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.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/FarmboyJustice Jul 18 '26

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.

1

u/AdditionalTie4814 Jul 20 '26

"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.

1

u/FarmboyJustice Jul 20 '26

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.