mayhem erupts on one of the internal mailing lists regarding the use of blind carbon copy (bcc) in e-mails. The process begins like this:

• A long thread with arguable relevance to the majority of list participants begins


• Someone decides that the discussion is not interesting, and replies to the message with the original mailing list on bcc, and a comment like ?bcc’ing list; take this offlist?


• The bcc defeats e-mail filters which look at the ‘to’ field, so that mail which was probably filtered to a sorted folder ends up in the inbox for many people


• Someone gets annoyed by the messages in their inbox, and spams the whole mailing list with an impassioned plea to ?please stop the bcc; it clutters my inbox!?

Invariably, many solutions are proffered which fit the category of ?if everyone in the world behaved exactly like me, these things wouldn’t happen!?

Here are the options:

1. Make everyone stop using bcc to large distribution lists.




• Make a personal appeal. Explain that it’s rude to cut off conversation. Explain that bcc ruins inboxes and complicates lives.


• Show them a better way. Tell them to reply using IRM, or the ?prevent reply all? trick, instead of being rude.


2. Make yourself immune to bcc floods




• Configure your filtering rules properly so that all bcc (and some spam) goes to a ‘junk’ folder




• Rule 1: mail addressed directly to you goes to inbox, stop processing more rules


• Rule 2+: mail addressed to particular addresses, etc. gets filed in appropriate folders, stop processing more rules


• Last Rule: remaining mail goes to ‘junk’ folder

Option ‘2′ is not good if you enjoy getting normal bcc e-mail in your inbox, but it’s your best defense if you’re on a lot of distribution lists.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.