I would use a different approach...

I would provide a detailed answered to someone who is showing his effort, research and his will to learn. And for those who ask silly question, i'll just provide a hint - and send them to do their homework - no free meal.

As Stack Overflow becomes bigger, you can't control the crowd - and as you would like new people around, they'll have to go through some learning curve. if you'll cut off their hands too soon - they won't be here.

On the other hand, having so many rep 1 users (~2M), means they have a separate community within Stack Overflow which the moderators can't control - how would you control so many people asking so many questions and answering so many answers.

I personally started asking silly questions myself and answering silly questions of others, and slowly become knowledgeable of the site's goal and now trying to help other newcomers understand this - but it takes time.. and we have to accept it.

Acting cynical or imposing more moderator control will just cause this community to become a "dictatorship" of the elite guild which means the site will slowly lose its reputation.

So professionals and others with high reputation...

1. Contribute from your experience and wealth of knowledge to others - this is what Stack Overflow is all about.
2. Control the level of your answer's details pending on the level of question - no free meals.
3. Try to mentor the submitter to eventually level up his "asking" skills - usually he doesn't know what you are expecting him - even if he read all the Help Center, How to Ask, etc... (some people don't know practically how to make the simple, complete example...)
4. It is our mutual goal (moderators, high rep, and newbies) to sustain the knowledge/skill levels in the community - if the professionals/high rep won't teach/train the newbies - there will be no contentiousness to the community and the knowledge it preserve.

I would use a different approach...

I would provide a detailed answer to someone who is showing his effort, research and his willness to learn. And for those who ask a silly question, I'll just provide a hint - and send them to do their homework - no free meal.

As Stack Overflow becomes bigger, you can't control the crowd - and as you would like new people around, they'll have to go through some learning curve. If you'll cut off their hands too soon - they won't be here.

On the other hand, having so many rep 1 users (~2M), means they have a separate community within Stack Overflow which the moderators can't control - how would you control so many people asking so many questions and answering so many answers.

I personally started asking silly questions myself and answering silly questions of others, and slowly become knowledgeable of the site's goal and now trying to help other newcomers understand this - but it takes time.. and we have to accept it.

Acting cynical or imposing more moderator control will just cause this community to become a "dictatorship" of the elite guild which means the site will slowly lose its reputation.

So professionals and others with high reputation...

1. Contribute from your experience and wealth of knowledge to others - this is what Stack Overflow is all about.
2. Control the level of your answer's details pending on the level of question - no free meals.
3. Try to mentor the submitter to eventually level up his "asking" skills - usually he doesn't know what you are expecting him - even if he read all the Help Center, How to Ask, etc... (some people don't know practically how to make the simple, complete example...)
4. It is our mutual goal (moderators, high rep, and newbies) to sustain the knowledge/skill levels in the community - if the professionals/high rep won't teach/train the newbies - there will be no contentiousness to the community and the knowledge it preserves.

I would use a different approach...

i would provide a detailed answered to someone who is showing his effort, research and his will to learn. And for those who ask silly question, i'll just provide a hint - and send them to do their homework - no free meal.

As Stack Overflow becomes bigger, you can't control the crowd - and as you would like new people around, they'll have to go through some learning curve. if you'll cut off their hands too soon - they won't be here.

On the other hand, having so many rep 1 users (~2M), means they have a separate community within Stack Overflow which the moderators can't control - how would you control so many people asking so many questions and answering so many answers.

I personally started asking silly questions myself and answering silly questions of others, and slowly become knowledgeable of the site's goal and now trying to help other newcomers understand this - but it takes time.. and we have to accept it.

Acting cynical or imposing more moderator control will just cause this community to become a "dictatorship" of the elite guild which means the site will slowly lose its reputation.

So professionals and others with high reputation...

1. Contribute from your experience and wealth of knowledge to others - this is what Stack Overflow is all about.
2. Control the level of your answer's details pending on the level of question - no free meals.
3. Try to mentor the submitter to eventually level up his "asking" skills - usually he doesn't know what you are expecting him - even if he read all the Help Center, How to Ask, etc... (some people don't know practically how to make the simple, complete example...)
4. It is our mutual goal (moderators, high rep, and newbies) to sustain the knowledge/skill levels in the community - if the professionals/high rep won't teach/train the newbies - there will be no contentiousness to the community and the knowledge it preserve.

I would use a different approach...

I would provide a detailed answered to someone who is showing his effort, research and his will to learn. And for those who ask silly question, i'll just provide a hint - and send them to do their homework - no free meal.

As Stack Overflow becomes bigger, you can't control the crowd - and as you would like new people around, they'll have to go through some learning curve. if you'll cut off their hands too soon - they won't be here.

On the other hand, having so many rep 1 users (~2M), means they have a separate community within Stack Overflow which the moderators can't control - how would you control so many people asking so many questions and answering so many answers.

I personally started asking silly questions myself and answering silly questions of others, and slowly become knowledgeable of the site's goal and now trying to help other newcomers understand this - but it takes time.. and we have to accept it.

Acting cynical or imposing more moderator control will just cause this community to become a "dictatorship" of the elite guild which means the site will slowly lose its reputation.

So professionals and others with high reputation...

1. Contribute from your experience and wealth of knowledge to others - this is what Stack Overflow is all about.
2. Control the level of your answer's details pending on the level of question - no free meals.
3. Try to mentor the submitter to eventually level up his "asking" skills - usually he doesn't know what you are expecting him - even if he read all the Help Center, How to Ask, etc... (some people don't know practically how to make the simple, complete example...)
4. It is our mutual goal (moderators, high rep, and newbies) to sustain the knowledge/skill levels in the community - if the professionals/high rep won't teach/train the newbies - there will be no contentiousness to the community and the knowledge it preserve.