Digital purge effort makes email better
Deleting is key, but so too is unsubscribing and setting up folders
I’ve been in the midst of a digital purge, and wow, has it made a difference in my day. I have four different email accounts at the Yuma Sun, three of which get a ton of the same email and spam. It’s like these poor accounts landed on some sort of mailing list from the devil himself, and it’s just a constant flow of repetitive emails.
Delete one email, and two more pop up in its place.
Email is a necessary evil, and each of these three accounts get emails specifically sent there that need to go there. Those emails were created for a purpose, serving specific facets of the Yuma Sun. But I really don’t need to get three copies of the same spam.
So inevitably, my inboxes overflow with duplicate emails, and it just takes a day or two of not being on my “delete” game for those inboxes to quickly spiral out of control.
Last week, however, I decided enough was enough. I had to get a handle on these accounts.
And so, I embarked on a mission to delete unwanted emails, block unwanted spam senders, unsubscribe to unwelcome email lists, and set up more filters and folders to help organize it all.
Systematically, I’ve tackled screen after screen, spending at least two hours a day on it. The process took time, but in the end, it was time very well spent.
A week later, and the system seems to be holding up much better. More of the spam is going into the spam filter, and emails that I actually need are easier to find.
Inspired, I turned to Chrome, the browser on my computer, and started a mini-purge there. I looked at every single bookmark in my browser, and killed out anything that was old or unnecessary. And apparently, I use that bookmark feature more than I expected … I was shocked at how much “stuff” I had stashed away.
My next project will be organizing everything on the Sun’s editorial servers. Once in a while, we need to go in and archive our old photos, move over copies, and do a general cleanup and backup there too.
It’s a massive undertaking, but I’m feeling inspired. I tend to think of spring cleaning as applying to physical places – closets, shelves, etc. But a digital purge is necessary now and then too – and having gotten through this one, I’m feeling motivated to keep it going!
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Unsigned editorials represent the viewpoint of this newspaper rather than an individual. Columns and letters to the editor represent the viewpoints of the persons writing them and do not necessarily represent the views of the Yuma Sun.
Opinion