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This question has just been asked on SO. In the description, they posted:

If You Have Any Sample Code Which Solve My Query Then PLease Send Me On My Mail TheirEMailAddress@gmail.com

Is it acceptable to post response e-mail address with questions (it seems wrong)?

If it's not, what should be done when it happens? Edit it out? Post a comment? Flag it?

Thanks.

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2 Answers 2

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Editing it out is the first thing you should do, no matter what, no questions asked. If you'd also like to leave a comment explaining that communicating through email is not The Stack Overflow Way™, then feel free to do so. If the user is truly new to the site and doesn't know better, they'll appreciate it.

If the question still makes sense after that and can actually be answered, leave it at that.

If not, either vote to close or flag for moderator attention (depending on your reputation privileges and the severity of the problem). Sometimes these types of questions are just spam, plain and simple. They need to be removed from the site as quickly as possible.

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  • Thanks, I think in this instance at a glance it looked like a valid question, although it's unclear how engaged the OP will be... I guess time will tell :)
    – forsvarir
    May 5, 2011 at 13:15
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    Could you clarify the reasoning for unconditionally scrubbing an email address? If the user wants to provide it, why should we care?
    – jscs
    May 5, 2011 at 17:34
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    @Josh: Various reasons; in no particular order. 1) That's not how this site works. If people email their answers to that person's address, they won't get posted on the site where others can see and make use of them. 2) If the asker gets responses directly through email, they'll have no reason to come back to the site and revisit their question. This prevents them from doing things like upvoting answers, clarifying in response to comments, accepting answers, and interacting with other users in any way. 3) Broken windows—other users get the wrong idea. 4) Soliciting email is very likely spam.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    May 5, 2011 at 23:08
  • Those seem like good reasons. Thanks for the response.
    – jscs
    May 5, 2011 at 23:35
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This is not OK. At best this qualifies as a signature (which is not allowed), and at worst it is spam. I would edit it out if the rest of the post has value, or flag it if I felt it was worthless.

(The question you linked to has already been edited. This was the right action to take).

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  • Thanks, that's pretty much what I thought, but I figured I'd get a sanity check :)
    – forsvarir
    May 5, 2011 at 13:12

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