Well, as one of those carbuncular email authors, and a reader who did not miss a single one of your exact words in your post, I restate comment #3 above:

“What it did do was ensure that the next day didn’t close with 5100 unprocessed emails, or that their week didn’t conclude with 6000 emails sitting there, etc.”

No, it didn’t ensure that. The next day DID close with 5100 unprocessed emails: 5000 of which were placed in “DMZ” instead of left in “Inbox”.

You acknowledge this outright, and gesture toward something else with your hand, “But look! They’re not in front of me! Clean slate. Only not.”

And I’d swallow that if you could illustrate the value in it. It’s bought you something that I cannot comprehend from what you’ve written, or you wouldn’t have been moved to write about it. So can you tell me what 5000 unprocessed emails in a different folder bought you?

Or are we not supposed to be challening in post comments?