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Reply-All cascades are classic entertainment in government work. When I was in the Air Force some poor Warrant Officer started a Reply-All clusterfuck when he

by nvy 3y ago

Reply-All cascades are classic entertainment in government work. When I was in the Air Force some poor Warrant Officer started a Reply-All clusterfuck when he replied to a base-wide email about issued Android phones. After about 30 Reply-Alls some very senior officer replied (to all) something to the effect of "Nobody else Reply, or your ass is grass" to which some joker from Special Operations replied (all) "Copy, Sir". Some of the most fun you can have in the public sector.

foota 3y ago
Is this a copypasta? If not, it should be.
- nvy 3y ago
  It's not a copypasta; I was there for Reply All 2019.
- MarkSweep 3y ago
  Here is a story of a similar form: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20111014-00/?p=9373 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20111014-00/?p=93... It’s a pretty predictable fact pattern.
chatmasta 3y ago
We had this in college where someone sent "M to mute" and then thousands of people started sending emails with "M" in the body. Nobody knows how many of them were being sarcastic, but it became a meme that we found ways to insert into all sorts of unwanted group communication channels.
- rakoo 3y ago
  When the friends groupchat becomes overly active about a topic only few are interested in (not including me), I joke and reply UNSUBSCRIBE. I think I'm the only one to understand, and definitely the only one to laugh
Jtsummers 3y ago
USAF doesn't have warrant officers (used to, but the last ones retired last century), but yeah I saw a couple of these in my time, too. Not a lot of fun.
- nvy 3y ago
  Never said I was USAF.
tomjen3 3y ago
These days you can just mute the email in Outlook.
hughesjj 3y ago
At my Amazon peers... "Wallet"
- FBISurveillance 3y ago
  Context: At amazon in 2010, it started with a meeting invite that was accidentally sent to everyone. The meeting was for the Amazon Wallet team for whatever work they were doing at the time. A reply-all storm ensued, and despite several people asking to stop hitting the reply-all button, it continued for several days. The management had to chime in and sometimes threatened people with punishment if they continued participating to the reply-all storm. If you ignored the conversation you may not have seen it, but most reply-all storm ended up with someone saying something the line of "we don't care about your wallet". Anyway, asking people to stop hitting the reply-all button is far from being the latest reply-all on these kind of things...
jrockway 3y ago
These are just as fun at large corporations. A bunch of people you've never met, all very mad at each other. (I always join in on these. I simply cannot resist. One time, someone emailed me privately to say that I should know better. Oh, I do. I just want to watch the email server burn.)
tyingq 3y ago
I feel like the sender is more at fault in these cases. BCC exists for a reason.
ryathal 3y ago
I really don't know why it's so hard to get basic competency in public sector to use bcc or restrict send access to large groups. That said, I enjoyed the drama when an email devolved into requests to stop replying all and requests to be taken off the list.
- araes 3y ago
  If you would like more info on that topic... Was on HN back in early summer. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36620608 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36620608 "A recent international research study allows us to quantify the difference between the broad population and the tech elite. The data was collected from 2011–2015 in 33 countries and was published in 2016 by the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club of industrialized countries). In total, 215,942 people were tested, with at least 5,000 participants in most countries. The research aimed to test the skills of people aged 16–65." Summary Page: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_9789264258051-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_978926... Executive Summary: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/executive-summary_9789264258051-3-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/execut... Key Adult Proficiency: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/adults-proficiency-in-key-information-processing-skills_9789264258051-5-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/adults... Nielsen / Normal (focusing on computers): https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/

by nvy 3y ago

foota 3y ago

Is this a copypasta? If not, it should be.

nvy 3y ago
It's not a copypasta; I was there for Reply All 2019.
MarkSweep 3y ago
Here is a story of a similar form: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20111014-00/?p=9373 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20111014-00/?p=93... It’s a pretty predictable fact pattern.

chatmasta 3y ago

We had this in college where someone sent "M to mute" and then thousands of people started sending emails with "M" in the body. Nobody knows how many of them were being sarcastic, but it became a meme that we found ways to insert into all sorts of unwanted group communication channels.

rakoo 3y ago
When the friends groupchat becomes overly active about a topic only few are interested in (not including me), I joke and reply UNSUBSCRIBE. I think I'm the only one to understand, and definitely the only one to laugh

Jtsummers 3y ago

USAF doesn't have warrant officers (used to, but the last ones retired last century), but yeah I saw a couple of these in my time, too. Not a lot of fun.

nvy 3y ago
Never said I was USAF.

tomjen3 3y ago

These days you can just mute the email in Outlook.

hughesjj 3y ago

At my Amazon peers... "Wallet"

FBISurveillance 3y ago
Context: At amazon in 2010, it started with a meeting invite that was accidentally sent to everyone. The meeting was for the Amazon Wallet team for whatever work they were doing at the time. A reply-all storm ensued, and despite several people asking to stop hitting the reply-all button, it continued for several days. The management had to chime in and sometimes threatened people with punishment if they continued participating to the reply-all storm. If you ignored the conversation you may not have seen it, but most reply-all storm ended up with someone saying something the line of "we don't care about your wallet". Anyway, asking people to stop hitting the reply-all button is far from being the latest reply-all on these kind of things...

jrockway 3y ago

These are just as fun at large corporations. A bunch of people you've never met, all very mad at each other. (I always join in on these. I simply cannot resist. One time, someone emailed me privately to say that I should know better. Oh, I do. I just want to watch the email server burn.)

tyingq 3y ago

I feel like the sender is more at fault in these cases. BCC exists for a reason.

ryathal 3y ago

I really don't know why it's so hard to get basic competency in public sector to use bcc or restrict send access to large groups. That said, I enjoyed the drama when an email devolved into requests to stop replying all and requests to be taken off the list.

araes 3y ago
If you would like more info on that topic... Was on HN back in early summer. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36620608 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36620608 "A recent international research study allows us to quantify the difference between the broad population and the tech elite. The data was collected from 2011–2015 in 33 countries and was published in 2016 by the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club of industrialized countries). In total, 215,942 people were tested, with at least 5,000 participants in most countries. The research aimed to test the skills of people aged 16–65." Summary Page: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_9789264258051-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_978926... Executive Summary: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/executive-summary_9789264258051-3-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/execut... Key Adult Proficiency: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/adults-proficiency-in-key-information-processing-skills_9789264258051-5-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter/adults... Nielsen / Normal (focusing on computers): https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/