On Dec 14, 2006, at 1:42 PM, Mark Crispin wrote:
That's a problem with Trash and spam mailboxes -- "out of sight,
out of mind." I especially have nothing good to say about Trash
mailboxes, or those individuals who think that using such with IMAP
is a good idea.
Now hang on a second. While I agree about the perils of
"godzillaboxes" (LOL!) I like the "move to trash" model provided that
the client can be set to auto-expunge mail moved there after some
configureable time period. (I reject any IMAP client that doesn't
support this and coded it into one.)
The benefits are:
1: If a message really was trash then I only have to deal with it once;
2: If a message really wasn't trash then I have that period to change
my mind;
3: During that period what I've "deleted" still exists and
participates in searches but is otherwise invisible.
You might think the "hide in place and expunge later" model has the
same benefits but it really doesn't. To truly delete mail in that
model I must remember to "really get rid of it." (Otherwise we have
godzillaboxes.) Doing that requires I either periodically review the
deletion-marked mail a second time to selectively expunge the real
trash or expunge them all without review. Either breaks some of the
listed benefits. (And I find that selective "No I Really Mean It This
Time" deletion decision is based mostly on how old the message is.
Why not have the computer do that work?)
Further, to actually recover mail mistakenly marked for deletion in
the hide in place model I must:
1: alter the view setting so deleted messages aren't hidden;
2: un-delete-mark the message once found while pawing through a mix
of deleted and not-deleted mail;
3: restore the Hide Deleted view setting.
With a "move to trash" model all deleted messages are in one place
and are not intermingled with undeleted mail, I don't have to change
a client hide/view setting to browse them, (I just look in one
special place), they still participate in searches, and it's familiar
because of the common file system Trash / Recycle metaphor most GUIs
use.
In fact, I've often wished that the GUI desktop/file system trash
were handled with an auto-age-out feature rather than being both
manual and all-or-nothing.
Just my $0.02. YMMV.
-Mike
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