3

NB: I'd like any discussion of this issue to avoid the use of the product name at issue, to avoid accidentally promoting it. I'd also like to ensure that the discussion focuses on facts and perceptions, rather than becoming a personal attack.

Potential Spam Problem

There have been a recent spate of posts from a relatively new user that appear to be very spammy. The goal here is not to call the user out, but rather to get the community's input on whether the remaining unflagged questions are:

  • well-crafted spam (e.g. unusually on-topic and potentially more relevant than most spam, but still clearly product-promoting)
  • responsive and on-topic answers that just happen to reveal a product bias from the poster

I'm cautious about simply editing the posts to remove the spamminess, as the edits don't seem to be hidden behind nofollow links. To me, that means simply editing the posts (as opposed to removing them entirely) would allow spam to remain on the site.

Deleting a post for spam, rather than just editing it, is a more drastic action. I'd therefore prefer to get a few more eyeballs on this in order to handle it as a community.

Example Q&As with Probable Spam

Questions

Answers

Call to Action

If you think this is spam, please downvote and flag the posts as such. If you don't think so, please post an answer with why you think this pattern isn't a deliberate attempt to evade automated and manual spam heuristics, and what sort of response the community thinks is appropriate.

I honestly don't think I've ever seen this particular pattern of posting since I've been a moderator, and would appreciate the community's help in cleaning it up or identifying a course of action that promotes the values we've built here on PMSE.

2

There was yet another spammy answer posted just this morning. After discussing it with another moderator, all posts containing this particular product placement were handled as spam.

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