Recycled spam trap
A once-real address or domain that was abandoned, then turned into a spam trap after a period of inactivity. Hitting one means old addresses were never removed.
What it means
M3AAWG defines a recycled trap as an address or domain that may have been in active use by an individual at some point, then retired after a period of inactivity and converted into a spam trap. The length of inactivity varies by operator, and M3AAWG suggests 12 months as a minimum.
M3AAWG says a recycled trap hit usually points to poor list management (or a very old list), a lack of correct bounce processing, or both. M3AAWG warns specifically about segmentation changes that suddenly mail people who have not been sent to for a long time.
Suppressing chronically unengaged and undeliverable recipients, as M3AAWG recommends, keeps recycled traps off a list.
Related terms
On this site
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
- M3AAWG: Help! I hit a spam trap! (February 2023)m3aawg.org
- Spamhaus FAQ: Marketing emailspamhaus.org
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes