Are you one of those individuals that cannot seem to determine the appropriate usage of the Reply-All button?  Do you have trouble simply finding it? Maybe it’s too close to the Reply button, and you get confused? Maybe you’re just a sadistic, evil person who likes to make it hard on the person who sent you and other recipients the original email? If you answered yes to any of those questions then you are on my list, and I’d love to discuss options for helping you adjust to using the Reply-All button effectively – preferably in a dark alley with your hands tied behind your back and a blindfold over your face.

In case you can’t tell, failing to use that button is one of my biggest pet peeves. It takes me from zero to asshole at an alarming rate of speed. When it comes to email there is nothing worse than having to type all the recipients over and over again every time you reply to the thread. I copied those recipients for a reason dammit! Leave them on there!

I also hate being one of the recipients who were removed from the email. Inevitably the original sender won’t recognize that fact, and the thread will continue for half the day. Eventually I reply to the last one I received and ask if any progress has been made only to find out that I’ve missed 10 important points and now have to play catch up.

I vote that we remove the Reply button entirely.  You have two choices: reply to everyone or forward the email only to the person you want to read your message. Alternatively you can reply to everyone and manually remove the people you don’t want to see your message. Either way it keeps me from having to type recipients over and over again and decreases the chance that I might just go insane on someone.

Reply button idiots – you’ve been warned.