Bcc: Use it! I'm confident that Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges is delighted that their new associate, Susan Estrich, has expressed such expert competence in her announcement of her new position. I wonder if she sends forwarded jokes this way, too.

If you forward jokes using the Bcc: then your friends go, "Hey he didn't send this to so and so and therefore I will."

And then your friends are PO'd because they get the same joke 50 times.

Oops! What an embarrassment for her, whether she sent it herself or had one of her assistants send it for her! This is for you, Susan: Wear it with humility.

Help the Aged.
I've seen the panel on a new message form, but what is its purpose?

Blind Carbon Copy, meaning the exact same message is sent to another recipient without disclosure as to who the primary recipient was. When using Bcc, customary email etiquette dictates that you send the message to yourself, while all others are in the Bcc field. CC is carbon-copy, meaning you want others, such as in a business group, to know all who have received the message.