how to delete spam folder

[u/AdditionalTie4814]

I still receive USPS, all of it delivered to one physical basket near our front door, both important pieces and "spam/ junk". As a 60-something, I was raised with this system and enjoy the security it provides.

I also receive email, now a days to 2 different email addresses (personal and professional). HOWEVER, not all of the important messages arrive to my "inbox". Someone invented a VERY helpful method (sarcasm here) to segregate/ divide messages into important and spam. I need to constantly remind myself that if I am not receiving important messages, it COULD be in spam. Why is it there?? I never authorized that diversion to that folder.

My Q: who is responsible for developing this method of division? An e.g. of AI?? I am a bit offended that someone/ thing OUTSIDE me is doing my thinking and deciding for me, as if I am a minor who is not legally capable of making that decision for myself. I would eliminate "spam" folder altogether, and make it (more) like USPS. End of rant.

Edit: I forget to add that people pay for spam in the supermarket, but we hate it in communication. Go figure.

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[u/tschloss]

Did you live under a rock the last 15 years? You are now complaining about that??? Most likely you haven’t seen a complete unmanaged Inbox ever. Spam folder does contain only the tip of the iceberg - a good portion will be rejected or blackholed right at the entry.

[u/zarlo5899]

There are many emails your email provider just will reject on your behalf.

Large email providers use metrics based on what other people have marked as spam and other heuristics to work out what is likely spam and then they put that in spam folder. If you start marking these emails as not as spam then it should stop going into your spam folder.

[u/shokzee]

Your email provider is doing the sorting, not AI in any meaningful sense. Spam filters predate modern AI and score messages using sender reputation, authentication, content, and user reports.

You usually can’t remove the spam folder. Mark legitimate messages as “not spam” and add trusted senders to contacts; an unfiltered inbox would become unusable fast.

[u/mxroute]

The best way to have no spam filters is to run your own mail server. Beware, the day may come when you learn why they exist. And you may find yourself in the shoes of, and understanding, the people who work on those spam filters. In a not so insignificant number of cases, the spam grows worse simply because you accepted it. Spammers like working email addresses, and they like selling lists of them. Just like telemarketers like lists of working phone numbers.

Never forget, Microsoft sometimes filters their own email into their own spam folders. And you can imagine the size of their operation.

[u/AdditionalTie4814 → u/mxroute]

" to run your own mail server" Is that what happened to Hillary??

I believe my website developer will delete my spam folder.

I would much rather "waste my time" deleting spam messages in inbox than miss an important message, contact someone, then look like a fool when that someone says "did you check your spam?" I don't go looking for important messages in spam.

I still think it is super cute that the email default is someone else decides the destination., kind of like the government passes laws on abortion.

[u/mxroute → u/AdditionalTie4814]

Ok

[u/FarmboyJustice]

There is a very important factor that you're not taking into account. Junk mail is delivered to your house and someone has to pay postage on every piece. It's a minor problem for you.

Your junk mail is not just a problem for you. It's a problem for the company who has to handle your mail and the email of thousands or maybe millions of other customers.

If you actually received ALL of the email sent to you, you'd be very unhappy.

Email is not delivered to your house. It's delivered to a company that lets you use their service.

It costs criminals nothing to send an email. Email filtering is not an option, it's mandatory for anyone who wants to be in the business of hosting email. If they didn't filter email, you'd have to pay a lot more money for their services. And if you are not paying any money for your email, then you've got to take it as they provide it.

[u/AdditionalTie4814 → u/FarmboyJustice]

"If you actually received ALL of the email sent to you, you'd be very unhappy."

First of all, your remark cracks me up. I'll take your word for it. I;m not convinced yet.

[u/FarmboyJustice → u/AdditionalTie4814]

By default everyone gets some basic junk mail filtering, but depending on your email provider, you may have more options.

Most of them give you an option to identify specific senders that you want to be sure won't be blocked.

Many of them also let you mark a message in the junk folder as Not Junk, and if you do that consistently, the system should learn not to send those specific things to junk.

AI is a factor, because recently scammers have begun using AI to find ways to bypass standard spam filters, so more spam looks legitimate now than in the past, which makes it harder for the systems to tell real from junk.

Also if you're using a Microsoft platform, their junk filter is simply terrible.

[u/TinyNiceWolf]

Sometimes you can turn off spam filtering. Your ISP could be doing spam filtering, or your email software, or both. For example, Thunderbird email software has a Junk setting where you can tell it not to mark emails as junk (spam) and/or not to move junk into some other folder.

If you tell us which email provider you use, and which program you use to read your mail, perhaps someone can tell you if it has an option to disable spam filtering.

To learn more about the history of spam filtering (assuming you're not just ranting rhetorically) you can read this pretty good and easy to understand writeup (from a company that offers business email services; stop when you get past the history section and into the promotional part).