The confusion is not just here. The problem is asked in many places but not correctly answered. The most relevant answer I have found is that the problem is a bug in cPanel, but I have no way of knowing. Let me try again.
Hypothetical domain: domainname.com
User name for hypothetical domain: uname
When the new domainname.com account is set up on the server, and with uname selected as the user name, a default email address is automatically created:
uname@domainname.com. However, unlike any other email address on this domain, this email account can be accessed through webmail with "uname" as the login, not "uname@domainname.com". Therefore, it is a different type of email account.
Since "uname" is the default account, it is capable of receiving TWO types of email: routed and unrouted. Just for clarity, if I create an email account, say
edwurster@domainname.com, all email sent to
edwurster@domainname.com will appear in that email box because it is routed to an existing email account. Email sent to
edwurster2006@domainname.com will not be routed to
edwurster@domainname.com; it becomes unrouted email.
uname@domainname.com --> routed email (to the default account)
edwurster2006@domainname.com --> unrouted email (no corresponding email account)
There are three options for unrouted email:
1. It can be delivered to the default account,
uname@domainname.com.
2. It can disappear (:blackhole: - not recommended)
3. It can be bounced (:fail:)
With either 2 or 3, the unrouted email never gets into the default email account.
My question has nothing to do with UNROUTED email. My question has only to do with ROUTED email intended for the default account. In this example, routed email consists only of email sent directly to
uname@domainname.com.
Six months ago, if I set unrouted email to :fail: or :blackhole:, all unrouted email would be bounced or disappear, as expected. Email sent directly to
uname@domainname.com would appear in the uname inbox. Now, however, after I deleted an account and recreated it, without regard for the UNROUTED setting (that is, whether I use :fail: or :blackhole:), email sent directly to
uname@domainname.com (routed email) never shows up in the uname inbox. I can log into webmail and send email from uname, but an email message sent directly to
uname@domainname.com never shows up. It disappears into the ether.
Something appears to have changed, and I don't know a proper solution. I am not sure about this, but if I configure the default email address to either "uname" or "uname@domainname.com", that account will start receiving all routed and UNROUTED email, which is not what I want. I want to received routed email in the default account that is intended for the default account.
In summary, the question is this: How can I cause the default account to receive ROUTED email while continued to ignore or bounce UNROUTED email? Be aware that if you have not tested this function lately, your answer may be incorrect, if something really has changed.
Thanks!