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There's a related question about editing the text of spam: Should spam posts be edited?. I've always understood this to include any sort of edits on a spam post, including tag edits. The tag exert for the Stack Overflow [spam] tag includes an explicit warning

DO NOT USE THIS TAG ON QUESTIONS THAT ARE SPAM, we have a special flag for that!

I recently noticed that an obvious spam post on ExpressionEngine Answers SE was treated exactly the way it is not supposed to be treated on Stack Overflow - a 3000+ rep user has retagged the question as [spam] and voted to close it seven hours after it was posted.

So,

Should questions that are spam be retagged as [spam] in addition to flagging as spam?

This is not the same question as Should spam posts be edited? as that question is about editing out the text of spammy advertisements. This question is about leaving the text as-is and retagging the question as [spam], presumably to adjust its visibility on the site or bring it to the attention of users who might be interested in flagging it as spam.

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  • 11
    No, spam needs to be flagged and beyond that left alone.
    – rene
    Apr 25, 2021 at 18:29
  • Does this answer your question? Dilemma after someone else edits a spam post
    – Rob
    Apr 25, 2021 at 19:27
  • A more relevant duplicate is: meta.stackexchange.com/q/57371/323179
    – Laurel
    Apr 25, 2021 at 20:11
  • Laurel's comment might be grounds to reopen this question. In that question it is asked if it's OK to remove the only tag (since having one tag is mandatory) and replace it with another, to keep the unwanted post out of everyone's feed. --- In that case it wasn't retagged to bring it to some people's attention (as is presumed in this question), it was retagged to remove it from spamming people who are watching the tag that was replaced.
    – Rob
    Apr 26, 2021 at 6:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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No, Spam needs to be flagged. Period.

Flag link and popup I am flagging to report this question as ... first option "Spam" selected

There is no need to

  • add a tag
  • edit
  • close vote
  • down vote
  • leave a comment

Users doing that should be told they are wasting their and our time. If posts linger for too long, jump in chat, either the per site chat room, Charcoal HQ or the Tavern

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  • I sometimes leave a comment saying “This is spam, so flag it as spam!” for cases where it’s apparently not obvious enough, e.g. posts that stick around for hours and accumulate close votes instead of quickly being deleted as spam.
    – Sebastian Simon
    Apr 25, 2021 at 18:42
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    @SebastianSimon yeah, I see those as well. better do a "still live" in Charcoal HQ and star the Smokey report.
    – rene
    Apr 25, 2021 at 18:48
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    Please flag it as spam. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 reputation.
    – Machavity
    Apr 25, 2021 at 18:50
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    One should probably jump in Charcoal HQ anyway to check of the spam has been caught.
    – user707129
    Apr 25, 2021 at 20:32

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