e-mail reply question
 

One might think that after 16+ years of using e-mail, that I would know the definitive answer to this !

We received an e-mail from friends today, husband and wife with their own e-mail addresses. The husband wrote it and C.C.'d. the wife.

Neither ours, nor any other addessees, were visible, tho' we suspected that we were just one of many of their circle of friends, clearly ours, and the other addressees, had been sent as B.C.C.'s. So far so good, no contest.

In wanting to reply, Mrs.ExS was undecided whether to "Repy" or "Reply All". She wanted to include the wife's address in the reply, so "Reply All" seemed the way to go, but she was concerned that this might also send it to all the B.C.C.'s ??

I initially thought not, but then could not be so sure. Was my first instinct correct ?

In the end I suggested that she "Reply to" then physically add the wife's address as a C.C. of her own, that way we know for sure that only the husband and wife would receive it.

Maybe different e-mail programmes/clients treat this in a different way, I use Outlook and Mrs. ExS. a variation of Yahoo! dictated to us by an arrangement with a local ISP ie. we don't use a Yahoo! address, but it is handled via Yahoo!

Side issue ... I find that when I send a lot of B.C.C. addresses, that list does not appear when I look at my "sent mail", so a week later I can't remember to whom I sent it ! Is there any answer to that ?

Thanx.

It depends a little on what mail client you use. I've not used Outlook for about 15 years: the latest version may be more competent than the last one I used.

"Reply All" won't include the bcc addressees since their addresses aren't included in the copy you received. Your mail client won't know who they are.
Reply All should include the originator and any To: and Cc: addressees in the original.

I use Thunderbird: all the "sent mail" copies include the full list of bcc addressees so I know who I've sent to.

Good idea to be cautious. Some years ago my son got it badly wrong, using a boarding school computer whilst attempting to pass on a cancer charity appeal letter to his chums around the world. He managed to clog up and bring down the local education authority's network with "spam", before the word was coined in that sense. Somehow his email was going around and around to everyone on the network.

He got banned from using any school computer for the rest of the term, which was a nightmare because he couldn't do his school work. :p

ExSp33db1rd,

It is IMPOSSIBLE to send to BCC addresses, because the BCC addresses are used by the sender's email server to send the mails individually. You will NEVER receive an email with a list of all the BCCs the sender sent to.

The BCC addresses ARE NOT passed to the recipients. The sender's server removes the BCC header.

The RFC standards explicitly state this :

Thanks, nice to know that ones' first instinct was correct.

Keef .. I moved to Thunderbird after some earlier suggestion of yours, and can't now remember why I switched to Outlook, but something to do with a suggestion from My Man Wot Does following some problem. The ability to review ones' earlier BCC's may re-influence me.