On Monday 14 November, one hapless IT consultant from South East England accidently sent the National Health Service mail servers into meltdown with a simple 'test' email.
To avoid adding any more shame, let's just call her RL.
I'd like to think RL had a great weekend and was just settling in to a Monday back at the office, before she decided to log onto NHS Mail and send an email with the message 'test'.
Who knows why or what this test was for, but it seems it was solely intended for Croydon GP practices. Yet it ended up being sent to 1.2 million NHS employees instead.
Now RL can be forgiven for this accidental mistake, but masses of confused, even angry healthcare staff decided to wade in on the debacle using the 'reply all' feature. Thus 'Replyallgate' was born.
The only thing worse than receiving a random 'test' email when you log on at 9am is receiving hundreds of additional emails to the tune of 'this is not meant for me'. Shame on those people.
As a corporate member of staff who relies on email for many responsibilities, I decided to collate some of the best 'reply all' responses. Anonymously of course.
Some people simply needed reassurance that they aren't based in Croydon, and felt 1.2 million other people also needed to be aware of this need:
* "Please could you clarify why I am receiving these emails?"
* "I think I may have received this email by mistake. Please could you look into this."
* "Hi, I am not sure why I received this e-mail? Please confirm. And delete my email from your mailing list , many thanks."
Then there were those whose inbox (and day) was about to get much worse...
* "Why am I being copied into these emails. I work in Worcestershire and have had at least 6 emails this morning."
* "You’re not the only one, I’ve had 15 so far."
Others clearly felt that a shouty email was the best way to get their point across:
* "STOP SENDING ME THESE EMAILS. This is an operational email account, belonging to me, NOT a test account.
* "PLEASE REMOVE ME"
The real heroes were those with a strange grasp of irony, including those who understood the situation but willingly chose to make it worse:
* "We have all been receiving these emails that are clearly not relevant to any of us. It is potentially a virus or maybe a mistake. Either way can people just delete them and avoid spreading them further. We all know they are NOT meant for any of you/us out there."
* "Same here, I am based on the Wirral. Please stop replying to emails as they’re clogging up people's inboxs."
* "Hello, forgive my bluntness but I have already said once that I don’t know what this is about so can everyone stop cc’ing me into these emails please?"
* "Please stop sending me test messages – they’re annoying."
* "Im guessing this may be spam, but very annoying that for each reply sent im getting a new email !!!!"
* "We are all part of a distribution list which has been added in error to the original email. We can’t do anything about it. So there is no need to email saying anything."
And finally were these deft pieces judgement of the situation:
* “Test failed (3x crying emojis)”
* "I think you are sending this to the wrong MHS mail box, please check your NHS.net address before you send anymore emails to this mailbox."
Of course #NHSmail and #replyallgate were soon trending on Twitter and many staff were quick to offer some comic reflief.
To avoid adding any more shame, let's just call her RL.
I'd like to think RL had a great weekend and was just settling in to a Monday back at the office, before she decided to log onto NHS Mail and send an email with the message 'test'.
Who knows why or what this test was for, but it seems it was solely intended for Croydon GP practices. Yet it ended up being sent to 1.2 million NHS employees instead.
Now RL can be forgiven for this accidental mistake, but masses of confused, even angry healthcare staff decided to wade in on the debacle using the 'reply all' feature. Thus 'Replyallgate' was born.
The only thing worse than receiving a random 'test' email when you log on at 9am is receiving hundreds of additional emails to the tune of 'this is not meant for me'. Shame on those people.
As a corporate member of staff who relies on email for many responsibilities, I decided to collate some of the best 'reply all' responses. Anonymously of course.
Some people simply needed reassurance that they aren't based in Croydon, and felt 1.2 million other people also needed to be aware of this need:
* "Please could you clarify why I am receiving these emails?"
* "I think I may have received this email by mistake. Please could you look into this."
* "Hi, I am not sure why I received this e-mail? Please confirm. And delete my email from your mailing list , many thanks."
Then there were those whose inbox (and day) was about to get much worse...
* "Why am I being copied into these emails. I work in Worcestershire and have had at least 6 emails this morning."
* "You’re not the only one, I’ve had 15 so far."
Others clearly felt that a shouty email was the best way to get their point across:
* "STOP SENDING ME THESE EMAILS. This is an operational email account, belonging to me, NOT a test account.
* "PLEASE REMOVE ME"
The real heroes were those with a strange grasp of irony, including those who understood the situation but willingly chose to make it worse:
* "We have all been receiving these emails that are clearly not relevant to any of us. It is potentially a virus or maybe a mistake. Either way can people just delete them and avoid spreading them further. We all know they are NOT meant for any of you/us out there."
* "Same here, I am based on the Wirral. Please stop replying to emails as they’re clogging up people's inboxs."
* "Hello, forgive my bluntness but I have already said once that I don’t know what this is about so can everyone stop cc’ing me into these emails please?"
* "Please stop sending me test messages – they’re annoying."
* "Im guessing this may be spam, but very annoying that for each reply sent im getting a new email !!!!"
* "We are all part of a distribution list which has been added in error to the original email. We can’t do anything about it. So there is no need to email saying anything."
And finally were these deft pieces judgement of the situation:
* “Test failed (3x crying emojis)”
* "I think you are sending this to the wrong MHS mail box, please check your NHS.net address before you send anymore emails to this mailbox."
Of course #NHSmail and #replyallgate were soon trending on Twitter and many staff were quick to offer some comic reflief.
What made it even more amusing was that RL's email signature stated: “Work Week: Monday AM, Tuesday & Friday All Day. PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM FIELD BASED AND MAY NOT BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO YOUR EMAIL WITHIN YOUR WORKING DAY!!”
I was hoping that she was out and about somewhere, blissfully unaware of the maelstrom of chaos she had unleashed on healthcare professionals nationwide.
Alas, it turned out she was simply shocked at how it had happened. Poor form from someone in IT or an honest mistake? I guess we'll never know.
One thing that can be taken from it though is that email or use of reply all training is a must for future NHS eLearning to help prevent future meltdown.
I was hoping that she was out and about somewhere, blissfully unaware of the maelstrom of chaos she had unleashed on healthcare professionals nationwide.
Alas, it turned out she was simply shocked at how it had happened. Poor form from someone in IT or an honest mistake? I guess we'll never know.
One thing that can be taken from it though is that email or use of reply all training is a must for future NHS eLearning to help prevent future meltdown.