Is it acceptable to preemptively post a Q + A to "advertise" a module?

Question

Assuming I maintain or know a contrib module that solves a specific problem, which has not been expressed as a question on this site yet.

Is it acceptable to post a question + answer that expresses the use case and the solution, pointing to the module?

I imagine there is a fine line between information and spammy advertisement, even if this is for a free / OSS module.

Personally I'd say when doing this one should

• Only ask questions that could be genuinely asked by a real person, independent of the solution existing (see the comment by mponadio).
• Mention other solutions than just this one module, if they exist, and attempt give a fair overview and comparison.
• Mention that there might be a personal bias, e.g. if one is the maintainer of the module.

With these criteria being respected, where is the limit?

Can an otherwise valid question get a "bad smell" based on the author's motivation?

Answer 1

Self-answering questions is fine, and encouraged when they bring value to the site. These questions have to follow the criteria as the rest of the site.

It is difficult to judge what we can't see, but...

If the question, and answers that follow, is applicable to a broad audience, and would be of use to future readers, then go for it. That can be a generic question, or can reflect a specific need you have at the time.

If you have an answer/solution that you want to post, and contrive a question to match it, then we have a problem. This rarely reflects a real-world need, or is so narrow that the question can rarely stand on its own.

If you have a super generic question or need, and then write up a detailed answer about how all of the different ways a particular module can fit a variant of that need, then we have a problem. Without the answer, the question on its own would probably be too broad.

Remember: Question first that can stands on its own, then answer(s).

Users are free to suggest modules to answer questions. However, answers should not just say "use this module, here is the link." Add an excerpt to support how the module addresses the need, and perhaps a brief (or detailed) overview of how to use the module to address the question.

Users are also free to suggest modules that they wrote. We prefer, though, that they leave a brief note about being the maintainer (or active contributor).