I think the type of "spamming" that is most offensive is a robotic mass dumping of information.
IMO, Obi is not injecting himself in such a manner, but is instead offering a
dialogue that leads to
conversation, questions and answers. This is
not offensive, but
useful conversation resulting in a developing dialogue that many people are
genuinely interested in.
It is quite clear that may people are benefiting from these conversations with Obi, and desire to have him respond to their questions.
Those that find this dialogue offensive are in the vast
minority, and can easily
ignore the conversation by quite simply AVOIDING the thread altogether.[Is that easy, or what?]
Perhaps, as on other forums, there could be a dedicated place for such personal discussions as these that allow software companies to more intimately converse with users to answer questions and make simple announcements about products. Instead of guessing about what is happening we might instead know what is happening, and make our decisions based on informed conversation rather than mere speculation.