One-click spam empty

[dewey]

How can we tell Google to add a button to the Spam folder to allow
one-click emptying of the folder? That or allow a setting so that spam
is immediately deleted instead of being routed to the spam folder.

[Zack (Doc)]

I can do it in two clicks, "Select All" "Delete Forever", but if the
extra click is bothering you, you can tell Google to add a button as
you suggested. That will take several clicks though, "Help" "Contact
Us" "Suggest a Feature" (fill out the form) "Submit".

[dewey]

The problem with your method is that it only deletes the shown
messages. If you have several pages of spam (as I seem to collect on a
daily basis), then you have to repeat the two-click method over and
over.

Thank you for your suggestion on how to "Suggest a feature."

[JonoWono]

ya go the suggest a feature

[Zack (Doc)]

If your spam volume is that high, I suggest you try an alternate
method. There are several groups out there dedicated to helping you
cut down on the amount of spam you receive. Spamcop is one that I've
heard good things about. I personally started using BlueFrog
<http://www.bluesecurity.com/landing/webmail2.asp?from=webmail&refid=webmail_gmail_FF&grpid=&itemid=Windows&user=&sPage=lwebmail2>
I like their approach, and have heard good things about them. I've
noticed a slight decrease in my received spam since I started with
them a couple weeks ago. Mine was light comparitavely though (less
than 100 a day per account, whereas you seem to get several hundred).
A 10% improvement in your case could mean a lot more message reduction
than I get.

[Breyean]

The thing that I wish they'd change regarding Spam is when a spam
message gets into my Inbox I check the box and then hit Report Spam
button. It would seem logical that since I've identified the message as
Spam, it s/b deleted. But instead it goes into the Spam folder so I
need to open that folder, select all or check off the message, and
finally it gets deleted.

[Dave]

I don't understand the need to delete spam. It isn't hurting anything.
I occasionally scan my spam label for non-spam messages and then mark
everything as read. I have plenty of space and the spam will
eventually get deleted. It doesn't show up in my searches so it isn't
hurting anything. Furthermore, I thought Google looked at the messages
marked as spam in order to determine which new messages are spam.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but by deleting your spam aren't you making
the Gmail spam filter less effective?

[Breyean]

I might be wrong, but it would seem to me that in order for a message
to get put into the Spam folder by Gmail, it had already been scanned
by Gmail. When I take a message from my Inbox and click Report Spam,
I'd guess that what happens - the message gets reported to Gmail as
Spam. Deleting Spam should have no impact on how Gmail identifies Spam.
Are you saying Gmail needs the message to stay in our folders for a
week, a month, a year so they can scan it as Spam?

[Dave]

Well I don't really know the answer but consider this scenario... I
get a message from a friend which is erroneously marked as spam. Would
moving this message to the Inbox then notify Gmail that this message is
not spam? Seems sort of inefficient but I suppose it could work that
way.

After giving it some more thought I do agree with you that deleting
spam probably doesn't effect Gmail's filtering. All it probably does
is make it invisible to the user and it stays in Gmail's system for
filtering.

[Breyean]

In your example, your friend's email that Gmail tossed in as Spam would
be in your Spam folder. Go there and you'll see a button called "NOT
SPAM". Check the message, click that button, and amazingly the message
gets moved from the Spam folder to the Inbox.

Seemd that telling Gmail the message is not spam would tell Gmail it's
not spam.

[Dave]

Yes that is what I was trying to say. I'm not sure anyone but Google
know exactly how it works.

[JonoWono]

Is there a bluefrog for internet explorer?

[Zack (Doc)]

Bluefrog is available to anyone to use, but IE does not have plugins
and extensions, so there is not Bluefrog Extension for IE, you have to
forward your messages manually.

[august...@gmail.com]

> I don't understand the need to delete spam. It isn't hurting anything.
> I occasionally scan my spam label for non-spam messages and then mark
> everything as read. I have plenty of space and the spam will
> eventually get deleted. It doesn't show up in my searches so it isn't
> hurting anything. Furthermore, I thought Google looked at the messages
> marked as spam in order to determine which new messages are spam.
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but by deleting your spam aren't you making
> the Gmail spam filter less effective?

If you only get 3 or 4 spam messages a day, then you won't have a
problem, but if you start getting 10, 20 or more a day then manually
weeding through them to find the false positives is anoying.
Anti-Spam filters are much like Anti-Virus programs. The bad guys are
always one step ahead and will find a way to get through.
I am currently recieving alot of Spam about overseas penny stocks.
While Gmail catches most of these and puts them in the Spam folder,
some end up in my Inbox.
I would also like to delete all of this spam with one click.
I have tried to create a filter to auto-delete these messages, but 1.
This form of Spam does not contain any text to use as a filter. 2.
Gmail does not apply filters to the spam folder. (I think this should
be a option on a per filter basis.)
Gmail could add a filter for messages that contain no text, but they
would just add a few random words to thier messages to get around this.

[Jim Barr]

Let's not forget that Gmail does auto-delete spam after about 30 days
or so. This nicely accomplishes two things:

1. No need to really ever delete spam--Gmail does it for you.

2. If you mistakenly flag something as spam, you can always move it
back to the Inbox. This has saved me several times.

And for those who receive huge amounts of spam, even if you receive 50
spams per day, what does that really add up to? If a message was 10K in
size (and that's VERY generous) that means that you accumulate about
15MB of spam in a month. Out of (currently) 2.7GB of space, it's a
small amount.

Yes, identifying fals positives can be a hassle with large spam
numbers, but so far, Gmail has been EXTREMELY effective in correctly
flagging spam.

And if you are really overwhelmed with spam, then my speculation is
that you likely have given your email address to too many
spam-producing sources. It's always good practice to set up and use
"alternate" email addresses to use to cut down on spam.

-Jim
http://GmailTips.com

[JonoWono]

you think people only get about 3 or 4 spam messages?
I get like 150 a day!