The Great Wall, by Herbert Ponting (1907)

The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Mongols in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Mongols after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the Mongols out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.

Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth.

As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls.

(from: Wikipedia article on The Great Wall)

Are you devoting considerable resources, too, to protect your time? Are you getting more and more sophisticated in your fight for an empty inbox?

And does it turn out to be as futile as the Great Wall ultimately proved to be? Do you have to retreat, step by step? Too many hordes of spammers and other time wasters raiding your northern schedule territories, establishing strongholds in regions that belong to you, at least in theory?

Well - what if actually they aren't raiders, but came at your invitation?

In this mini-series on inbox protection, I'll describe how you possibly opened the gates to some time-wasting scourges - and how you can close the gates again.

The series

So far, there are the following postings:

• Protect your inbox (1): RSS feed frenzy and blog carnivals
• Protect your inbox (2): Scrub your RSS subscriptions
• Protect your inbox (3): Goodbye RSS
• Protect your inbox (4): Go async!
• Protect your inbox (5): Dispose yourself