Mind Your Manners - Use a distribution list!

One of my pet peeves is receiving an email message that contains dozens and dozens of email addresses  in the “CC”, or worse the “To” field. Sometimes the list of name is far longer than the actual message sent.  This has long been considered poor etiquette in the world of email communication, but continues to happen frequently.

The primary reason this is a no-no, aside from annoyance of format, is security. While everyone on your list is happy (presumably) to receive email from you, they may not wish to disclose their private email address to everyone else you are including. You should think twice about doing this.

So how do you send a single email message that is personally addressed, yet delivered simultaneously to a group of intended recipients, without recreating the message over and over for each recipient?  You do so through the use of a distribution list.

Distribution lists have been around for many years and found within most email systems. The idea is simple enough. You build a list of recipients in an administrative interface of some sort, you give that list a name, and create an email address associated with it. Unfortunately, there are many systems that only go this far, which is well short of the features you will need to use distribution lists successfully.

In order to fully enjoy the power of a distribution list, you need to have a few controls in place to manage it, otherwise your distribution list can become an annoyance unto itself.  Here are four things your distribution list should be capable of doing, to keep your recipients happy:

 

Private/Public access control.

 

The only thing a Spammer likes better than a valid email address, is an email that feeds a valid distribution list. Imagine their joy knowing that Viagra add gets replicated automatically through your distribution list. So be sure your distribution list has the capability of restricting email messages if the list becomes compromised. One way of doing this is a Public vs. Private setting, which restricts access to only  those individuals found on the list. I other words you should be able to make the list private, if necessary.

 

Blacklisting or White listing  

 

Occasionally your distribution list gets hijacked by one individual with an agenda. While shutting down the entire list (by making it private) is possible, you may not want to limit communication in this manner.  Be sure your distribution list capability includes the feature of adding senders to a black (disallowed) list. This will help ensure the integrity of your list, while keeping it accessible to the public at large.

 

On the other side of this scenario is a distribution list to which a user must subscribe. This is called white listing. By using an approved list of senders, such as parents in committees or volunteer capacity. You could create a large, but manageable directory of approved senders to your distribution list.

 

Moderating or Approving

 

As your distribution list grows in size or importance, you may want to ensure that each message is approved for distribution. This might be useful when conversing about sensitive subjects. This is different than white listing in that you approve specific message content as opposed to specific senders.

 

Ensure your distribution list has the capacity to require approval before messages are sent. Recognize that some view message approval as censorship - so be careful out there.

 

Message Addressing

 

One last requirement of your distribution list is message addressing. Although I have not seen this issue for some time, I have seen messages from distribution lists that displays the distribution list email address as the sender, such that your reply is automatically re-distributed. Don't go there!

 

If you want to create as self-induced  SPAM event in your organization, try using a distribution list with this deficiency. You will quickly overwhelm everyone’s inbox in a matter of a few replies. And it will be nearly impossible to follow the conversation.

 

A sophisticated distribution list system will display the original sender’s email address as the Sender, not the distribution list per se. And your reply to the original sender would not then be distributed to all on the distribution list. This is an important feature!

 

Summary

 

Distribution lists are great tools to expedite email communication to a predefined set of recipients.  This is particularly true if the messaging is primarily in one direction. Verify the email system you are using is capable of the above features. Ensure the capability to exercise administrative oversight of message traffic, then enjoy the few extra minutes each day gained from not having to select a dozen or more recipients from your contact list each time you wish to send an email to your favorite group.