Cartoon – Email Dangers Of Hitting “Reply To All” Without Thinking
April 3, 2008 by Yvonne Russell
We’re talking productivity at Home Biz Notes this month.
How many times have you had irrelevant emails clog up your inbox because senders were too quick to hit the Reply To All button instead of just Reply on a group email?
I’m working hard on taming my emails, so I can really identify with the cartoon below. One ill considered round of “Reply To All” emails is all it takes to undo my good work.

Cartoon Credit: http://www.itsngenius.net
My Thoughts?
It takes just a moment more to Reply to a specific person on a group email, but it saves everyone a lot of time.
Your Thoughts?
What are your tips for taming email overload?
© Image courtesy of Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business



I really don’t understand using reply to all. There are a few incidents where I want to include everyone, but that’s very rare. I often get e-mails from my church for someone looking for a substitute. If I can do it, I’ll reply to the person. In fact, we’ve gotten several e-mails with quarterly schedules requesting we do not reply to all. Yet, it happens time and time again. Is it laziness on the replier’s part or do they think that they are helping by letting everyone on the list know they’ve volunteered. We usually get a follow-up e-mail when the sub is found.
Hi Debbie
I agree it’s laziness or at the very least, not thinking before hitting the Reply To All button… certainly not good for productivity, if everyone has to read irrelevant emails not specificlly meant for them.
Sometimes Reply To All can be useful if everyone really needs to know.