I recently received a mass email to my yahoo account about a certain lady's availability.  Problem was, so did a few hundred other guys and we were all there to see in the cc: While most seemed to use fake or no names at all, quite a few had their real names as part of, or preceeding the addy.  Yikes!!!  Lucky for me I didn't - whew! - but I bet there are a lot of guys sweating bullets right now.    

I will NOT identify the lady, as I have sent her a private email; I don't want to destroy her livelihood and I believe she will never repeat this mistake.

And guys: you can set up a yahoo account and don't have to have your name appear, so please be cautious, review what you use for your hobbying pursuits and make sure you are completely anonymous.

-- Modified on 2/26/2009 6:35:45 AM

Please learn to us?

This post should go on EVERY board here on TER.
I've gotten a couple of those emails and cringed the same way.

e-mail... I wish this problem was limited to providers... sadly it is not...

A few years ago - one of the DuPonts started an intellctual property exchange web service.  Everyone could join, and everyone was told that 1) their membership was in the strictest confidence 2) no one would know what they were looking for and 3) until there was significant interest, the interested buyer of a technology would not be revealed to the holder of the invention.  This was all done so that no one could ascertain R&D programs in other companies and where they may be defficient with respect to technology.

The company was called "yet 2 come"

A short time after the company was launched... someone in the company put out an e-mail to ALL the subscribers... revealing who was looking for technology... thereafter, membership dropped...

and a colleague of mine offered that the comopany really should not be named "soon 2 go"

I just received what I consider to be a nasty and sarcastic response from the lady in question.  I wasn't looking for a major mea culpa, but at least a sincere acknowledgment of how potentially harmful it could be and some sort of apology.  Anyway, here is what I wrote followed by her reply.  I'm looking for straight feedback, so if you think I was condescending let me have it.

FROM ME:
"Subject: Please learn to use bcc

bcc = blind carbon copy, meaning no one can see who else you sent this email to.  The way you sent it everybody's email address is visible to everybody else on the list and it looks like quite a few use their real names.  Yikes!  You may want to consider an apology, and make sure that any more mass mailings are sent bcc only.  I'm not familiar with gmail, but most mail programs have the option for bcc.  Even when sending to a select group, or folks who have asked to get mailings from you, you should always use bcc, because nobody on our side of the business ever wants their email - or worse their real name - to ever be seen by anyone else."

HER REPLY:
"yeah i know how to use my email, sorry this mere mortal has just made an honest copy/paste mistake... im sure a deity such as yourself has never done anything by mistake before.... i bow before you..."

I also received the same mass mailing email and replied to her to use bbc in the future.  I was shocked to find out her name list is in the hundreds. I didn't publicize my email address in any board and don't recall ever contacting this lady by email, so I wonder how she got my address.  Is she able to get the email addresses by being a member of some boards?

hence - the e-mail that I use for the hobby is under a fictitious name... and if anyone is a fan of TV shows, they should recognize the name... I set that account up for another purpose, but use it for the hobby....

This is good to know, as several providers have the "hobby e-mail addy"  

wow... learn something every day.  Glad I did that, not even knowing it would be important.

and no, I don't think you were being condescending... an appropriate response from her would have been:

Dear YOUR NAME HERE.

Thanks for informing me of the error on my part.  It is appreciated.  You should know that when I went to send this out, I accidentally copied the mailing list into the cc section instead of the bcc section.  As you may know, I've not done that in the past, and am working to ensure that it does not happen ever in the future.

I would sincerely appreciate it if you delete any and all copies of that e-mail as I am asking every one to so do.

I also hope that this will not adversly affect our relationship as I wish to continue to offer the best, most satisfying and confidential service possible.

Sincerely,

ms... XXX

Wouldn't that make you WANT to see her again?  the way she worded it, even if she were Jenna J, and Christy Canyon and Eliza Druska combined I wouldn't see her.