Email: The Importance of BCC
Emailing to a forwarded list of addresses and how NOT to do it, and why.
Email Tips & Tricks
BCC = Blind Carbon Copy
Often one receives an email which has been sent to many addressees, and it’s interesting enough to send on to several friends or colleagues. Chances are it will also go to all the people on the original list.
Obviously, that’s not good. But what’s really not good is that sometimes – just sometimes – the list contains a cuckoo’s egg, the address of some nasty out there sending out just his sort of thing in order to harvest emails. In that case, the egg has just collected all of the first set of addresses, all of those you’ve just emailed, and your own. Definitely not good.
Worse, the attachment itself may be a nasty of some description, or the links in the original email may go somewhere undesirable.
Unfortunately, with many email systems, the default foward method is CC (Carbon Copy). Make a habit of not using BCC unless you actually know everyone you’re sending to, and if the email you’re forwarding contains a list of addresses DELETE THAT LIST.
For more information on how to use BCC see the Help File for your mail program – all email programs provide a BCC option.
If you find this message useful or helpful, BCC it to someone who may need to read it!