I used to have an in-your-face attitude toward people who posted spam, often adding mocking comments in their own broken-English style of writing (e.g. "high qality SPAM, download now, click here flag spam now get banned! Our new product supplement gets your account delted right away as spammer"). I later switched over to posting what I thought were helpful links to our "How to not be a spammer" help document and gentle reminders that we don't like spam in our community and that continuing to post spam carries the risk of account penalties up to and including being banned. I don't have enough insight into general spammer and site dynamics to truly understand which technique is more effective, if either is.
What is the recommended interpersonal response to spamming activity on the Stack Exchange network? I'm faced with two extremes (treat the spammer as incorrigible and not worth even a comment versus engaging with them and showing empathy to encourage them to start a spam-free life) along with a fair amount of middle ground of engaging with spammers but showing tough love (e.g. "We'd love you to come back and post helpful content, but I will need to red-flag this as spam and ask a moderator to suspend you for a few weeks").
I know that trolls tend to thrive on drama and engagement, and so the recommendation is to flag gibberish, NSFW content, and racist screed as offensive and move on without engaging, but it's not clear if that is also the best practice for spam or if there is something that ordinary users can do to help wayward users without either encouraging them or violating the Code of Conduct (CoC).
To be clear, I know that comments are never formally required before downvoting, so it stands to reason that it's ok for me to flag spam as spam without also warning the user that I am doing so or recommending that they delete the post or edit the spam out, but I'm really asking about whether taking the time to offer comments is worthwhile at all in the case of spam.
I'm also aware that spam should be flagged as spam. I do that and intend to continue to do so. My question is about the response to spam that goes beyond the flag - that is, should I "flag and move on" without attempting to engage the spammer or are there things I could be saying or doing to help them feel welcome while at the same time guiding them away from spamming behavior?