This is an ongoing discussion among the mods. There seems to be close to a consensus that things have gotten to spammy. Just what to do about it, is another matter. There's resistance to the idea of just going back to the old rule prohibiting such posts entirely.
My suggestion has been to allow it depending on ratio of votes to posts, call it N%. Let's say we set it at 50%, that would mean someone with 300 posts needs to have more than 150 upvotes showing, or they aren't allowed to solicit. And no soliciting no matter what until you've made 100 posts. Something like that.
If someone not meeting that criteria wants to be allowed to solicit, they need to go make more useful posts that get upvotes. That way, the users are deciding who is allowed to solicit, and folks are encouraged to make lots of high quality posts. Spammy posts in general are going to bring down your N% count, so you had better make them count and/or offset them with higher quality content.
If 50% felt to spammy, we could just move the needle to 65%, and if that felt to spammy, keep upping it until it felt right. JPOW sets his federal funds rate to move the needle in aggregate, rather than making individual decisions about each individual thing, same thing here, just move the needle as needed to produce the desired aggregate outcome, no individual debates about the price of eggs or the cost of a new car.
And if a bunch of users with 500 posts and only 4 upvotes wind up banned b/c they just can't help but solicit... please hold the tissue I was crying into, so I can play the tiniest violin in the world while I attempt to hold back more tears. Boo hoo.
