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Today I removed a spam link from an off-topic question (Removed for reasons of moderation) and flagged that question as Spam. Even after flagging it as Spam, I removed the link from the question since there were more possibility for the users to click the link that would annoy the user. But I got an inbox message saying 'please don't rm spam links'

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I tried to find the name of the user who sent to me but I was not able to see as that question was removed for reasons of moderation. I'm not sure whether it was sent my mods. Is it Ok to remove spam links from an Off-topic question even after flagging the question as Spam?

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    Yeah. That was not a comment I would have worried about. Still, this is a dang good question!! I have been removing and breaking spam links for quite a while. Thank you for asking when I did not even think of asking. Thanks for giving a ding dang!
    – closetnoc
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 1:16

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Reset to default
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Please remove spammy links if the question or answer can stay up without them.

If you are going to flag them as spam to be deleted, then please leave the spammy link in it. It makes it easier for the moderators to see that it is spam when it still looks like obvious spam.

StackExchange also has automated systems that classify and identify spam across the entire network of sites. Leaving spam intact for those systems could help them identify similar spam in the future.

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    I have been removing the links. I have even broken links using something silly. However, I did not know that there are systems in place to help identify spam. Can the system see the original question as written or is removing the link a mixed blessing??
    – closetnoc
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 1:14
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    I don't know for sure what the spam algorithms look at. Moderators can "destroy" a user because the user "was created to post spam or nonsense and has no positive participation." We have been told that this action is important for network wide spam identification.
    – Stephen Ostermiller Mod
    Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 10:44

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