Spam folder is permanently empty and I'm losing important emails

[AndyA1]

I have the same problem - my spam folder is permanently empty, even when I know emails have been sent. It generally seems to be automated emails that disappear - normally password reset emails. This is really annoying when I get locked out of a website and I can't send myself a password reset.

[Gondola]

Sort of... a mail service suppression list is simply a stop on sending not a blacklist. But the sending mail service suppresses sending to avoid its servers being placed on a blacklist for repeated attempts to send to mailboxes that have blocked receipt. It's a self-protection practice in use by many bulk mail services.

The pre-2018 mail platform created a blocked senders filter rule for the mailbox when users marked mail as spam. The previous and current mail platforms don't use this technique to deal with spam.

[AndyA1]

Aah! I see! So because my account has blocked these automated messages previously, then the address is effectively blacklisted with the sender?

[Gondola]

The 'blocked senders' filter rule would have done what it said in the title. Blocked the sender and put the received mail message into Trash.  Which means that the mail sending service would not be able to deliver future messages. Any mail sending service that operates a suppression list, as MailGun does, would not send your email address any more messages.

You need to contact the customer service team and ask their email admins to remove your email address from their mail service suppression list and then you'll be able to get their messages once more.

[AndyA1]

Still don't seem to be getting password reset emails from websites though.

[Gondola]

Excellent.

The blocked senders filter rule would have been inherited from the email platform prior to 2018. Clearly malfunctioning so deletion was the right choice.

[AndyA1]

Thanks. When I sent an email from my Lineone account to my Lineone account, it went straight into Trash. When I sent an email from my work account to my Lineone account, it went into the inbox.

When I looked in the rules, there was a blocked user rule. I have deleted this and now the Lineone to Lineone seems to work. I'll have to see if the pasword reset emails from websites work now.

[Gondola]

Mail from discogs.com appears to be sent by either google servers or by the mailgun service. Mailgun does use suppression lists so if for any reason your mail cannot be delivered by mailgun then that service places your email address on a suppression list that then means they send you no more mail. You would ask discogs.com customer service to check with their email admins to see if the reason for no mail is because your address is on a suppression list. They can request removal from the list that then means you get their mail once more.

To check for mailbox Rules select here:  Sign in to TalkTalk Mail

Enter your email address and password, select Sign in.

Check the  Inbox first and then check  Spam and  Trash folders for mail messages that may have been diverted from the Inbox. Bear in mind the spam and trash folders normally contain mail not older than 30 days.

Select the New email button to compose and self-send the same mailbox a mail message. Check that the message sends without error, is copied into the Sent folder and arrives in and stays in the Inbox.  This is simply to check for normal operation of the mailbox.

Mail not reaching the Inbox could mean there's a Filter rule, including an Auto forward which is a special filter rule, that's diverting, discarding or blocking mail.

• Select the Main settings menu cog icon      top right on the blue header
• Select All settings
• Select Mail and scroll down to Rules
  Select the chevron icon > to see all defined Rules
  If there's no rule defined, that's perfect
• To delete a Filter rule including any Auto forward
  select the X icon to the right of the rule
  The icon background will turn red  X
  
• To confirm you really want to delete this Filter rule
  Select the blue Delete button

Let us know of any error message, or if mail did not arrive in the Inbox or disappeared from the Inbox. Collecting mail messages with a POP3 mail account or mail collection service, like Gmail, may be deleting messages from the online Inbox.

[AndyA1]

It tends to be automated messages that disappear - off the top of my head I can't remember the last one that did it. I know I can't get password reset emails from https://www.discogs.com/. How do I check if there are any rules defined?

[Gondola]

If the online Spam folder is empty within a month of expecting an email that just tells you that the email was not tagged as Spam or the sender DMARC policy is 'do nothing'. Which service is sending you automated emails? Do you know the sending email address or the sending email domain for these automated emails?

I assume you've checked that you have no Rules defined in the online mailbox that might be redirecting your automated emails?