This morning I got an email newsletter from an Adventure Race group. (I did one race in 2006).
Then I got a follow up from another mailing list person asking to change their email address. Then another. Then another. Then ten more.
They'd forgotten to use the BCC field instead of CC. Oops.
People were complaining, people were unsubscribing, people where not happy. I unsubscribed. I didn't really want it anyway but it made me feel like I was more Crocodile Hunter then Geek Wannabe.
A tiny mistake. A little screw up. And BAM. You take a hit. It's probably not going to kill them, but it points out the need to take care with user communications.
Tangler had the same mess earlier this year when one of our community managers accidentally hit send three times on a Tangler Facebook group message. A harmless error, but I should have taken more care with it. Pals were emailing me to abuse me. Ouch. That hurts.
The market is so full of competitors, substitutes, apathy and limited time that it's tough enough to get someone to look at you. But it's not over then. It's a constant challenge to not screw it up (spam, CC) while you're trying to build the relationship (make them happier).
My credo is 'You only get 0.9 chances', meaning that 10% of people didn't really give you a chance in the first place.
Do good AND don't be evil. (That's the half that Google missed!)
Then I got a follow up from another mailing list person asking to change their email address. Then another. Then another. Then ten more.
They'd forgotten to use the BCC field instead of CC. Oops.
People were complaining, people were unsubscribing, people where not happy. I unsubscribed. I didn't really want it anyway but it made me feel like I was more Crocodile Hunter then Geek Wannabe.
A tiny mistake. A little screw up. And BAM. You take a hit. It's probably not going to kill them, but it points out the need to take care with user communications.
Tangler had the same mess earlier this year when one of our community managers accidentally hit send three times on a Tangler Facebook group message. A harmless error, but I should have taken more care with it. Pals were emailing me to abuse me. Ouch. That hurts.
The market is so full of competitors, substitutes, apathy and limited time that it's tough enough to get someone to look at you. But it's not over then. It's a constant challenge to not screw it up (spam, CC) while you're trying to build the relationship (make them happier).
My credo is 'You only get 0.9 chances', meaning that 10% of people didn't really give you a chance in the first place.
Do good AND don't be evil. (That's the half that Google missed!)
Not exactly what happened. A mailinglist was set up that incorrectly was retransmitting emails sent to it. Nothing to do with BCC or CC. No-ones emails where distributed.
Unfortunately, so may people sent emails when it started happening that it backed up the email servers so they where still sending cued emails 30 minutes after the mailinglist was diabled.
Cheers,
Shane
Posted by: Shane Russell | November 15, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Interestingly this thread is still going and I've had two people on the list contact me directly.
One asked me if I was related to Mick Liubinskas the Rugby League Star of the 80s - Yes, he's my uncle and a good bloke too.
The second was a guy I went to school with who is now editor of Outdoor magazine.
Someone else commented and said "Who needs facebook?"
Posted by: Mick Liubinskas | November 15, 2007 at 03:31 PM
Not necessarily an issue of having to take care in communications - I found it an issue of computer ettiquette, which I might add was not observed in today's incident. It's a bit disappointing but it's common. People get on their websites, emails, forums etc and tend lose their manners (courtesy, patience etc). Everyone's human, after all, and no one's perfect...
:o)
Posted by: Kas | November 15, 2007 at 06:11 PM
Yep, it's a good point. But the problem with modern tech is that the ettiquette isn't always obvious. Reply all is a simple mouse click. Where do you learn that? Where do you learn not to TYPE IN CAPS BECAUSE IT'S YELLING.
Interestingly I went and unsubscribed to 2 other newsletters I was never reading today. Maybe unsubscribing is viral?
Posted by: Mick Liubinskas | November 15, 2007 at 09:42 PM
P.S. The image is a lock trying to represent locking the gate after the horse (a mailing list) has bolted.
Posted by: Mick Liubinskas | November 15, 2007 at 09:47 PM