# Is there a name for this email variant of Murphy's Law?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 28, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563 "2015-12-28T14:43:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563/1 "2015-12-28T14:43:07Z")

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When an email reply is written specifically to someone besides you and nobody else needs to see this reply, the sender will hit “Reply All.” When a reply needs to be seen by everyone, the user will just hit “Reply.”

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**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563/2 "2015-12-28T17:05:58Z")

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human nature?

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563/3 "2015-12-28T17:07:05Z")

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Confirmation bias

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-email-variant-of-murphys-law/741563/4 "2015-12-28T19:00:07Z")

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Linda Ellerbee fell victim to this long before modern email. I believe she was working at CBS at the time, in the 1970s I think, and she sent a message out to everyone intended for only one colleague where she bashed management. Apparently it wasn’t taken too seriously since she continued on with a long career in news media.