I came across this "question" (now deleted) today and saw that someone 'helpfully' answered providing a link to a library, and a block of code.

This got my attention. The question was obviously just plz sent me teh codez1, and shouldn't have been answered. The user in question is unregistered, but has made several posts containing the exact same phrase, and recommending the same library. This invariably comes with a link to a website.

Since the user is unregistered, there's no profile to look at to see if (s)he is affiliated with the people who made that library, and the question doesn't explicitly state it, nor does it explicitly deny it.2 The library itself looks to be free, but that doesn't mean that it's not spam. It could be an effort to bump the website up in the search engine rankings by linking off of a SO page. (Among other things. GMail account harvester?)

I'm not sure whether this qualifies as spam, or in any case what to do with it. Downvote? Flag? Do nothing? (Hope that the meta-effect solves the problem?) I'd put a mod flag on one of the answers, but if it turns out to be ok, then it seems like a waste of their time.

1 Even to the point of adding an e-mail address that the code should be sent to. So bad it deserves this.

2 I'm not saying that it should be required on every post including a link, or even that it's necessary here, just that it's not included in this case.

The related question What should I do if I am unsure if a post is spam or just poorly written? doesn't really answer it, because they aren't unreasonably badly written, and the page the answer links to is related to the problem.

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    I wonder more about the "asked 4 years ago, viewed 400+ times, STILL OPEN?", but yeah the answer looks a bit.... weird – Patrice Sep 19 '15 at 14:20

The account is unregistered so I'm not sure if we're going to get any feedback from that user. I left a comment at the best answer and edited out the promotional part.

The other questions (asking for libraries/do my work for me) are deleted or on their way being deleted.

If you find answers with links to libraries more often than not the question is the real problem. Those are often open invitation to spam products. By flagging those questions as well as the answers you make sure those spam magnets are put out of order.

  • Thanks for the quick answer and clear advice, plus the assistance dealing with this specific case. – theB Sep 19 '15 at 15:34
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    Also, if unsure about the proper moderation action, the SOCVR Room is often a good place to ask for guidance. – Deduplicator Sep 19 '15 at 15:35

It's spam for a component by a consulting company. The only answers by this user all promoted this component, and they created a second account that also only promoted this component:


I've destroyed their second account, deleted the last remaining post promoting this, and sent a stern warning about self-promotion to the remaining account.

If you have any questions about a user like this, use a custom flag and describe why you think someone is excessively self-promoting. We'll look into it and see if we find a larger pattern of this. We can also see deleted posts and related accounts that may provide context you don't have.

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    Better have that added to smokey then... PR pending... – rene Sep 19 '15 at 16:42
  • I asked here just to avoid wasting your time if it turned out that I was being overly suspicious about their motives. Turns out my suspicions were correct. Thanks for the insight. – theB Sep 19 '15 at 16:45

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