Last night, one of my friends sent out a group e-mail saying that another friend’s husband was gravely ill and in the hospital. Just now, I replied saying “I’m sorry to hear it” and offering my thoughts etc.
At about the same moment, the original sender sent a reply to her own message, saying that he’s doing a little bit better today. Now I am worried that my reply will appear right after hers in people’s mailboxes, and it will look like I was saying that I was sorry to hear that he is better!
Part of me wants to send a follow-up message explaining myself, but maybe that would just make things even more awkward.
The message you replied to would usually be quoted, and everyone would be able to see that you were responding to the original message, not the update.
I’m not even part of this group email and I already feel irritated at the reply all responses.
It’s about ten people and we perform together as a singing group. We all know each other and normally communicate this way. The reply-all isn’t going to bother anyone.