How do I tell AOL's e-mail not to show all of the addresses I'm sending to?

Question

I like sending some messages to everyone in my address book, jokes, announcements etc. How do I keep the AOL e-mail from showing the entire list of addresses at the top of my messages?

Answer

This question was answered on October 23, 1999. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Many people recieve messages with two pages of e-mail addresses at the top that require us to scroll forever just to get some lame joke! It is considered impolite to share private information such as e-mail addresses with the whole world. Keep in mind that everyone in your mailing list will now have everyone elses e-mail addresses and worse yet "spammers" look for messages like this to add to their mailing lists so they can send you unsolicited messages trying to sell you something. In mainstream e-mail programs, simply put all of the addresses in the BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) section instead of the To: section. In AOL, you can place the list in either the TO: or CC: box but be sure to put ( ) around the addresses. (AOL's equivalent to BCC:)

Example (john@aol.com, joe@aol.com, mary@aol.com).

This tells AOL's e-mail program not to show all of the addresses in the message itself. Your friends will thank you for it!

Author

Posted by Ken of Data Doctors on October 23, 1999