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!