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Be Careful What You Send Through E-mail

By Randy L. Prothero

Real Estate Agent with eXp Realty 2021016812

August 31, 2009 05:48 AM

This may sound like e-mail 101, but I am seeing common mistakes daily.

There is a thing called BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). When sending to a large list, use it. Unless there is some reason to share the e-mail addresses of everyone on the list to each other. This is a common mistake that is among the most annoying. If you are reply to a message like that instead of using "Reply to All", hit "Reply" unless everyone on that list needs to see your response.

I get messages from real estate agents and loan officers that are spamming me. They CC a million people and of course everyone on that list now has the complete list. So as you may have guessed, several are annoyed by the spam and "Reply to All" to voice their annoyance. I now have received a dozen Spam messages and responses. A few others see this big list and think SHAZAM! They now have a great list to send out information on their business. So now a few of them use the same list to also Spam us. Out of that group because they hit "Rely to All", the complete list appears again and the cycle continues.

Even more aggravating; there are those on the list who now believe I have some relationship with one or more people on the list that the original sender included. If someone on the list is now sending vulgar stuff you are now part of their group. They may have even added more names to the list.

When responding back and forth between more than one individual; be careful not to send the wrong stuff to the wrong person. I got an e-mail this morning from a real estate agent I am in a transaction with. In the confusion of all the back and forth messages the agent replied and inadvertently sent me a string of messages with their client. I now have information about the client and the transaction that their client that was never intended for my eyes. If that information were later used against their client, could get the agent in a ton of trouble.

So be careful what you send via e-mail and how you send it. Also be careful what you say when you post a reply. Everyone will be able to read it.

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Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Jean H. - Thank you

Candice - I also use the forward command frequently. That keeps all the attachments in place.

Mara - I use Copy and Paste all day long. It is one of the greatest inventions on the computer.

Richard - It is out there and can be forwarded 100s of time to total strangers.

Brady - Thank you

Antonio and Alexis - Good point if it is sent to too many people it is probably not important.

Cheryl W. - :)

Melissa - You are mostly correct. The folks here are techie.

Christine W. - I see that frequently.

Margaret R. - The ones that really bug me are the off color jokes that I would never send, yet I appear on the list of those receiving them.

Chuck C. - It is a no-no, but many still do not get it.

Sep 01, 2009 03:56 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Marian - That is for sure.

Barbara - That is real bad especially if you did not want the original message.

Pat M. - You are right about opening messages.

Steven N. - Business has been picking up especially in the planned communities.

Emily L. - Ouch

David M. - I do that on a distribution message, but am careful when sending documents so that the recipient knows who I am sending it to. If I BCC to protect someone's e-mail message from being given out, I may put in the message who else I am sending it.

Team Honeycutt - With the volume of messages a day I deal with it is so easy to make a mistake.

Paul & Diane - I do that also. Another thing I do is clean up the message to delete all the junk at the bottom, like which virus filters they used or ads for free e-mail accounts.

Paul M. - Even if they do not report you, they will just spam filter you out.

Tim K. - Once it is out, it is sometimes impossible to correct.

Sep 01, 2009 04:19 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Carol P. - You are proof that it can cost business.

David K. - Good tip.

Sarah - There are so many folks who barely know how to use a computer.

TLW - LOL

Kyle J. - I use the junk filter on Outlook. It helps me wade through the pile.

Marc S. - That is an important point!

Gary W. - Many times when I forward, I delete the contact information from the original sender.

Dave M. - Thank you

Chris O. - You never know, one of them could be printed in the paper.

John E. - I get e-mails from all over country with the agent's newest listing. Trust me I don't care that you got a new doublewide in the Ozarks.

Sep 01, 2009 04:38 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Brian M. - As it should.

Heather C. - Good policy.

Michelle H. - Thank you

William W. - Thank you

Damon G. - I see some agents sending out jokes that shocks me. I hate that if they do not BCC my name may appear on their list.

B & C - Thank you

Jeff D. - I can predict who gets the lists by all the Spam I am getting.

Sally - You definitely need to be careful.

Mary S. - It's like playing poker and seeing the other player's cards.

Erica - That is one of the biggest sources of unwanted e-mails.

IMF - I only do that, if there has been an issue and I want everyone to see the communication.

Sharon S. - The annoying one is where they send message like that and then 20 people reply all demanding to be removed from the list.

Ian - Not good for someone in the Blog world. You would expect more.

Sep 01, 2009 04:58 AM

Robert L. Brown

www.mrbrownsellsgr.com - Grand Rapids, MI

Grand Rapids Real Estate Bellabay Realty, West Mic

This should fall under the heading of common sense. Not only for real estate but etiquette in general.

Sep 01, 2009 06:48 AM

1~Judi Barrett

Integrity Real Estate Services 116 SE AVE N, Idabel, OK 74745 - Idabel, OK

BS Ed, Integrity Real Estate Services -IDABEL OK

I am amazed at the email lists that I get from other offices... with everyone's email address in the to: place. AND all of the email addresses, one after another when it's a forward.

Sep 01, 2009 12:56 PM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Robert - Etiquette and common sense. It is unfortunate that we feel the need to discuss it.

Judi - It is amazing when you look at who the sender is many times.

Sep 01, 2009 07:06 PM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Robert - Etiquette and common sense. It is unfortunate that we feel the need to discuss it.

Judi - It is amazing when you look at who the sender is many times.

Sep 01, 2009 07:06 PM

Heather Adkinson

Windermere K-2 Realty LLC www.propertiesinmoseslake.com - Moses Lake, WA

Real Estate Agent - Moses Lake

I love BCC it is the best way.

Sep 02, 2009 08:39 AM

Douglas Fischer

East Oahu Realty - Selling Honolulu, Hawaii Condos - Honolulu, HI

Not only that, but many people don't realize that when you are Cc'd or Bcc'd on an email message, when you reply, you are not just replying to the sender.

Sep 02, 2009 11:22 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Heather - I agree

Douglas - If you reply you are only responding to the sender. If you Reply-all you are responding to everyone copied. Those BCC'd will not get your response.

Nancy - If they have a privacy policy.

Sep 07, 2009 06:23 AM

Sylvie Conde

Sutton Group-Associates Realty Inc., Brokerage - Toronto, ON

Broker, Toronto Real Estate

Randy, almost every single day I ask people NOT to send me any emails that they will be sending to everyone on their address book, if they're not going to use the bcc. A lot of them don't know what that is, even though I've been telling them this for years. It is so annoying to receive replies from everyone - all people I don't know, never met, and from the responses I see, I probably don't want to meet. I also don't like all the spam and viruses that I get, along with all their crap. It is so annoying. Hopefully after reading your blog, they will be more careful. :)

Sep 09, 2009 01:48 PM

Rosalinda Morgan

Brookville, NY

"The Rose Lady"

Randy - Great reminder. Unless you want to broadcast to the whole world, you really have to be careful on what to email and who gets copies. I use BCC a lot.

Sep 10, 2009 03:10 PM

Renée Donohue~Home Photography

Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI

Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

I hate idjits. You would think people would figure it out. Early in the year an Ocwen asset manager copied (not BCCd) but COPIED every list agent they have worked with in the past on just a regular informational update. It turned into a thread of "WHY I HATE LISTING OCWEN PROPERTIES" for about a month. Luckily I have a killer spam folder that caught most of it! I have to say it was AMUSING that people were ripping Ocwen when Ocwen Supervisors and asset managers were on that email :)

Sep 13, 2009 02:41 PM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Renee - That must have really irritated their managers. LOL

Sep 15, 2009 06:52 AM

Yvonne Jaramillo Ahearn, Esq. (B)

Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers - Kailua, HI

REALTOR-Broker, CRS, GRI, ABR CLHMS

Good tips, Randy! My favorite email peeve is people who hit reply all and never change the subject line. Then you get a conversation between people that goes on and on, and does not even have anything to do with the original email. So annoying! Aloha ~ Yvonne

Sep 23, 2009 04:51 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Yvonne - I see that all the time.

Oct 12, 2009 10:47 AM

Tom Braatz Waukesha County Real Estate 262-377-1459

Coldwell Banker - Oconomowoc, WI

Waukesha County Realtor Real Estate agent. SOLD!

Randy

All too often agents learn the mistakes the hard way when they include messages from their clients.

Nov 19, 2009 05:23 AM

Randy L. Prothero

eXp Realty - Hollister, MO

Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

Tom - When they are in front of the judge it will be the hard way.

Nov 20, 2009 03:41 AM

Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, MA, PSA, TRC - Greater Clearwater Florida Residential Real Estate Professional

Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL

Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor

I have a friend who routinely hits 'respond to all' on her e-mail -

Dec 16, 2009 05:14 AM

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