Is there a reason the CC list isn't included on AQ messages?

AQ mail wasn't meant to be a full-fledged e-mailing system. Just a place people could swap notes without having to divulge their private e-mail addresses.

As for CC lists, AQ doesn't keep track of that sort of information. If you send a message to multiple people, each person gets an individual message. There's not really any connection between them once it hits the inbox. Not that I couldn't set it up that way, but I haven't.

On a more personal note, I've never much cared for the CC option in my real e-mail account. On the whole, I don't like someone being able to send my e-mail address out publicly for everyone else to see. So it's partly due to my personal preferences. =)

On a technical note, I kind of try to discourage AQ mail 'excesses.' The database is over 400 megabytes in size now and a large part of that is AQ mail (about 78 megabytes as of today). One of my biggest fears about AQ is out-of-control growth of the database and managing it. I'm not very experienced working with and maintaining large databases, so I've been inclined to let people find off-AQ methods of handing mass communications. Do you know that over one million pieces of AQ mail have been sent so far?! It's a worrisome thing for me, trying to manage so much mail with such a small budget. It's the same reason I haven't made the AQ mail searchable--the index would probably add another 40 megabytes to the database, which would grow with every additional message.

So there you go. =)

-- Ryan

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I've never much cared for the CC option in my real e-mail account. On the whole, I don't like someone being able to send my e-mail address out publicly for everyone else to see. So it's partly due to my personal preferences. =)

I feel exactly the same way. Thanks for providing a more secure way to help us to communicate.

Question: Is there a good reason why the CC option is the default option instead of the Bcc option? You would not believe how many people I know that don't even know that Bcc exists, and when told about it, can't figure out how to send mail that way. Unreal.

Mama Cache

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On a technical note, I kind of try to discourage AQ mail 'excesses.'

To Do List: Remove Unneccesarily Archived Mail

I'm on it.

~Mama Cache

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I've never much cared for the CC option in my real e-mail account. On the whole, I don't like someone being able to send my e-mail address out publicly for everyone else to see. So it's partly due to my personal preferences. =)

I once received an e-mail from a financial institution - "To Our Customers" with some inane announcement that cc'd their actual customer list. Just put it right out there for public review.

I rather quickly let them know about the proper use of BCC and became a non-customer of that particular institution.

Is there a good reason why the CC option is the default option instead of the Bcc option?

I suspect the BCC was only added on as an option after people started grumbling about the CC option. =) I can image the scene, late at night, with a few techie people sitting around drinking beers and one of them saying, "Yeah, and that s.o.b. mailed out my e-mail address to 32,000 people!"

"Hey, dude!" another one says, "Maybe we should provide an option to let people hide the e-mail addresses?"

"Woah...."

Okay, maybe it didn't go quite like that. But I think the main reason is just the CC came before the BCC. I don't use CC very often--and the last time I used it was purely by accident. I meant to BCC the message! =)

-- Ryan

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I don't use CC very often--and the last time I used it was purely by accident. I meant to BCC the message

We all know the only point of CC is for people in an office to be able to say "I told your boss too so you better do it". There is no other reason for it.

We all know the only point of CC is for people in an office to be able to say "I told your boss too so you better do it". There is no other reason for it.

I hate people like that. There is one *#&$^* little person in my office that CC's everyone just trying to make trouble.

I was a high school chemistry teacher for a while, and would start the year off with some controlled combustion demonstrations (nice way of saying big explosions) to, ahem, get the students attention and get them interested in the upcoming year. (Before anybody flames me (ho, ho), these demonstrations involved no students, were behind blast shields, were all well tested beforehand, lots of disclaimers of not to try this at home as I had equipment and training that they did not, had a fire extinguisher handy, etc. Never had a problem. Anyway...) So this one kid went home and had his mom help him light the spray from a hairspray, and told her this was just like what I did in class. NOT! So she e-mailed me, quite happily, saying how much he enjoyed my demonstrations and how he had done his own version. Well, I e-mailed her back, very politely, explaining that I had done nothing as dangerous as lighting the spray from an aerosol can, explained all the stuff in parenthesis above, and CC'ed the science department chair, the kid's guidance counselor, and the dean of students. Mind you, I did that after talking to the dean and guidance counselor, and learning that the student had a history, shall we say. That is one time I was very thankful for the CC option -- I needed the student (and parent) to know exactly who was part of the reply, so that I couldn't be blamed by them for their future misdeeds.
- Sitzmak

The only time I cc someone (working in the corporate world) is when I have already asked for something before or know the person will ignore ME but won't if someone "more important" knows about it. I hate to do it but will only do it if I need to.

I hate it when someone wants to send out something to a huge list of personal friends and have all of our emails there to see.

I always put all emails in BCC and send it to myself for the official To: person.

KuKu

Well, when I compliment someone, or forward a compliment I've received about them, I make sure to cc their boss. It's not ALWAYS a negative thing!

DebBee

I concur on that. There's a lady I work with who likes to CC bosses to make people look bad. But I also know people here who CC bosses so that things that need to get done WILL get done for a change. Telling on someone isn't always bad when they need encouragement to get their act together.

ClioMouse

Makes sense. I figured there was a reason, and that it probably had to do with information load. Still, there are some instances where it would be mighty nice. People just need to remember when you DO want everybody to know who's in on communication to include the list in the body of the message...

I know what you mean, also, on having names in CC lists. I had NEVER associated my old Hotmail e-mail with my personal name, everything was ALWAYS "ClioMouse." Then friends put me in their address books, and my personal name was listed along with my e-mail address for all of those oh-so-fun mass mailings. Suddenly, I start getting tons of junk mail with my name in the subject line. Not only do I not like the visible CC list, I don't even like address books. I tell my friends that if they're going to use them, at least don't put me in it! I'd rather they not e-mail me as have me in their address book.

So I guess fair enough...

ClioMouse

"To Do List: Remove Unneccesarily Archived Mail

I'm on it."


Yeah, I'm on it too. :)

The other reason to use CC at work is if you have one of those micro-manager bosses that asks you every 5 seconds if you've done this or that. CC'ing them on everything is an easy way to let them know what you're doing, and makes them feel like they're "in the loop".

Mariette
(has had bosses that I had a loop I'd like to put their head through ;)