Devoted to small businesses and those who run them

Yesterday, I received an email sent to 80 or so people. The email address for each of the 80 people was clearly shown in the recipient field. 

As the sender had dealt with all of us before, I don't think it was intended as spam. Perhap he was not aware of how to send a blind carbon copy email, or of email etiquette.

In any case, it was a costly oversight, in terms of the damage it did to his business and goodwill. 

It very quickly caused an angry reaction with numerous virulent responses. Bemused and irate individuals hit the Reply All button. The main complaint was, and rightly so, they didn't want to share their private email address with 79 other strangers.

This only served to worsen the situation as the original email, along with their added retort or complaint, was again sent to all 80 people, causing even further outcry and more emails...a vicious email circle.

One calm voice suggested she would contact the original sender directly, which is what anyone who wanted to respond should have done in the first place. 

The original sender was unprofessional, and perhaps uninformed, in not sending a blind carbon copy email. The respondents were unprofessional and inconsiderate, just hitting Reply All and not contacting the owner directly. None observed basic email etiquette.

Reply: Replies to the original sender
Reply All: Replies to everyone the email was originally sent to
BCC: Blind Carbon Copy - Sends to an individual or group, whose names and email addresses remain unseen by other recipients

There is a lesson here for how something as simple as email can make you look unprofessional. It can also cause ill will and damage to your credibility and your business. Email etiquette applies to both the sender or the recipient.