Author: josh

The Tao of BCC

I’ve gotten three emails in the last week with a set of questions about my favorite foods, favorite movie, my dream vacation spot, what kind of ice cream I would desire to become if I were to suddenly become ice cream, etc. The sender had answered the questions, and I was obliged to answer the same questions, and return my answers to the originator. If you’re thinking this isn’t a new thing, you’re right.

Let me tell you what also isn’t new. The people who send these emails seem to lack a fundamental understanding of the options email presents. They not only send it to 30 or 60 people (one acquaintance proudly proclaimed he was sending it to his entire address book) but they put every single person in the “To” field. They just slam ’em in there like cattle in a train car. It stinks in there, people!

For those of you who are wondering why this is a problem, please humor me and I’ll teach you something about email, and possibly a little Netiquette along the way. This lesson is called “blind carbon copy.” It’s probably better known in its abbreviated form: BCC.

Why BCC? It’s simple. Let’s say that you have 60 people in your address book, and you’re favoring them all with your questionnaire. OK, fine. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, I guess. (Please cut off the part at the end where a magical curse from some kind of unnamed email god is promised for those who don’t return the questionnaire. You know you’re above that. While you’re at it, remove any animated pictures which may adversely affect those with epilepsy. Thanks.) The problem happens when 10 of those 60 people (or worse, 30 or 40) are really excited to get this questionnaire, and decide to answer the questions too! But you didn’t use “BCC”. You used “To”. So now, these 10 – 40 excited people I’ve never met have my email address. And they’re so excited to respond that they decide “My answers are great! Everyone wants them!” and they click “Reply All”.

Don’t ever click “Reply All”, people. Outside the corporate world, it’s the Red Button on the military console. Far more powerful than you think it is. Just don’t.

So now all 60 people have email after email after email flooding into their inboxes. These are emails from people they’ve never met. They’re all introducing themselves and answering the admittedly inane questions. If you know the person giving the answers, it can be fun. If you don’t, it’s maddening and stupid. True, you can just delete the first one. And the second. And the third…

Then two or three of the first 10 – 30 excited people decide to have a personal off-topic conversation (or better yet, an argument) via email while using Reply All. These people are truly dumb. I’m happy they were able to learn to type. These emails may be the pinnacle of their life’s achievement. Be sure to pat them on the back and congratulate them when you see them next.

So while the originator of the thread certainly didn’t intend for this catastrophe when sending the first email, he’s inadvertently allowed it to happen by not being conscientious about BCC. And this whole mess was so easily avoidable. It’s sad, really.

So remember, friends don’t let friends misuse the “To” field.

What you wanted: October 2005

Here are the most popular search strings people used when they eventually stumbled upon my site (or presumably some of the other blogs I host here) via Google, Yahoo and other search engines during the month of October. The count on the left is the number of people who found me using that search string. Apparently people are looking for The Becktionary and cool band names quite a lot. And 84 people wanted to find me, or someone with my name. Well, here I am.

I find it really funny that at least eight people were willing to settle for good band names. We don’t need anything cool. Just make it good. It’s also funny people somehow found me when looking for cool blog names. This blog, creatively titled “Blog.”, is about the worst-named blog in the entire universe. Please don’t ask me for cool blog names. You could use one of the band names, I suppose, but you’d at least have to make sure it wasn’t one of the ones stated in plural.

Note that “scary cakes” made the top 27 in a relatively short timespan! People want their scary cakes. Yes they do.

Hits      Search String
----------------  ----------------------

127        9.31%  becktionary
115        8.43%  cool band names
84         6.16%  josh lewis
30         2.20%  cool blog names
16         1.17%  my life
13         0.95%  beck
12         0.88%  hen
12         0.88%  new nintendo
10         0.73%  obi
8          0.59%  eric drotning
8          0.59%  good band names
8          0.59%  nano
7          0.51%  dog door
7          0.51%  holding ipod nano
7          0.51%  ipod nanoo
7          0.51%  the becktionary
6          0.44%  poppin
6          0.44%  poppin and lockin
6          0.44%  ugly fish
6          0.44%  word scramble anldegn
5          0.37%  anldegn
5          0.37%  anldegn word scramble
5          0.37%  asama guitars
5          0.37%  life poster
5          0.37%  mario music
5          0.37%  scary cakes
5          0.37%  sir kay

Bob Dylan

I’ve had Bob Dylan’s music recommended to me countless times, from many people I really respect. But up until now, I’ve never owned any of his stuff. I’ve decided that’s going to change this week, and I’d like your help.

For those of you who are more familiar with Dylan’s music, what’s a good “starter” album to get into Dylan?

Happy Halloween

My costume was pretty standard, really. Please do share pictures or at least brief descriptions of what you dressed up as, if anything. Or perhaps something even vaugely Halloween-related. Would you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here!

And remember, when Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset, people die!

How many blogs?

Reader poll: how many blogs and RSS feeds do you check at least once a month?

My answer: I used to be over 100. I then trimmed down to 60, and now I’m back up to 80 again. I check them all probably twice a day. RSS makes that less time-consuming than it sounds, but it’s still quite a task. Part of me wants to cut that stack down to the bare essentials and almost stop consuming altogether (see my previous entry) while another part of me sees the consumption of new media and new input as a catalyst for new creation. So I’m stuck.

Creating vs. Consuming

The act of creating is one of Man’s highest callings, and it’s something I try to encourage in myself. This blog is an expression of that. This is actually my 300th post. I really cherish the way that this blog encourages me to make something, even when it’s something stupid. Because making something is better than making nothing.

But tonight I’m not a maker, I’m just a taker. I’m not a creator, I’m just a consumer. I don’t feel like making anything. I can’t seem to force myself to do it. Nights like this are really frustrating to me because I know I’ve got something to create, and ten other somethings after that one, and I just don’t have the ability to get there mentally.