# Email etiquette: the order of recipients **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638 "2010-12-02T06:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/21 "2010-12-02T21:04:38Z")
I put them in order of attractiveness. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/22 "2010-12-02T23:33:37Z")
For my family/friends, I put them in the order they pop into my mind. If they’re so full of themselves that they even look to see where they fall in the line, they better not bring it to my attention. I am generally non-confrontational but shit like that will stop very quickly. When I routinely sent out work e-mails: The people who actually NEEDED the e-mail went in the to: line. The people who were just being kept in the loop went in the cc: line. Anyone I wanted to keep in the loop without everyone else knowing went in the bcc: line. I rarely used bcc:. It was usually when someone was trying to get me into trouble and I wanted my boss aware without the customer knowing. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/23 "2010-12-02T23:46:18Z")
It had never occurred to me to worry about the order that people are e-mailed in. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/24 "2010-12-03T06:18:19Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > My question for \*\*masonite \*\*though, if you randomly shook up the “To” line, do you think anyone would notice and subsequently call you out on it? No, of course not, but I’m pretty close to my immediate family and we’re always exchanging emails as a group, and I’ve noticed we all seem to “honor thy father and thy mother” in this case just out of formal Southern habit, probably. I definitely notice the order of recipients in work emails, though, and I’m sure everyone else in my workplace does to a degree. You see managers first, important non-managerial players second, and everybody else last, in order of how much the sender likes them, I presume. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/25 "2010-12-03T16:09:06Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I would find anyone that could be genuinely insulted by where they do or don’t fall in the order on an email recipient list to be offensively narcissistic. This level of vanity and arrogance deserves swift and blindingly painful ass-kicking of the highest order. About the only people on Earth that I have experienced that care this much are senior ranked military personnel. If you are making a list of names that will be sent out and you have an O3’s or O4’s name before an O6 or O7… you had better know what the heck you are doing, cause it’s going to get really ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/26 "2010-12-04T05:56:58Z")
ok I’ll be the stand out here and say, yeah I think about the order when I’m addressing my e-mails to my family. I don’t BCC because we like to have back and forth banter about whatever link or glurge or LOLcat is being sent. Today I wrote **To: dad, sister, brother, sister, stepmother** and then before clicking send went back and edited the To: list so it ordered **dad, stepmom, sister, brother, sister**. Siblings already were in age order. Probably no one else give a shit but I’m ok with being the only one who is bizarre and neurotic on some things. Oh and ironically I never look at To: lines that I’m included on - I just care when I’m sending them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/27 "2010-12-04T07:12:20Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > You’re kidding right? You should be BCCing everyone anyway. I really don’t like BCCing when you with group style emails. If it’s a mailing list, of course. But if the recipients are expected to interact with each other, then it should go on CC. Or, actually, I just put them on the To line. BCC I get, but CC is superfluous. I guess it makes sense if I’m writing only one person, and sending a copy to someone else to read but not participate, but otherwise it just seems silly. And I never noticed that Gmail didn’t just put them in alphabetical order. ---
**Author:** ![myming](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@myming](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myming)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/28 "2010-12-04T13:31:02Z")
when in doubt - _alphabetise…_ ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/29 "2010-12-04T14:07:19Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > About the only people on Earth that I have experienced that care this much are senior ranked military personnel. > > If you are making a list of names that will be sent out and you have an O3’s or O4’s name before an O6 or O7… you had better know what the heck you are doing, cause it’s going to get really ugly. Not to defend this arrogant practice, but I bet they think that emails actually go like a physical paper memo, handed off from one person to the other. So the first person on the list gets the email, then the second, then the third… so the old men who still think in the stone age want to know the info _first_ even though with email it all goes to everyone at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Annfrances](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Annfrances](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annfrances)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/30 "2019-02-06T18:49:11Z")
Count me as a narcissist, but I do care where I am listed in order on the email. I got on the end today, and there was absolutely no order to the family members, just landed at the end. Another sister got listed for 2 different emails before me. Feel like the one getting voted off the island on Survivor. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/31 "2019-02-06T19:26:46Z")
> [@Annfrances](#): > > Count me as a narcissist, but I do care where I am listed in order on the email. I got on the end today, and there was absolutely no order to the family members, just landed at the end. Another sister got listed for 2 different emails before me. Feel like the one getting voted off the island on Survivor. Check your PMs. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/32 "2019-02-07T03:12:39Z")
I put them in the order they appear in my contacts list. Some of my contacts are firstname first, some are lastname first, some of them are nicknames, and some of them are simply email addresses and not actual human names. It’s a group email, not an heraldic ritual. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/33 "2019-02-07T03:25:25Z")
This is one of those things that makes me glad I’m a widowed, childless, only child, and both my parents are dead. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/34 "2019-02-07T03:43:22Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Prioritizing order in emails? People actually care about that? > [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Who the hells notices, let alone cares about, where they are placed in an email list? Right? I never gave it any thought before this thread appeared and I doubt I shall give it any more once I leave. What’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/35 "2019-02-07T05:56:39Z")
I find it bizarre that that anyone would care. I’m usually the first person listed in most department emails because I’ve got the greatest seniority. But, my last name is in the middle of the alphabet, so, I don’t care if I’m in the middle or last. For personal emails, I barely notice. If I’m looking at the email recipients, it’s because I want to know if Person X is included on an invite I just received. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638/36 "2019-02-07T12:34:39Z")
For my work emails, the first person on the “To:” line should be the person who is most likely to be affected or interested by the email, other affected parties should also go on the “To:” line, and people who are receiving the email as an FYI (but who are less likely to take immediate action) would go on the “Cc:” line. I’d probably follow the same kind of rules for mass family emails, but I don’t send out mass family emails. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-etiquette-the-order-of-recipients/562638.md?page=1)