a personal pet peeve - email lists

While I was responsible for the Spiral Circle calendar, it was necessary to publish my email address so people could contact me for scheduling.  One of the things I have found to be truly annoying is that, as a result, some (not all) "assumed" I wanted to be added to their mailing list and sent a notficiation every time they have an event.  Trust me, I am quite savvy with the computer and if I want to know what you are doing, I am more than capable of asking you to add me to your distribution list.

I am looking forward to a lot less traffic in my email now.  Hopefully, it will be more from friends and family and less from people trying to promote their own events.  I have missed more than one personal email that was important to me because it was buried in everyone elses announcements of their latest class, workshop, or other event.

I guess what really bothers me is the impersonal aspect of it.  These are usually people I do not know very well and they are promoting events that either (1) I do not see them as someone I want to "learn" from or (2) it's an area that I am personally not interested in exploring at this time.  Many would assume that because I did the calendar I was interested in learning everything metaphysical -- or that I would help promote their event to everyone I know.  Not true.

So, in the spirit of enlightening others, I'd like to share suggested general email guidelines:

1. If someone doesn't personally give you their email address and ask you to send them info, don't send them info.  It's okay to send an email asking to add them to your address list, but be respectful if they don't respond or reply with a no.
2. When sending a mass email to your address list, BLIND CARBON COPY (that's the BCC in most email programs) everyone.  This protects people from having their email address stolen and abused.  It also prevents someone getting caught up in a firestorm when someone doesn't like your email and they Reply to All to tell you about it.
3. If you are the recipient of an email in which someone did not BCC everyone, PLEASE do NOT click "Reply to All".  That's great if you found that email offensive - but it truly does not impress me, an innocent bystander - that you found it offensive.  I may agree with you, but am strong enough in my own convictions that I do not feel the need to shout it to everyone else.  Know me, know my beliefs.
4. DO NOT share your address book with others or swap address lists in the hopes of building your list.  That is such a violation of trust, I don't even know where to begin.

I assure you that if you automatically add me to your email list, and especially if you are nasty to me when I ask you to remove me, that is all the evidence I need that you are not in the right place to teach me, or anyone I know.