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While adding usage guidance to a set of related tags on Stack Overflow, I found that the links in an existing tag wiki (twilio) included custom analytics. Example:

  [2]: https://www.twilio.com/?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [3]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/quickstart?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [4]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/howto?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [5]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/rest?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [6]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/twiml?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [7]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/csharp/install?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [8]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/java/install?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [9]: http://twilio.github.com/twilio-node/?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [10]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/php/install?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [11]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/ruby/install?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [12]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/python/install?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon
  [13]: https://www.twilio.com/docs/client?utm_source=stackoverflow&utm_medium=jan2014&utm_campaign=stackathon

Apparently the vendor of the software that the tag covers had a marketing campaign in 2014 that targeted SO users. I think that this is at least Uncool, so I've stripped the URLs bare, while also removing the marketing voice from the wiki itself.

Have I over-reacted to this situation, or is it OK for such links to be embedded in the sites?

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  • 2
    Can you please add the name of the tag? Before commenting about a problem that is actually occurring on the site, I would like to see a specific instance so we can see what is going on in actual practice. Dec 3, 2015 at 3:15
  • 1
    @RobertCartaino Done. However, it is a general question, because while pretty much any user can remove such cruft, it would be good to have a community post that supported or refuted it. I'd be very surprised if this was the only marketeer to do this.
    – Mogsdad
    Dec 3, 2015 at 3:28

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