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I frequently come across SO questions that have code snippets just copy/pasted from poor online sites and asking what is the problem with that code and why it doesn't work.

The main problem with these types of questions is that these questions shown no effort in showing that OP has tried anything for diagnosing/solving the problem. For example, the bare minimum that they could've done is that start using a debugger or just add cout/print statements to see what is wrong with the code. But they often did none of these things.

So, I usually close these type of questions as duplicates of What is a debugger and how can it help me diagnose problems?.

Now, in a recent discussion it came across the following comment:

At least one SO moderator has strong feelings about gold tag-badge holders who habitually misuse their unilateral close votes. And "lack of effort" is not - nor has ever been - a close reason.

(end quote)

The main problem that I've with these type of question is that:

If this is allowed, then I(or someone) can copy/paste 100s of random code snippets from online articles that don't work and post them as 100s of different questions on SO asking what is wrong with them without trying by myself to diagnose the problem. The user(OP) atleast IMO have to try to diagnose the problem and show us what they've tried.

Also, as you can see in the above quoted comment, the user has said the "lack of effort" has never been a close vote reason.

So, my question is is it acceptable by SO standards to close these type of questions as a duplicate of What is a debugger and how can it help me diagnose problems? when the user(OP) shows no effort from their side in diagnosing the problem.

If not, I suggest that SO should add Lack of effort as an official close reason. Doing this people can vote to close a question if they see that OP has made no effort in diagnosing the problem and then we would've a more accurate closing reason than as a duplicate of What is a debugger and how can it help me diagnose problems?.

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    ...then I(or someone) can copy/paste 100s of random code snippets from online articles that don't work and post them as 100s of different questions... and you can/will/should get numerous (heavily) downvoted questions, leading to a question ban, long before your count reaches the 100s. Never underestimate the power of a simple downvote.
    – Adrian Mole
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 10:48
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    @AdrianMole You missed the point. I am talking about questions with different IDs as separate users. I mean i know that if the same user asks these 100s of question they'll get downvoted and question ban. So i'm asking from different many different perspective. I guess this was not clear in my question.
    – user12002570
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 10:51
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    If you'd be happy having this question closed as a duplicate of "What is Meta and how can I use it to find out what Stack Overflow is?", then go ahead and close SO questions on the same basis. Otherwise, maybe rethink. Duplicates are supposed to actually contain the answer to the question, not contain a tutorial from which someone can learn to solve the problem themselves. You're confusing Q&A with an educational service. Both are valuable, but they're not the same. We are not the latter, even though you, individually, might be a teacher. (I was. I get the motivation.)
    – Cody Gray Mod
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 5:22
  • @CodyGray I largely agree with your point. I just wanted to help OP in these cases which i know that i can also do by posting the debugger link as comment instead of closing the post. Btw, here is another question that falls under the category of questions that i described. This time I only posted a comment with the debugger link.
    – user12002570
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 5:43
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    Have you considered users by posting an answer to the question that contains not only the ready-made solution, but also a walk-through of how you found it? I mean, yeah, a comment is kind of the least you could do. Which is fine, but it's ironic that you're complaining about "lack of effort" on the part of the asker while also seeking a minimum-effort solution yourself that provides no value to future viewers or to the Q&A site as a whole.
    – Cody Gray Mod
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 21:03
  • Close (vote) as not focused, needs detail, no MRE. Would that it were asking about using a debugger--but it isn't.
    – philipxy
    Commented Nov 16, 2022 at 13:02

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Simply put, we don't care if the author already knows the answer or if they are even interested in knowing the answer. All we care about is whether they have produced a useful and answerable question.

So instead of asking OP "what have you tried?" ask yourself: "is this a problem others might also encounter?" and "is this question answerable with the information currently provided?". If you think the answer may help others and you have enough details to answer it, then please answer it.

We don't need a close reason for "lack of effort" because it's simply not important. These questions can still have valuable answers. You can downvote lazy questions and many of them probably have been answered before on this site which makes them duplicates. But please don't close all low-effort questions as a duplicate of some generic question "how to use a debugger".

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    I see. So i won't close them as dupe of What is a debugger and how can it help me diagnose problems? and instead will only use it as a comment. That way, the debugger link can still help the OP.
    – user12002570
    Commented Oct 10, 2022 at 10:57
  • I'm not sure I agree with the reasoning here: because it's simply not important. Why can't we say the same for any other close-vote reason? One of the important effect of closing is that it is a indication to others that such questions shouldn't be answered here. The addition of this reason would greatly reduce rep-whoring and code-only answers.
    – TheMaster
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 7:39
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    @TheMaster Because low-effort questions are still answerable
    – Dharman Mod
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 8:52
  • By that reasoning, even questions in other languages are "answerable". There's someone out there, who knows the language and willing to answer it. Why close it? If the policy is, if someone wants to answer, let them answer, then no questions should be closed. We close it because there's no value for future readers and preventing potential answerers from wasting time on this. Right? Coz otherwise, closed questions can still accept answers.
    – TheMaster
    Commented Oct 17, 2022 at 9:08
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    @TheMaster No questions have value to future visitors, it's the answer that contains the value. We can't know that a lazy question isn't going to be useful until it is answered. However, we do still require that questions be generally answerable. A question written in French isn't going to be answerable by the majority of our userbase (and isn't going to be findable via search by the majority of our userbase)
    – Kevin B
    Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 14:36

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