Using BCC is one of the little things that I think should be beaten into everyone who forwards all of the chain/JUNK/funny/JUNK/pass-this-on-for-good-luck/JUNK/I-did-not-think-enough-of-you-that-I-am-going-to-forward-this-to-you-and-fill-up-your-inbox-because-you-just-are-not-clever-enough-to-find-funny-heartwarming-scare-you-websites-on-you-own/JUNK, I am never going to read because I automatically filter to delete anything that is forwarded more than twice email.  Whew, that was a mouth full!  And to people who do have something good or important to say and send out to a lot of people, but may not know that it is bad form to send the email addresses to all the other recipients.  I may not always be the most polite person, but I do respect your privacy so the content below is about that.  As I find good enough content about "Netiquette", (on line etiquette like not typing in ALL CAPS which is considered as yelling) like above, I will post that as well. The content below on this page was 'borrowed' without permission from the page linked here, just hoping to spread the word!  I post it here because I am never sure of content on other sites and wanted to make sure this was available.   The site it comes from does not seem to be updated often but the advise given here is excellent and is the number one listing in Google about using BCC, so he must get a fair amount of traffic.   Use BCC

Use BCC field when addressing mass mail

PLEASE READ and become a better E-mail user. This information is intended not only to make you a neater "E-mailer" but one that is more considerate and more thoughtful. Your friends will be thankful!.

Would you write your friends' phone numbers on the walls of public places? I didn't think so. Then why would you share their private E-mail addresses with a group of strangers when you know that many of whom will CARELESSLY forward the same addresses to even more strangers? DON'T DO IT! Instead, use your E-mail program'S BCC feature.

BCC means Blind Carbon Copy. It provides a way of addressing messages to more than one person so that everyone's address is not displayed for all to see. ALL email programs, including the web-based email services, allow you to address messages using BCC. In other words you can "BCC" one or more recipients when sending a message. Some require that you provide at least one address in the TO: field before sending. If this is the case with your email client (program, application), place YOUR OWN email address in the TO: field. Keep your recipients' addresses in the BCC field.

WHY:

  • Using BCC protects your recipients' private email addresses from being spread to strangers (from being released into the public domain.)
  • Using BCC helps prevent SPAM.
  • When using BCC, messages are easier on your readers because the messages contain less text to sift through. The cleaner the message, the easier it is to read.
  • Because the messages contain less text, they're smaller and require less bandwidth. They will download faster.
  • Using BCC shows your consideration of others by not publishing hundreds of your contacts to strangers (and potentially, SPAMMERS or maybe even stalkers.)

HOW:

  • In most email clients, the BCC field is very apparent and obvious. While in a new message in AOL's web mail, click BCC. In Gmail and Yahoo Mail!, click add BCC. In Hotmail, click Show Cc & Bcc.
  • In Outlook and Outlook express, it's not so obvious but turning it on is a one-time event.
  • To activate the BCC field in Outlook Express, create a new message and choose View, All Headers.
  • To activate the BCC field in MS-Outlook, create a new message and choose View, BCC.
  • Lotus Notes - the BCC field is right there. Nothing to "turn on", no hoops to jump through, just use it!

Am I missing anything important?

Your comments are always appreciated.

Related Links

Actual Stories (yeah, right!):

Resources/The Truth - (there's help out there; SEEK IT.)

sites linking to this page