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See Meta question How generic is too generic? For the no seeding desire.

I am reading through some of the questions and as said before some require one word / sentence answers or copy/pasted answers. lmgtfy already does that whole googling for us feature. If the question can be solved by a google search that explain the steps then the question should be closed.

It is my understanding that this site is for expert and advanced users of web apps, so these users should be tech savvy enough to search for it first.

In the way of the Trilogy, if and only if the OP cannot find what he/she is looking for he/she can then consult a community in this case WA. So far there are only a few questions that come close to the level of detail of the trilogy.

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The problem is that there are only a few hundred of us and we don't yet have many (if any) real problems we need solving.

If we were to limit ourselves to such problems then the site wouldn't have many questions at all and it would never get out of beta.

I agree that there should be good questions, but if you look at a lot of questions on Stack Overflow they could have been solved by a Google search or using the MSDN (for example). That said, a lot of these "basic" questions often turn up quirks and intricacies of a language or framework. I can see that happening for some of the questions being asked at the moment.

Don't forget that while we do need to attract the expert to provide the answers, we don't want to put off the vast majority of users who are (or will be) just after an answer to their question.

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  • Okay well then I am stuck/confused with what @Ivo Flipse and @Robert Cartaino are saying can there be some unified definition of what private beta users are supposed to be doing otherwise I do not want to put effort in trying to answer a question if the OP already knows the answer. I want to help but I rather someone did not waste my time.
    – phwd
    Jul 1, 2010 at 15:57
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    @phwd - Actually, it's perfect reasonable to ask questions you already know the answer to. You could be after a better way, or even just verification you're doing the right thing. But I do take your point. I'm definitely treating it as a seeding exercise, but trying to ask questions that I think someone would ask.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jul 1, 2010 at 16:02
  • Great Example : webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/902/… 3 people answered the same exact thing for something so trivial
    – phwd
    Jul 1, 2010 at 16:03
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    @phwd - maybe we need a "too trivial" close reason during the beta phase. If people start seeing that they might get the message.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Jul 1, 2010 at 16:07
  • +1 yes please ! :D
    – phwd
    Jul 1, 2010 at 16:18
  • Just because answers can be found in Google should not prevent someone from seeking more "interactive" solutions/feedback here?
    – IrishChieftain
    Jul 7, 2010 at 19:56
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Knowing what to Google for is often hard, so a good answer could be just the Google search terms to use. Often it can take an expert to ask to reword the question in a way that works in Google.

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