Is email too unreliable and what's the alternative?

[UKSBD]

I must have at least 20 email accounts, multiple folders, spam filters set
up, all catch alls switched off, a junk email folder that gets thousand plus
emails a day (plus the odd legitimate email that goes there).
All of this make email a nigtmare and often results in me missing legitimate emails.

I'm getting to the stage where I feel like just deleting all my email
accounts and just starting again.
This will obviously result in me missing even more legitimate emails for
a few weeks and will also mean I will have to change emails at everywhere
I have registered over the years (which I dare say will mean I miss some).

I have used Mailwasher pro in the past (don't really know why I stopped)
Is that the answer, or is there a better alternative rather than just
deleting all accounts and starting again?

 

[Kev Jaques]

I had a bit of this very recently although not to that degree, I deleted the accounts, one I've had for about 9 years, far too much spam mail. For me it was better to start again and create some new accounts specifically for private, public, spam and be careful on where you use them.
It's a bit of a pita either way you look at it but I have virtually no spam mail now

 

[KM-Tiger]

a junk email folder that gets thousand plus
emails a day

I'd be willing to bet that 80% or more of that could have been rejected before it was delivered to you.

You might consider using one of the filtering services, that will deal with filtering for you. This is one that I happen to know of:

http://www.antibodymx.net/

and there are others. I think there is one called 'Clear My Mail' that is or was a member here.

 

[UKSBD]

I'd be willing to bet that 80% or more of that could have been rejected before it was delivered to you.

Yes, but there always seems to be the odd legitimate email that gets gets caught too.
Like I say I used to use Mailwasher (and probably will again for a while).
Do most people realise now that emails go astray, and if you don't reply
it doesn't mean you're ignoring them?

I've been in this position before when I used to have email set as catchall
was getting 20,000+ emails a day at one time, so ended up deleting some email accounts.

Frustrating to say the least.

 

[JoyDivision]

spamjab.com

Although if you're getting this much spam I would question why. Do you randomly leave your email address in posts?

 

[KM-Tiger]

Yes, but there always seems to be the odd legitimate email that gets gets caught too.

Yes, but in a properly configured system the sender would get a 5xx bounce message, if the rejection is done by the receiving MTA rather than trying to filter the carp after you've received it. And there is the possibility of whitelisting.

Agreed it can be problematical. Certainly in one case I've had to relax settings for a customer's server as their best client was sending mail from an MTA not properly configured, and either couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it.

 

[Grinstead]

For both personal & business I use Google apps (free version), their spam filtering is very good, tho you do get the odd one coming through, but logging in and highlighting that email as spam it will know for next time.

You can still configure an email client (i.e. outlook) to recieve the email, but with the ample diskspace Google provides your messages can still be kept on their servers. So in the unfortunate case of your PC crashing and you end losing all data, you will still have access to your emails and download then again to your PC.

I would also recommend making use of their Calendar.

 

[UKSBD]

Thanks, the thing I don't like about these filter systems though isn't the
fact they occassionaly let spam through, but the fact they sometimes
block legitimate emails.

I've just set Mailwasher up again, and just need to get back in the habbit
of using it more throughout the day so I don't get such a build up.

I've also deleted 5 or 6 accounts, just need to hope their not out on too
many websites.

 

[Grinstead]

With Google mail, if you find that a legit mail has been marked as spam then you simply unmark it and it will move it back to the inbox. The spam folder is automatically cleared out every 30days.

As the spam is handled via Google, the emails are not downloaded to your PC, which saves you from having a spam folder with x amount of unread emails.

 

[MH-Nick]

If you're being bounced between spam filtering providers, before giving up and going through the inconvenience of changing emails I too would recommend google apps. They've got what I would rate the best spam filter on the market.

 

[UKSBD]

With Google mail, if you find that a legit mail has been marked as spam then you simply unmark it.

That's my whole point, I get so many that scanning through the list of
ones marked as spam is a big task.

 

[edmondscommerce]

I hate email as well

don't have spam issues, but I just think email is totally over used when there are better messaging systems available.

If I had my way, anyone wanting to contact me would log into a special area of my site and submit communications through there. Then internal systems logic would decide what to do with the message, who to inform about it etc etc..

In fact I would love to build this system but don't have the time. Maybe I will get luck and find a client who feels the same way so I can get paid to build it (and thereby actually get to do it).

 

[KM-Tiger]

If I had my way, anyone wanting to contact me would log into a special area of my site and submit communications through there. Then internal systems logic would decide what to do with the message, who to inform about it etc etc..

That's what a lot of people use ticketing systems for.

 

[edmondscommerce]

hmm that's not really what i have in mind

 

[bluecm]

What I do is to have a generic email i.e. [email protected] and then I have another address which is not publicised (e.g. [email protected]) on the net this way there's minimal chance of getting spam sent to myname@.

What actually happens is people write programs that will search websites, forums, blogs and the like for email addresses and then spam them. So if your address is not found on any webpages you will (almost) never get spam to that address.

So when somone contacts you on [email protected] you then reply from [email protected] and so all client emails go to your address that never get spam. Then you only need to sift through [email protected] once a day as all your important emails are coming to your direct address and thus you reduce the chance significantly of missing an important email.

Hope this helps