Keith’s note: NASA SMD sent this “thanks but no thanks” email to everyone who offered their services to the 2020 Mars rover Science Definition Team – but were turned down. SMD made sure to let everyone on the list see everyone else’s name/email addresses. Class act.
“From: “Schulte, Mitch (HQ-DG000)”
Subject: 2020 Mars rover Science Definition Team
Date: January 20, 2013 10:51:50 AM EST
To: [DELETED] — Everyone (more than a hundred) who volunteered but were turned down
Cc: “Meyer, Michael A. (HQ-DG000)”, “Tahu, George (HQ-DG000)”, “Beaty, David W”, John Mustard
20 January 2013
Dear Colleague,
Thank you for your letter of application (LOA) for the Science Definition Team (SDT) for the 2020 Mars science rover. I regret to inform you that you were not selected for the team. We received 158 applications to participate in this important activity from a highly distinguished group of colleagues, and the decision was difficult. We recognize the high level of expertise represented in the LOAs and will be looking to many of you to be expert witnesses to the SDT. We also are planning on forming a red team to critically review the products of the SDT and we will rely heavily on the LOAs to identify the red team members. We hope that you will consider serving in these important roles if asked.
We are delighted at the overwhelming response to the call, and with the quality of the applications. To us, this clearly indicates that the Mars science community is vibrant, active, and engaged, because of people like you, and we look forward to working with this community as we move forward with the Mars Exploration Program.
Best Regards,
Dr. Mitch Schulte
Program Scientist, Mars 2020″
With any luck, people will reply all back to them, and then others will reply all saying “don’t use reply all!”, and then others will reply all to that saying “don’t reply all to tell one guy to not reply all!”
I don’t see where “everyone who offered their services” was turned down.
Were you expecting a SDT of 158 members?
An SDT of 158 people? Of course not. That’s not my point. Its the crass way that SMD told those who were not selected. The email was addressed to more than 100 people. Look at the small version to the right. See all of the addresses? I did not include them out of courtesy to those listed. Everyone on the list got to see the names/emails of everyone else. The email says “I regret to inform you that you were not selected for the team.”
Isn’t there a BCC available on their system?
They cover email etiquette in next week’s email 101 class.
I don’t suppose this could just have been a mistake? I can’t imagine a reason for this to have been someone’s plan…
No one from NASA sent an “oops, we made a mistake” follow-up email. It has been a week.
I missed the date on the original email. I still think it was a mistake but the lack of an apology is unacceptable… Unless the apology was sent to each person individually…
Concur. Never assume malice where simple incompetence will suffice as explanation. It helps sleep better.
None of the individuals behind this email have sent a follow up clarification. Senior SMD management is not happy wit this incident. Stay tuned.
While this is a stupid thing to do, we should also condemn any email client that even makes this possible, let alone making CC: the default, (not to mention still having a nice big “Reply to All” button right next to the nearly identical “Reply” button.)