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I came a across a spam answer on this question advertising clothes and the like, which I have already flagged for moderator attention. However in this situation is it recommended to down vote the answer in addition to flagging it?

My instinct is not to down vote, and to just have a mod remove it as soon as possible.

Update: the spam post has now been removed, but I'd still appreciate a definitive answer on this one.

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Definitely flag the post. As far as downvoting, I personally don't see any harm or benefit to doing so. The spam account will be immediately deleted. If you don't want to get the -1 for downvoting, then you can leave it.

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    Once the post is deleted, the -1 for downvoting can be reclaimed: simply visit /reputation, scroll to the bottom, and click on the "Trigger Reputation Recalc" button.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Jan 13, 2011 at 9:35
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    @RegDwight, yes, so there's not much point downvoting, I'd say.
    – Benjol
    Commented Jan 17, 2011 at 14:17
  • @Benjol: interesting. I actually meant that the downvoter can get his -1 rep back, so there's no point in not downvoting, but yeah, you're right: the downvoted person can reclaim his rep, too, so there's no point in not not downvoting... Hmm.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Jan 17, 2011 at 20:53
  • @RegDwight: Doesn't the community-user take over the downvote, returning your rep to you (the downvoter), when the question gets deleted? Whereas the spammer still has the downvote recorded against him and can therefore not get his back even if he recalcs?
    – SamB
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 15:58
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If an answer is downvoted such that it has a net score of -3 or less, then it goes from normal black text to grey text.

Also, downvoting the post probably makes you feel better, like swearing when you experience pain.

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  • This is the main reason why I always downvote spam answers, and also add a comment clearly stating that it is spam (if it isn’t blatantly obvious from the answer itself). If it takes a while before the answer is deleted, at least it will be clear to people who find the page randomly via Google or to new users that this is in fact spam and can safely be ignored.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Aug 25, 2013 at 18:44

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