junk mail DISAPPEARED

DougLass · 3 Sep 2023, 12:20 PM

I manage e-mail for my elderly mother, who has had a Comcast/Xfinity e-mail account for more than a decade. Her husband, now deceased, was the original account user, and he probably gave that e-mail address to everyone, not understanding how junk e-mail providers use these e-mail addresses. He died many years ago and, since then, their account has been LOADED with junk mail. Maybe 5-10 per day. I set up filters to pick out most of them. Those filters worked pretty well, and every once in a while, I just had to dump her enormously full Junk folder. They come from many and sundry junk mailers.

As of a week ago, all her junk mail DISAPPEARED. As in, she gets NONE anymore. Have a hard time believing that Comcast/Xfinity is pulling them all. E-mail providers can mark e-mail as junk, but they don't keep you from getting them in your Junk or Spam folders. But now she gets NONE.

What happened? Is there some common list that ALL junk mail providers use, and her e-mail address just got pulled off that list? This is kind of stunning, really.

Bamb0 · 3 Sep 2023, 02:55 PM

Maybe they made thier filter better

hadaso · 3 Sep 2023, 09:16 PM

Does she still receive other (non-spam) mail?
Is that Junk mail folder some system folder that her provider manages? If so then perhaps some policy was changed to delete everything that does to that folder immeditately?

DougLass · 3 Sep 2023, 10:54 PM

Any proper e-mail service filter is just going to label mail as (presumed) Junk or Spam, and send it to you. I've never seen an e-mail filter that just tosses mail. What if it ISN'T junk? In the end, that's up to YOU to decide, not them.

Her account does have a spam folder, and a few things do still get put there, but infrequently. It is cleared weekly.

Yes, she receives all other mail normally.

3 Sep 2023, 12:20 PM	#1
DougLass Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 54	junk mail DISAPPEARED I manage e-mail for my elderly mother, who has had a Comcast/Xfinity e-mail account for more than a decade. Her husband, now deceased, was the original account user, and he probably gave that e-mail address to everyone, not understanding how junk e-mail providers use these e-mail addresses. He died many years ago and, since then, their account has been LOADED with junk mail. Maybe 5-10 per day. I set up filters to pick out most of them. Those filters worked pretty well, and every once in a while, I just had to dump her enormously full Junk folder. They come from many and sundry junk mailers. As of a week ago, all her junk mail DISAPPEARED. As in, she gets NONE anymore. Have a hard time believing that Comcast/Xfinity is pulling them all. E-mail providers can mark e-mail as junk, but they don't keep you from getting them in your Junk or Spam folders. But now she gets NONE. What happened? Is there some common list that ALL junk mail providers use, and her e-mail address just got pulled off that list? This is kind of stunning, really.

3 Sep 2023, 02:55 PM	#2
Bamb0 Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,806	Maybe they made thier filter better

3 Sep 2023, 09:16 PM	#3
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,745	Does she still receive other (non-spam) mail? Is that Junk mail folder some system folder that her provider manages? If so then perhaps some policy was changed to delete everything that does to that folder immeditately?

3 Sep 2023, 10:54 PM	#4
DougLass Member Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 54	Any proper e-mail service filter is just going to label mail as (presumed) Junk or Spam, and send it to you. I've never seen an e-mail filter that just tosses mail. What if it ISN'T junk? In the end, that's up to YOU to decide, not them. Her account does have a spam folder, and a few things do still get put there, but infrequently. It is cleared weekly. Yes, she receives all other mail normally.