Q: How many techies does it take to send an email properly?

Alright so it's a Saturday so I thought what better than to ask a question… How many techies does it take to send an email properly?

The easy answer is 1. But I have learned that would be the wrong answer.

About a month ago, Meetup added the ability for meetup members to send emails to their groups.  It's a great and valuable feature. But it appears that even the part of the Internet that has been around the longest, appears to be the toughest to use. Basically what is happening is that people are replying to the entire group almost every time. And nothing brings out some rage more than bad email form.

On May 1, I sent out a simple note to the group reminding everyone how to send an email, "People please – let's all remember when to reply on-group and when to reply off-group! This seems to be happening a lot on the meetup mailing lists – perhaps Scott can send a mass reminder?"

This did not fix the issue. Users are still mass-replying. And now some users have begun to take a more serious tone with the group.

First we see the following from Vicki, "Can EVERYONE please stop with your banal comments. We are not inteterested in reading hundreds of emails about your woes or thoughts in general. That iis NOT what this list is for. If you want to gripe about your job, go to freaking Craigslist. STOP THE MADNESS……"

Then we see Dan asking for forgiveness, "Sorry, I'm a moron.  Replied to the list… after asking others not to.  Please point me to the firing squad."

Vicki then appears to have to lose it, "If you want to write to someone specically DO NOT, I REPEAT….DO NOT freaking write to the whole list. You really don't even belong on a TECH meet up list if yu can't figure that out…"

So, I am not sure if there is an answer to my question. Just think before you click send on your next group email. Anyway, just a bit of fun on a lazy weekend :)