Using BCC

Here is a scenario that could happen at the WBCCI International Rally. You have a novel idea and share it when you bump into your Region president. He or she loves it and asks you to send out an email to everyone in your unit telling them about your idea.

Seeing yourself as email savvy, you get everyone’s email address from the unit’s secretary, meticulously type them in on the “TO” line while being careful to place a comma between each. A few moments later you complete your message then click on the “Send” button. That is when you notice that people are complaining to you about how you sent them your email.

How dare they complain! After all, email is email and you did exactly what the Region president asked you to do.

Well, maybe the president was expecting you to send the message using a different technique. After all, some people are protective of their contact information and don’t want it shared with the world.

What is a different way to send email? BCC stands for “Blind Carbon Copy.” It is a convenient way to address a message to multiple people without revealing who is receiving that message or their address. This could be important if someone on your list forwards that message to a friend. If that happens, all of the email addresses for your unit are now floating around the Internet and are one step closer to falling into the wrong hands.

Your message doesn’t have to be shared by a careless member before problems surface. There are viruses and spam-bots designed to go through mail files and address books to skim off potential addresses. It is no wonder that your unit members are complaining about your message.

Every major email program has a BCC address field. Place the mailing list addresses on the “BCC” line instead of the “TO” box. When you use the BCC line for addresses the person receiving your message will only see his or her address and not the others. If your email program insists on an address in the “TO” field, place your own there.

Instead of complaining, your unit members will be impressed with your technology skills. You helped keep their email addresses private by using the BCC line and made it harder for spammers to steal addresses. Plus, your message will be smaller and easier to read because unit members will not have to scroll through the long list of people also receiving a copy of your email message.

Please contact a member of the ECC at the International Rally Tech Help booth if you need help with using the BCC feature in your email program.

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Added 27 June 2016 by 3160