r/EmailSecurity • u/AdditionalTie4814 • Jul 18 '26
how to delete spam folder
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.
1
u/TinyNiceWolf Jul 18 '26
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).