What is spam?
There are several definitions, but a common definition is any solicitation for a product, service or event where the person did not specifically request information or any message sent to a large group of people that are not known to the sender.

How can I control spam sent to my account?
Computers aren't particularly good at distinguishing commercial solicitations from regular mail. How many solicitations for V!agr* or unclaimed millions in Zimbabwe or breast enlargement have you received in the last month? Probably a few.

On LivingFusion you have a few options for controling spam sent to your account:

• If a friend is sending bulk messages to a group, you can opt out of that group.
• If a friend is sending bulk messages to all friends, you can either ask him or her to stop or drop that friend from your list of friends.
• If someone you don't know is sending unwelcome messages, you can block them from sending you future messages using a link in their profile.
• And for certain messages, you can set your spam filter to catch the undesired messages and route them to your spam folder.

What's a spam filter?
The spam filter on LivingFusion is a process that evaluates each message sent to determine whether it's spam or not. Each message is assigned a score from 0 (not spam) to 100 (definitely spam). If the message scores higher than you have your filter set, it gets routed to your spam folder.

Will the spam filter catch messages from my friends?
No, messages sent by people on your friend list or messages from someone with whom you have communicated in the last 90 days are never filtered out.

What happens to messages caught by the spam filter?
All messages caught by the spam filter appear in your spam folder. You can check it periodically to see if it's catching anything it shouldn't. If it is, you can adjust the level of the filter or simply reply to that person. Once you have replied to a message in the spam folder, that message is moved into your regular folder and future communication with them will not be caught by the filter.

How does the spam filter work?
The precise details of the filter are not disclosed for two reasons. First, we will change it from time to time as we discover better ways to filter out spam. Second, if we explained how it works, someone might be able to figure out a way around it - which sort of defeats the purpose.

How do I know if a message I sent to someone was sent to their spam folder?
You don't for the reasons given above. But if you're their friend or they have communicated with you in the last 90 days, it will definitely not be caught. Other than that, follow the guidelines: no solicitation of any kind - even if it's for a worthy cause.

Finally, be polite and don't send a zillion copies of the same message to random people just because they're cute and you're probably good to go!!