Are you kidding me? Bedlam DL3 … again?!?
Say “Bedlam DL3” around Microsoft folks, and you’ll be able to tell the true old-timers. If they reply, “Me Too!”, or try to stab you in the eye with a nearby implement, then they’ve been around for quite a while. A quick disclaimer – I wasn’t at Microsoft when Bedlam occurred the first time, so I was spared the nightmare … once.
Anyways, some quick history on Bedlam – way back in the day, the Microsoft IT department were working on a new tool to manage communications and they created a whole bunch of Distribution Lists (DL) named Bedlam DL <number> with upwards of 10,000 users on each one. Well, someone sent an email to the DL saying, “Why am I on this list? Please remove me from it.” which started the nightmare. Almost everyone on the list used the Reply All command and replied, “Me Too!” If you want more technical details, check out the post from 2004 on the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog.
Well boys and girls, the joys of the Bedlam DL are back – different alias, same effect. We’re nearing the release of Office 2010, and as with all new software, when people have questions (especially if they’re beta testing it) they want to ask an expert. Well … someone unwisely posed a question to the entire population of the Office 2010 Dogfood DL inside Microsoft. Oops. Bedlam DL has been reborn.
One thread has become many. What I find particularly ironic is that people are using “Reply All” to tell people to stop Replying All. Thankfully Outlook 2010 has a wonderful new feature that allows you to ignore email threads in which you have no interest.
It’s called the “Ignore” button (shown below). Learn it, use it, love it. And stop Replying All to several thousand people … please!
February 3, 2010
Posted in: Funnies, Life At Microsoft
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