Hiding email addresses in group messages

[gaillardia]

I'm really curious about others' opinions on this topic.

 

Quite a few times this past year I have registered on websites to receive information I requested.

Twice when I have received emails from business websites (real estate and college) many, many other addresses and names were visible to me, as well as my own. By many, I mean more than 100.

 

Do you think this is unprofessional?

 

Both times I have emailed a response stating my disappointment in their disregard showing others' email addresses and names.

 

The one time the response was business-like and cordial enough and I was referred to the next higher up authority who spoke with me.

The other time, I received a curt response on my "belligerence" and was told that "the team makes mistakes, have a nice day." No apology, no "we're fixing it."

 

Do you know how to hide email addresses when making a group email? I do and I don't even hold down a job in an office.

 

Or are you one of those people who doesn't care if strangers have your email address and name?

 

 

[skimomma]

It is unprofessional and I would also be irritated.  Our (very small) public library did this once and I complained.  They were confused about my complaint but eventually figured out why it was not cool and how to fix it.  If a business or institute of higher learning did it, I would be livid.  I would likely ask to be taken off all of their lists indefinitely.  Even my 12 yo knows how to prevent this.

[MercyA]

It's extremely unprofessional for businesses and others sending mass emails to not use bcc. You're not alone; it's a pet peeve of mine.

[marbel]

I consider it very unprofessional. Every email program I've seen has a way to do bcc and it has never seemed difficult to figure out. (I did probably "learn" about it while working. But I've taught my kids how and when to use it.)

 

So yeah, it annoys me too. I do care about having my email address exposed like that. A response like the one you received would make me pretty angry to the point that if I could, I'd take steps to stop getting mail from them.

[gaillardia]

Yes, I requested they remove me from their mailing lists. Unsubscribe wasn't even an option.

I was livid the first time and was treated respectfully.

 

The second time I was annoyed and surprised and was treated disrespectfully.

Thanks for your responses, ladies.

I'm just really surprised people don't think of hiding the addresses.

 

[Laurie4b]

I thought your question was going to be about group emails from individuals. And I am strongly of the opinion that unless the members of the group want and need each others' email addresses and have given consent, that group emails should be blind-copied for 2 reasons: 1) people deserve privacy and their emails should be protected from general distribution and 2) some people can't tell the difference apparently between "reply to all" and "reply" and one's inbox can get filled up with multiple irrelevant messages. 

 

As for a business when they do it, yes, it's unprofessional! The parents' mailing list from ds's university had this happen once and the university was all kinds of embarrassed about it and fixed it as soon as possible and sent out an apology. Mistakes can happen, but they should be addressed. 

[Guest]

We hide the addresses even at our CHURCH and we all know and like each other (mostly--we are also human!).  It' just good manners.  It prevents the dreaded "reply all" email storm.  

20  years ago I worked at a large software company.  Even there, people didn't "get" the reply-all ettiquette, and so when people wanted to get removed from group aliases, they would "reply all" so *everyone* would get that mail, and then half of THOSE people would reply-all, saying, "Yeah, take me off too..."  One day it got so bad it actually shut down the email system.  Duh.  

 

And these were supposed to be smart people.