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Should I be downvoting questions where the question is something along the lines of 'How do I get x' and the answer is a link to the manual page for 'get_x' function?
I feel a bit bad about it, because clearly they're legitimately asking the question, but I can't believe for a second that they searched Google, or Bing, or especially the langauge's documentation.
The down-vote arrow's tooltip now starts:
"This question does not show any research effort".
So going on that alone, yes you should down-vote.
However, it's probably more complicated than that. How easy is it to find and search the official documentation? Has the OP got a spelling mistake (for example) in their code which would mean a search wouldn't find anything? Are they using the wrong term completely? Does the question actually invite a bit of explanation along with the doc link?*
*E.g., "I tried to add multiple items to my list with append() but got the wrong results. What can I do?" could be answered "Use extend()." but an answer really should have a sentence or two about why append() didn't work.
How easy is it to find and search the official documentation? If it's msdn then it's for all intent and purposes impossible! I can't believe microsoft can't get their search together.. [/tangent]
Jun 12, 2011 at 23:56
I don't think any question should be down-voted based on the simplicity of the question or how easily it could have been obtained elsewhere.
Sure it's annoying that some are lazy and don't show an initiative.
But my primary argument for this is simply that no one is forced to provide an answer to such questions.
Additionally, I think that people could also contributed additional hints, more info, references, links, examples, warnings, anecdotes, etc.
But most importantly, down-votes should be reserved for 'BAD' questions and not for asking easy questions, such as "How do I invoke JS alert() method". It's a simple, but it is also a legitimate question!
For example, if a question is "How do I use xyz()" and Google'ing it would bring you to XYZ's API page. It could be of extreme value to anyone to read things like "There is an alternative API to this library, click 'this' link to ABC lib", or "Be careful, this method is NOT thread safe, you could use abc() instead which is!".
I don't know how many times I forgot how to use the simplest JavaScript functions. When I Google it, I'm led to many web sites which I know the answers are buried somewhere deep. But I usually rather click on SO link because I know I'll also find the answer ranked at the top for me... quick and efficient!
To be honest, I come to the Stack Exchange network before trying Google quite often. Because Google will just point me to a Stack Exchange question 99% of the time anyway. I don't often use the Search box, instead I hit "Ask Question" and type my title then tab out, if the Suggested Questions doesn't fit the bill I continue posting my question.
So really, I don't think you should be downvoting them.
