| POP3 protocol is designed to move all your email to your local
| computer.
|
| Not true...it does not move all mail, it only moves mail from the
| account's Inbox on the server to the locally setup account Inbox.
|
| I'm obviously not grasping something here. Your use of the word "only"
| implies that there's some mail other than that in "the account's Inbox
| on the server", that would still match ...winston's description of "your
| email".

Winston is not clarifying the whole issue. He may
be using something like gmail, yahoo, or
hotmail/outlook.com and has simply forgotten that
not everyone uses webmail. Implied in his statement
is that you're using webmail that *happens to* allow
for POP3 access, such as gmail. Gmail is webmail. Google
co-owns your email. The whole thing is happening on
their server. Your email can never be entirely deleted.
Gmail just happens to also provide an option to
download it via POP3, as "real" email. But it's primarily
a freebie webmail service with all that implies.

POP3 email predates webmail
and dates to a time when storage on the server was
limited. People were expected to download email and
delete it from the server, so that it wouldn't take
up much space. In the days of free webmail POP3 has
become a way to provide a modicum of privacy
because of that history. The typical POP3 server is just
a service, not a freebie, spyware, ad-supported "cloud
app". If you use normal POP3 email you should have
only arrived email on the server and your email client
will typically be configured to delete it from the server
when it's downloaded.

So there's a distinction there between a POP3 server
and webmail that also has a POP3 option. Most POP3
now also has a webmail option. I have a number of POP3
accounts, connected to my own domain and to my ISP.
I never use webmail for any of them. I suppose those
accounts probably have a "drafts" folder and such -- insofar
as that I'd see those folders if I logged in via the web UI --
but since I never use the web version those "folders" don't
exist for all practical purposes.

An interesting variation on that is when people have
apparently POP3 email but it's actually freebie webmail
under the surface. For instance, many colleges now
cut corners by subbing out student email to the likes
of Google. Does Google reserve the right to keep, store
and spy on email belonging to
? Does Debbie get
accosted with targetted ads to save a buck for the
college? I don't know.