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I was completing some review tasks for both Late Answers and Low Quality Posts. The same user's answers were coming up in both queues, so I looked at their profile (as they are a new user) and it seems they have just gone through old questions to give their own plugin as a solution to the problem.

This isn't necessarily "wrong," IMO as it appears that their recommendation fit the question. But I wasn't certain so I skipped them and thought I would ask the community here.

What exactly is the policy on linking to your own plugin when answering a question? Good, bad, indifferent?

Again, I don't see anything inherently "wrong" with their answers, but as my capability to review "Low Quality Posts" is fairly new, I wanted to ask for the sake of consistency with other users.

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It's not entirely against the rules to suggest a plugin to solve a specific issue but the answer needs to be substantial and well thought out. Answers simply linking a plugin that says "Use this!" is not a quality answer. Quality answers that suggests a specific plugin should explain how the plugin solves the issue and how to use the plugin to solve the issue, providing instructions if possible.

Providing a code based answer and a plugin as a footnote or alternative is also an acceptable practice as long as it's not being done in every answer you create. If you contribute to or built said plugin that should also be made clear. The help section on Expected Behavior states:

Avoid overt self-promotion.

The community 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, you must disclose your affiliation in your answers. If a large percentage of your posts include a mention of your product or website, you're probably here for the wrong reasons...


If you see this issue crop up in the future, please flag their posts as it will throw it into the moderator queue for the team to review.

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