Junk folder should be called SPAM folder

[oldhoncho]

JUNK & TRASH words are synonymous - needs differentiation

[MattAuSupport]

I beg to differ.  Those from the USA tend to use the term Trash and Junk interchangeably.  I think, however, your local junkyard would take a dim view of receiving your trash instead. 

I do not think it is a global phenomenon to use the terms interchangeably, because the rest of the world got a trash bin icon and the term with the original Apple II operating system, until only those with US based language exposure were even vaguely familiar with the word. The British had a dustman who emptied their bins.  In Australia it was a garbage man that emptied garbage cans, not bins.  The US had trash collectors that took away the trash.

The luncheon meat SPAM is of US origin as is the Term SPAM for junk email,  but at a technical level SPAM is defined as unwanted commercial email sent in bulk.  Not all the emails I receive and train the junk filter to drop are commercial in nature.  Personally, I think the term Junk is the correct terminology as what is in my junk folder would be stuff it did not want, it is not trash in the US context as I did not use it and discard what was left that I did not want,  it is junk in that I never wanted it,  like a junk bond that I may direct to a special j8unk folder, or send straight to the trash.

If anything needs renaming it is the trash to be the deleted folder,  as the mail is being deleted from the system and the term leaves folk with the idea they can keep their trash.  Many IMAP providers auto delete this stuff after a few days,  so calling it deleted would be a more accurate reflection on what it is.

In the long run with the use of IMAP and it's server determined folders,  the actual names used for trash and junk vary based on the configuration of the mail server in question.  I have no junk folder with Yahoo, I have something called bulk as AOL and a number of other mail domain use Yahoo as their provider,  it has a fairly wide scope as a default name. With GMX and Google I have a SPAM folder.

My outlook and office365 accounts have a deleted folder not a trash folder,  but in the rest of my providers the term trash is fairly ubiquitous. It is always the case with IMAP, the folder names for various defined functions are subject to the configuration of the mail server not Thunderbird.

[oldhoncho]

Thank you for sharing your opinion - I hadn't considered the international scope of Tbird Email platform, however I still think it should be called SPAM - or better yet, have an option for the user to change the folder name to something more understandable

[Brissieboy]

I would like to see a 'Spam' folder. My email provider does not recognise 'Junk' so the only way to see potential spam is to use internet mail and not the email client - not very convenient.

[oldhoncho]

total agreement - with possible exception  - an option for each independent user to change the SPAM folder to any name they prefer in settings

[MattAuSupport]

@oldhonchoYou have strayed into the realms of internet standards, which Thunderbird attempts to implement.  Setting a user defined name for any folder in an IMAP context is controlled by the IMAP server, not the client.

Contact GM and tell them you do not want to use the term GPS for the global positioning system the install in your car and want them to send a knob with your chosen name on it.  It is basically the equivalent.

Some IMAP implementations use SPAM Some use Junk and some use completely different words based on the Language.  It is for this reason that the server is supposed to send out a list of "special" folders and their function, along with the name used for that function.  Unfortunately, not all Servers implement this correctly and not all antivirus program pass this informa5tion along when they scan.  The bigger the company, the less heed they think they have to pay to the standard usually,  and the more likely their implementation will go wrong.  Microsoft used to call such random deviance from standards "freedom to innovate"  Apple had another term for it,  but the intent was clear.  Their product only worked seamlessly with their other products.

[oldhoncho]

Thanks for the info

I freely admit I know nothing about standards - I don't even know what an IMAP server is - I was just looking at it from a user perspective - analogous to a user choice between selecting KM or miles on the car speedometer \ odometer

again thanks