Death by distribution list

26Jun06

At 10:11 a.m., a co-worker sent out an e-mail with an innocent question:

“What is the URL to make changes to my Schwab 401(k)? It’s been so long, I forgot”

What followed was a series of ‘friendly fire,’ as I’ll call it, or spam from within your network of coworkers or friends. Between 10:11 a.m. when the first e-mail arrived and 10:27 a.m. when I received the last of them, I had received over 50 e-mails in my inbox related to this string.

You can’t fault the guy for asking, nor can you can you shame him for sending his question via e-mail. No, it wasn’t so much what or how he asked, but rather who he asked. The note was sent to 401kcommunication@XXX.com, which as it turns out, is a distribution list with upwards of 3,000 employees who participated in the company’s 401(k) plan. This distribution list was not exactly the small HR distribution list of people that he believed it to be.

“Now” was a company value. Dutiful employees that we were, a handful of employees took immediate action, replying to all to let the original sender know that plan information was available at schwabplan.com. Let’s break down the responses and view the highlights from that 16 minutes of distribution list fun:

Replied to All with URL for Sender: 5

“…and if none of these suggestions work, try schwabplan.com”

Replied to All, Requesting Removal from Distribution List: 23

“…not sure how I got on this distribution list, but anyone know who owns it so I can be removed?”

Replied to All, Requesting That Employees Stop Replying to All: 16

“…please note that replying to all, you are contributing to the spam. If a question is asked, please respond to THAT person only.”

Replied to All TWICE, Requesting That Employees Stop Replying to All: 1

“…OK everyone. This is getting TOTALLY out of control. Please do not reply to this thread again. Please contact your IT group to be removed. You do not need to notify everyone.”