Use this: Say it, don't spray it (using the Bcc line)!

"Say it, don't spray it." I've used this little saying before, and it apparently made an impression on some of my readers (who, of course, wrote to tell me about it). But some of you are still not getting the message(including many of MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY). When I wrote that line way back when, I was talking about using the Bcc line to prevent all your e-mail recipients from seeing each others' e-mail addresses. It's not just the courteous thing to do (and I'm nothing if not an e-mail etiquette advocate, though not always the perfect practitioner), it's also quite necessary in these times of

And what IS the Bcc line? You've seen it there, right? Below the Cc line? (It's available in any email program, whether you use Outlook, Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Gmail, Yahoo!...) When you add names of your recipients to the Bcc line instead of the To line, you prevent all those e-mail addresses from being spread all over digital kingdom come. I gave my e-mail address to YOU, not to your sister and her friends and their relatives and college roommates.

Let's review:

When you add someone's e-mail address to the Bcc box, a copy of your message will be sent to him, but his address will not be visible to anyone else receiving the message. And when should you use the Bcc box?

• When you're sending out a mass mailing and you want to protect the e-mail addresses and identities of everyone on that mailing (which should be almost always, especially if you're forwarding or sending on what I mentioned before: jokes, hoaxes, and so on).
• When you don't want someone in the To or Cc box to know that you are including another person in that message (sneaky, but useful in certain circumstances).

 Bcc caveat

Before you use Bcc line, make sure your intended recipient is expecting it. That person may need to take steps to establish you as a safe sender (or a safe recipient, if your name will be in the To line of the Bcc message). See, lots of spammers use the Bcc line to try to wriggle their way out of the junk mail filter (I hear their screams and it fills me with glee), so many junk mail filters automatically flag messages using the Bcc line as junk.

I know that it's hard to know exactly HOW to encourage your email pals to use the Bcc line; telling them that they're endangering all of you and your computers can often be misconstrued as criticism. As I well know, you can lead your friends and family to the Bcc line but you cannot make them use it. How about YOU be the example that they can follow?

"Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy." — William S. Burroughs

— Crabby