How to not be a spammer

The community here 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, if you mention your product, website, etc. in your question or answer (or any other contribution to the site), you must disclose your affiliation in your post.

Here are some specific behaviors to avoid – even with the best of intentions, these will nearly always result in your posts being flagged as spam:

  • Don't talk about your product / website / book / job too much. Folks will read your answers for their ability to solve a specific problem; if you're good at doing that, then they'll find themselves more interested in who you are and what you're working on. If you respond only to questions where the answer can be something you're selling, they'll assume you're just here to sell.
  • Don't tell – show! The best way to avoid being seen as a snake-oil salesman is to demonstrate a solution, rather than simply asserting that the problem can be solved.
  • Don't include links except to support what you've written. Links are not a substitute for including information in your answer itself, and the links you include should always be directly relevant to a part of your answer. See also this FAQ on Meta Stack Exchange: Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer?

If you're here to support your product, please see this Help Center article: Can I support my product on this site?

Here are a few tips for writing well-received answers:

  • Always solve the asker's problem. A good answer should at minimum allow the person whose question you're answering to solve their problem. Not all questions can be answered this way, but if you don't think you can write up a complete solution, then you're better off looking for a different question.
  • Answer for the ages. If you want folks to view your work positively, write with an eye toward answering not just the asker's problem but also the problems likely to be had by those finding the question in the future. In particular, always explain why the solution you're presenting is appropriate and how it works – this can enable others with very similar problems to learn how to solve them, even when they aren't carbon-copies of the one you're answering.
  • Avoid poorly-written questions. Posting a well-written answer under a poorly-written question can just make your answer look worse. Also become familiar with what's on-topic here – and avoid answering questions on topics that aren't allowed on the site.

For more advice, see: How do I write a good answer?

If the only reason you're here is to sell something or drive traffic to your site, then please avoid posting answers. 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.