We all have a good “reply to all” story to tell. I recall a friend at a Boston-based news outlet who, after going through a painful breakup, sent a heartfelt email to his former girlfriend — as well as the entire news staff. He darted desperately from computer to computer with arms flailing, trying as he might to get the Genie back into the bottle, but it was too late.

Because I blog here, yesterday I received a news pitch, via email, about a new book by someone who I respect.

I didn’t think much about the pitch until I began receiving “reply to all” messages from reporters and bloggers in various states of exasperation, asking to be taken off the mailing list. Some were polite, some were boiling mad. And as the flood of “reply to all” messages grew wider and deeper, so to did the cluelessness of the people who were, well, replying to all.

The irony was this: some of the very same people who were upset about receiving these “reply to all” messages ended up fueling the very problem that so infuriated them.

It’s sort of like complaining about someone who forgets to put a new role of toilet paper in the toilet paper dispenser … and then not replacing the toilet paper yourself.

I’ve received pitches from the PR firm in question in the past about various topics. They are usually very short and timely. This pitch was for a book that was interesting. Any reporter that can’t find time to read a short and timely email pitch should consider a job that requires less multitasking. I always try to personalize my pitches and don’t send out mass mailings, but in the end, information is information, isn’t it?

The big error here was not that the PR firm exposed the email list by not using the BCC field (a no-no that even my most elderly, late-adopting relatives now fully understand is a mistake). The big error was not responding quickly enough to the ensuing uproar. I kept looking for a defense, an explanation. An apology. Something from the the PR firm. Out of the office? A day at the beach, perhaps?

Here are my takeways. PR people, you are playing with fire when it comes to resorting to mass email blasts.

Reporters and bloggers, if you get a message from someone who has hit “reply to all” and it upsets you, don’t “reply to all” in response. Make sense?

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