Reply vs Reply All

BU Medical Sciences
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
I

Iapyx

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Messages
261
Reaction score
19
Members don't see this ad.
Today I learned an important an insightful message that all pre-medical students should take note of. Always make sure that you hit reply intstead of reply all. A girl in my class just typed up one of the more epic sob stories that I have ever heard(she missed the final) and sent it to the professor. The professor responded with a relatively straight-up message that made this girl look like an idiot. Needless to say the girl is recieving a 0. However, the Professor hit reply all and the entire conversation was forwarded to the entire class of 300+. Either this was an accident🙁 or the professor is just plain mean:meanie:. Either way, I thought it was a funny story with a didactic purpose.
 
Iapyx said:
Today I learned an important an insightful message that all pre-medical students should take note of. Always make sure that you hit reply intstead of reply all. A girl in my class just typed up one of the more epic sob stories that I have ever heard(she missed the final) and sent it to the professor. The professor responded with a relatively straight-up message that made this girl look like an idiot. Needless to say the girl is recieving a 0. However, the Professor hit reply all and the entire conversation was forwarded to the entire class of 300+. Either this was an accident🙁 or the professor is just plain mean:meanie:. Either way, I thought it was a funny story with a didactic purpose.
Click to expand...



ouch...duly noted
 
Or just don't reply to threaded emails when sending important stuff. Just start a new email message that is only with the one person. This can be a problem with gmail-like email applications that thread everything together.
 
anfleisch said:
Or just don't reply to threaded emails when sending important stuff. Just start a new email message that is only with the one person. This can be a problem with gmail-like email applications that thread everything together.
Click to expand...

Agreed. In that girl's case, she didn't even need to reply to a message that was sent to everyone.
 
you don't make a thread about this unless you're going to post the e-mail lol
 
Agreed, post the email on this thread - you can omit details and change names. 😀
 
Had this happen at my school as an undergrad. The email service was set up weird and people had to be very careful. The button that just said "reply" was actually reply all, unless you checked a little hidden box to reply only to the sender. A girl in my class sent a very personal email to the instructor regarding a medical issue to the entire class of about 100 people. I felt pretty bad for her. I sent her an email about how it means reply to all and that it's always best just to start a new email. Yikes though.
 
this is why you don't communicate personal info via the internet. i always preferred face-to-face...
 
I agree with the previous posters. Post said email or this thread is worthless.
 
I'm not going to post it. That would make me a dueschh. However, rest assured that it was humorous😀.
 
Iapyx said:
Today I learned an important an insightful message that all pre-medical students should take note of. Always make sure that you hit reply intstead of reply all. A girl in my class just typed up one of the more epic sob stories that I have ever heard(she missed the final) and sent it to the professor. The professor responded with a relatively straight-up message that made this girl look like an idiot. Needless to say the girl is recieving a 0. However, the Professor hit reply all and the entire conversation was forwarded to the entire class of 300+. Either this was an accident🙁 or the professor is just plain mean:meanie:. Either way, I thought it was a funny story with a didactic purpose.
Click to expand...

Oh wow, that's awful. I hope it was just an accident.
 
Ok, I don't use gmail so I don't know if this is specific to the "threaded emails" that someone mentioned, but how could the professor 'reply all' to an email that was ONLY sent to him, and end up with it sent to everyone in the class. Even the student was responding to an email which the professor originally sent to the whole class, assuming she only replied to him, his final response back should only be sent to her, even if he accidentally hit the 'reply all' button.

Am I missing something here, or does it sound like the professor was purposefully being a bit of a dick?
 
Must you guys nitpick everything. I never said it was gmail, becuase it is inconsiquentiale to the point of the story. If you must know, it is a class specific website for the course through the school. This website contains an independent message service. However, if a message is sent to someone on this website it is also forwarded to their university email. Thus, the professor hit reply all on this site, resulting in the message being forward to 300+ university emails. Had I said that originally my post would have been to long and contained useless information...like this post does now.
 
This actually happened this year at my med school. One of the students emailed a rather harsh and extended rant about one of our professors to one of our administrators. He somehow managed to send it to our entire med school class. It was hilarious, because he was ranting partially on the professor's poor english, and his email was written in terrible grammar.(English is not HIS first language either)
 
Iapyx said:
Had I said that originally my post would have been to long and contained useless information...like this post does now.
Click to expand...
Yeah, just curious. Point is still valid either way. Watch what you "reply all" to.

I've had some painful experiences with people I BCC for their information replying to all, so now I'm very careful with who I CC or BCC and make mental note of some people who have no discretion in their replies.
 
slightly related...

I hate when people send out mass emails to ask stupid questions when they obviously never go to class

some of my classes are 500+ people, and there are always idiots sending mass emails like "HEY, ANYONE KNOW WHEN OUR FINAL IS?!!!!11?"
 
I was in a somewhat similar situation. I had finished a lab report late at night and was e-mailing it to myself (from laptop) because I needed to print it on the public computer. Anytime that I e-mail myself I usually type some unrelated text in the body of the e-mail for no apparent reason. Well, for this one I typed some of the things said in this video: http://www.youtube.com/user/CopperCab ummm... yeah. I think the body of the e-mail said, "All ya'll do is bring up more pain and racism". Well, I must have accidently clicked my lab TA's e-mail in the recent contact list because I got an e-mail the next day asking me what the e-mail was about.

Basically, it sounded like I was accusing my TA (an Indian woman) of racism in her grading policies. This was definitely not my intent and I obviously did not think she was being racist.

You can bet that I now send e-mails to myself with plain, boring text.
 
Iapyx said:
Must you guys nitpick everything.
Click to expand...

Chill out. I was honestly curious. Besides, I think it is healthy to approach the great majority of SDN posts with some skepticism. Now that I know how plausible the story is, it makes the message more meaningful.

Anyway, it's still a good story. I think we all know someone who has mistakenly hit the 'reply all' button. It's the ticking time-bomb of email messaging.
 
Elpenor said:
slightly related...

I hate when people send out mass emails to ask stupid questions when they obviously never go to class

some of my classes are 500+ people, and there are always idiots sending mass emails like "HEY, ANYONE KNOW WHEN OUR FINAL IS?!!!!11?"
Click to expand...

Man im with you. I thought i was the only one who this happened to. I remember last year in my Anthropology class i got 5 or 6 emails saying " do we hav a test this thursday!!11??"

Im pretty sure i bitched a few of the more annoying ones out by telling them that they should go to class instead of clogging up emails. Its just really annoying
 
Not that any of you would expect it to, but this doesn't stop when you get to med school.🙁
 
FirefighterDoc said:
Man im with you. I thought i was the only one who this happened to. I remember last year in my Anthropology class i got 5 or 6 emails saying " do we hav a test this thursday!!11??"

Im pretty sure i bitched a few of the more annoying ones out by telling them that they should go to class instead of clogging up emails. Its just really annoying
Click to expand...

Really? None of this happens at my school.
 
Teacher emails that rip a student to shreds are the best

Prof. Galloway,
I would like to discuss a matter with you that bothered me. Yesterday evening I entered your 6pm Brand Strategy class approximately 1 hour late. As I entered the room, you quickly dismissed me, saying that I would need to leave and come back to the next class. After speaking with several students who are taking your class, they explained that you have a policy stating that students who arrive more than 15 minutes late will not be admitted to class.
As of yesterday evening, I was interested in three different Monday night classes that all occurred simultaneously. In order to decide which class to select, my plan for the evening was to sample all three and see which one I like most. Since I had never taken your class, I was unaware of your class policy. I was disappointed that you dismissed me from class considering (1) there is no way I could have been aware of your policy and (2) considering that it was the first day of evening classes and I arrived 1 hour late (not a few minutes), it was more probable that my tardiness was due to my desire to sample different classes rather than sheer complacency.
I have already registered for another class but I just wanted to be open and provide my opinion on the matter.
Regards,
xxxx
—
xxxx
MBA 2010 Candidate
NYU Stern School of Business
xxxx.nyu.edu
xxx-xxx-xxxx
The Reply:
—— Forwarded Message ——-
From: [email protected]
To: "xxxx"
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 9:34:02 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Brand Strategy Feedback
xxxx:
Thanks for the feedback. I, too, would like to offer some feedback.
Just so I've got this straight...you started in one class, left 15-20 minutes into it (stood up, walked out mid-lecture), went to another class (walked in 20 minutes late), left that class (again, presumably, in the middle of the lecture), and then came to my class. At that point (walking in an hour late) I asked you to come to the next class which "bothered" you.
Correct?
You state that, having not taken my class, it would be impossible to know our policy of not allowing people to walk in an hour late. Most risk analysis offers that in the face of substantial uncertainty, you opt for the more conservative path or hedge your bet (e.g., do not show up an hour late until you know the professor has an explicit policy for tolerating disrespectful behavior, check with the TA before class, etc.). I hope the lottery winner that is your recently crowned Monday evening Professor is teaching Judgement and Decision Making or Critical Thinking.
In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin. However, xxxx, there is a baseline level of decorum (i.e., manners) that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow's business leaders.
xxxx, let me be more serious for a moment. I do not know you, will not know you and have no real affinity or animosity for you. You are an anonymous student who is now regretting the send button on his laptop. It's with this context I hope you register pause...REAL pause xxxx and take to heart what I am about to tell you:
xxxx, get your **** together.
Getting a good job, working long hours, keeping your skills relevant, navigating the politics of an organization, finding a live/work balance...these are all really hard, xxxx. In contrast, respecting institutions, having manners, demonstrating a level of humility...these are all (relatively) easy. Get the easy stuff right xxxx. In and of themselves they will not make you successful. However, not possessing them will hold you back and you will not achieve your potential which, by virtue of you being admitted to Stern, you must have in spades. It's not too late xxxx...
Again, thanks for the feedback.
Professor Galloway
 
JFK90787 said:
Teacher emails that rip a student to shreds are the best
Click to expand...

Whoa, where'd you get that? The professor's email address is still visible so I was able to google him lol. He was harsh about it (might not have been in a good mood that day), but what the student did was pretty stupid.
 
schrizto said:
Whoa, where'd you get that? The professor's email address is still visible so I was able to google him lol. He was harsh about it (might not have been in a good mood that day), but what the student did was pretty stupid.
Click to expand...

I saw it on some sports blog months ago, they already did all the editing with the names and whatnot.
 
Last edited:
An utterly pathetic response from a professor - a copy should be sent to the Dean.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
All Late Interviews
Replies
7
Views
1K
LizzyM
LizzyM
N
Pls reply! Will my offer be rejected?
Replies
1
Views
531
GoSpursGo
GoSpursGo
C
Marked complete without all required LORs
Replies
1
Views
231
PickaGodnPray
PickaGodnPray
F
Scribe vs Medical Assistant
Replies
1
Views
660
LunaOri
LunaOri
L
switched from third author to fourth--email all med schools?
Replies
3
Views
539
Goro
Goro
Top