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How an Accidental Email Sent to 33,000 People Created a 'Reply All' Nightmare Hundreds of emails were sent, many begging others to stop replying all.

By Kate Taylor •

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Daria Nepriakhina | StockSnap.io

This accidental reply all at Reuters reached nightmare proportions.

On Wednesday, someone named Vince accidentally sent an email to 33,000 Reuters email accounts, reports The Wall Street Journal. Presented with a list of thousands of emails, hundreds of employees and reporters at the news company followed their natural urge in the situation: replying all.

Reuters employees took to Twitter to discuss the deluge of emails with the hashtag #ReutersReplyAllGate.

Related: Why Your Neuroticism May Be the Key to Your Creativity

The vast majority of the replies ironically seem to have been people telling others not to reply all – while replying all themselves, thus furthering the issue they protested.

However, a few took the chance to make jokes to an audience of thousands:

Related: Has the Ashley Madison Hacker Been Identified?

Poor Vince was just trying to find a way to fix the situation:

According to Reuters tech correspondent Eric Auchard, more than 600 total replies were sent in the reply all chain. Reply all disasters are common at larger organizations, with instances such as an NYU sophomore accidentally replying to all 39,979 NYU students and media agency Carat employees learning of lay off plans when an email intended for upper management was sent to the entire staff. Let this be a reminder: even if your company isn't made of 33,000 employees, double check who is on the reply list before you hit send.

Related: 5 Tips for Becoming a Brilliant Conversationalist
Kate Taylor

Reporter

Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor. 

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