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You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're trying to create a library of reusable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it works, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.

You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're trying to create a library of reusable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it works, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.

You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're trying to create a library of reusable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it works, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.

You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're trying to create a library of reusable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it works, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.

You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're try to create a library of re-usable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it work, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.

You're conflating three different forms of "effort":

1. Research effort: has the asker searched for a solution before asking?

2. Definition effort: has the asker put enough thought into the problem to formulate a clear, specific question?

3. Problem-solving effort: has the asker done anything to solve the problem himself before asking?

We have a close reason for #1: Duplicate.

We have multiple close reasons for #2: Unclear, Too Broad and a grab-bag of more specific reasons under Off Topic.

We do not have a close reason for #3 though, because:

• Judging problem-solving effort is really subjective. Assuming sufficient research and definition effort, you're left to make a decision as to whether or not the asker has suffered enough yet; this quickly turns into a sick Milgram experiment.

• Trying to maximize effort actively subverts the purpose of this site. We're trying to create a library of reusable information here, with the idea that if someone takes the time to define their problem and then search for it they won't have to ask a question at all! When it works, any answer can go on to benefit many people beyond the person who asked the question... But that also means that the majority of folks using a given answer are putting in zero problem-solving effort beyond what is needed for #1 and #2.

  You see the problem here? If we disallow all questions that don't require investment beyond research, we give up the ability for folks to research their problems using Stack Overflow, and end up with a library of questions so specific to their askers as to be worthless to anyone else.

Effort is useful when it produces results - so we moderate those results. If your question is clear enough, specific enough and unique enough to prompt the addition of useful information to our corpus, then it has value; otherwise, it does not. The close reasons strive to reflect this goal.