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Is this answer spam or is it acceptable?

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    They're upfront about who they are and haven't posted any links, just e-mail addressed and phone numbers, so in this case I'd say it's OK.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 0:03
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    Not so sure I really like it - regardless of whether links are posted.
    – IAbstract
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 0:08
  • It might also encourage companies to post contrived questions so they can "answer" it.
    – hyperslug
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 19:55

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I think offering services would be OK, IFF the company makes a solid attempt to answer the question first, and makes an offer for their services for additional help or a more comprehensive solution as an addendum or something at the end of their answer.

This one didn't attempt to address the question at all, so I'm inclined to lean toward the spam view on it. (As for the links, I didn't think 1-rep users could add links...) An answer that detailed the many ways the import may be difficult, some of the later things that are likely to crop up, etc. would also have made me view the pitch for services in a better light... after all, it may be that the best solution really is "pay me to fix this for you".

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    I edited out the 6 lines of "awards" they put in their answer
    – Earlz
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 0:20
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    @Earlz: Thanks. This removes any doubt of intent.
    – uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐN
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 0:21
  • @Earlz: heh. Yeah, my eyes had already glazed over by the time I got to those.
    – retracile
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 0:22
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    MYOB Exonet Victorian Partner of the year? Does that have any connection with BYOB?
    – Pekka
    Commented May 15, 2010 at 7:54
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I really don't think it should be done on here. Maybe if they offered in the comments. Maybe.

But the whole purpose of Stackoverflow is for the community to benefit from answers, it is not a place to hawk new clients who are having problems.

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If every company posted a StackOverflow answer, then we'd be flooded. A comment might be okay, maybe.

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Do you think your reaction be any different if they had a higher rep score?

Say they had 10k rep., their answer would be more like "We've done this before, we had to do ABC then DEF but don't do XYZ or it will blow up. Contact us if you get stuck"

As it stands, until they change their attitude, their answers aren't going to get upvoted.

I don't think there is much you can do to prevent this. It's quite easy to setup an rss feed on a tag.

The fact that they had +1 tells me they won't be around for long...

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