American diplomats experienced a little commotion last January because some diplomats hit the reply-to-all button upon sending their emails. According to the reports, a blank email was sent to the addresses of people in the department global address list and some diplomats replied to this email hitting the reply-to-all button with a large distribution list. The emails of some diplomats reached thousands of people. This case is one example of a serious danger the reply-to-all email can create if not used properly.
Disadvantages of “reply-to-all” email
The reply-to-all email has lots of drawbacks. For one, when you use the reply-to-all email, you are increasing the number of unnecessary emails that other people receive. A reply-to-all email also facilitates the easy and fast proliferation of malware and spyware. If you often make use of the reply-to-all in sending your emails, you can unwittingly spread malware, spyware, and other undesirable software.
By using this means of sending email, you can expose other private data to other recipients. Your message may also look a bit messy because of the addresses that appear in your email if you opt to send your message through the reply-to-all email. Because the addresses of the recipients appear in your email, this means you will be giving away the addresses of others without their consent. When you use the reple-to-all email, you can also expect to receive a bulk of unwanted messages from various people.
Other alternative
If you want to reply to a person, better use the BCC. In this way, you will only be sending your message to a specific person. You don’t have to worry even if your message is controversial because no one will be able to read it except the person you intended to read your message.