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Every now and then, when reviewing the New answers to old questions list, I find answers recommending a third-party tool or site.

They're probably not the best kind of answer but in the context of the question it could actually be relevant and be contributing something.

But when we see the same user posting several recommendations for the same product, and the specific user just signed up, maybe something spammy might be happening (or it could be an enthusiasthic happy user/customer).

Seems like there are users who (apparently of course) just sign up to recommend a product or tool. Sometimes there is more than one new user recommending the same product around.

Should we flag those answers as spam?

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    Yes, self promotion is frowned upon. People should contribute more than just posts that promote their own site / product / library / favourite blog post.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Dec 17, 2013 at 12:35

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If it looks outright spammy, it's probably spam, so just flag as spam. You'll know it when you see it in most cases.

If you're not comfortable flagging them as spam, either because there are so many of them or because it looks like an honest user trying to promote their product or service, you can always raise a single custom flag and explain to us that the user appears to be posting solely for the purpose of self-promotion, and we'll address the situation as appropriate.

The help center has some good guidance on what to do and what not to do in terms of self-promotional content:

Avoid overt self-promotion.

The community tends to vote down overt self-promotion and flag it as spam. Post good, relevant answers, and if some (but not all) happen to be about your product or website, that’s okay. However, you must disclose your affiliation in your answers.

If a large percentage of your posts include a mention of your product or website, you're probably here for the wrong reasons. Our advertising rates are quite reasonable; contact our ad sales team for details. We also offer free community promotion ads for open source projects and non-profit organizations.

If a user appears to be a mindless spammer, we'll usually nuke the account. If a user looks like they're simply trying too hard to self-promote, we'll talk to them.

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