Frequently Asked Question

Updated 5-19-2021 because a new Spam Filter has been installed.

The Spam Filtering from Red Condor has now been replaced by Filtering from
FortiMail.

A simplified Spam reporting email and user control panel are shown here.

You should receive a Spam Quarantine Summary every day provided that some
suspected Spam was blocked during the preceding 24 Hours. No Spam Summary
== Nothing blocked. Here’s how it will look in your inbox:

A portion of a spam filter email is shown here.

Important! You do not need to take any action, as they will be deleted from the
filter after 180 days.

The 2 items marked with red arrows show the location (on the right) of the actual
button.

The circled item actually *IS* the ‘Delete All’ button, it will delete all messages
from the Quarantine.

The “Click Here” item in the screenshot above is the fast way to get to the user
control panel below. This works much like the “My Account” link in the Spam
Digest emails you may be familiar with. It is the reason that I recommend keeping
the most recent Summary email for a day or two;>)

Pictured below is the Spam Quarantine page. Most of our email subscribers will
never have to look at this page, let alone do anything here. You will notice the
web address underlined in red. If you follow the link in the Spam Summary email,
you will probably not be asked for your email address and password, otherwise, if
you get to this page by browsing to https://spamfilter.stellarllc.net , you probably
will be asked to log in.

Once you have checked one or more emails, the red arrows indicate a way to
release, delete, or do more actions. You will also notice a search facility to quickly
narrow your search to certain keywords or addresses.

A word about this Spam Filter… It is our hope that most subscribers will not have
to access the “More” dropdown menu. There are features for blocking or
allowing individual emails or whole domains. Please give this filter a month or
two to get to know its customers; it may well come to a better understanding of
emails that it should allow, and ones it should block.

The information that follows gives a more In-Depth discussion of our new Spam Filter
and different ‘kinds’ of unwanted email. What you have already read should give
you most of what you need to know.
↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
Changes to the Runestone Email Spam Filter

If you have an email address that is serviced by our mail server, this will affect
you.

For years, Runestone Telecom Association used a service called Red Condor to
block SPAM, a label that includes multiple kinds of emails: Viruses, Phishing
emails, wanton and indiscriminate advertising, and emails whose sole purpose is
to get you to click a link.

The hardware that filtered out SPAM for so long has run its’ course and is being
replaced by a new system called FortiMail.

As with any equipment change, there will be some differences from the old
system.

It uses a more flexible filtering process, with a simplified control panel for the
end-user.

Another thing you are likely to notice is that some kinds of what we call
“legitimate advertising” may come through for a time.

To explain this we need to talk about 2 different kinds of SPAM: The first is the
kind I mentioned at the beginning. These are sent out in batches to millions of
email addresses indiscriminately. Kind of like the unwanted advertisements you
get in the US Mail; If you have a mailbox, you will get them.

The second kind, which I referred to as “legitimate advertising” is from companies
who have a reputation to uphold, like General Motors, or Sunbeam, or Runestone
Telecom Association. It is very likely that, at some time in the past, you
requested information from them, or gave a representative your email address.

While these may be annoying, they “should” (by law) have an “Unsubscribe” link
at the bottom of the email, so you can quit receiving them because they will
remove your name from their mailing list.

Your login for the new SPAM filter will be https://spamfilter.stellarllc.net , where
you can customize it for your use.