Funny Stuff is all around

photo credit: David Boyle in DC

You were probably sent here by a friend or loved one. Also, chances are you recently included said friend in a mass email sent to many people. This friend would like you to learn the proper technique for sending these types of messages.

First, the golden rule of sending an email to more than, say, 15 people at one time.

Now, if you must, here’s how you can do it and still maintain the friendship and respect of the one who sent you here:

After you have selected the throngs of names to which you’ll be forwarding the video of the cat playing Chopsticks, you’ll probably have a very long list of names in the ‘To’ field of your email program. Complete the following steps:

• Using your mouse, hightlight all of the names and email addresses appearing in the ‘To’ field.
• Right-click (or Ctrl+click, if you’re using a Mac) on the list of names and email addresses, choose ‘Cut’ from the menu that appears.
• Right-click (or Ctrl+click) on the empty field next to the letters ‘BCC’ (case may vary), choose ‘Paste’.
• Commence sending your message

When you send an email to somebody using the BCC field, none of the other recipients know who else received it. The idea is that everybody on the list isn’t privy to the email address of everybody else on the list. For people who enjoy sending emails like the ones we’re talking about, they also love to receive them. And whenever they get a fresh new crop of email addresses (whether they actually know the owner or not), they’re all too happy to add them to the list of recipients for their next Dog in a Cute Sweater message.

For more information on the BCC field, read this.

So, do your friend a solid - use BCC from now on.