On the matter of "spamming:"
What is one to do, when bringing specific information to the table, but to post the information, along with the links?
I'll agree that sometimes people are indiscriminate in this regard, and perhaps I've been guilty of that myself. Generally, what I've tried to do, is to be focused in posting such material by way of excerpts, highlighting, and concurrent commentary.
Is that something you find to be a problem, as a matter of practice?
There have been days, when I could see the same article(s) (spam) posted on multiple threads spanning many days. I am not saying you did that. But often, you reply to such giving it your tacit approval.
I also object to spam or links to spam being posted that are OFF-TOPIC on a thread. RUDE, imo.
I further define spam as articles being posted that have an original author, and then the article is 'reported' in a position paper, and then the article is 'reported' in a press release.....ALL SOURCED FROM THE SAME SITE. 3 threads of the exact same material with minor changes in verbiage....from the same poster...sourced from the same site. This is,imo, a waste of bandwidth in an attempt to garner support for a particular issue.