It happened again.
It’s not their fault as not everyone knows about reply all email etiquette. They were simply trying to do their job, and so when the email arrived, each person would simply hit reply to all, instead of just replying to the original sender.
In many organizations, this kind of behavior happens. But when it happens at the State Department and there are roughly six thousand recipients, and many of them click the reply to all button…well you can imagine the ensuing chaos.
Patrick Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State, sent out a missive which then threatened the employees with disciplinary action if the reply to all broadcast mechanism was abused.
While threatening the employees to not hit the reply to all button again is one way to deal with it, it can be mitigated through our own Reply To All Monitor. Some technology solution should be implemented, because in my experience, based on the customer tales that many of you have told me, I can tell you that it WILL happen again.
Here’s a few of the many links covering the story, including Fox News, Government Computer News, and the Huffington Post.