I've been seeing a lot more moderator activity recently, at least in the places I follow. This is hopefully going to make a big difference to the quality of the content posted here, and I've very grateful to the people who are putting in the time to do this. Thanks guys and gals!
But, I have noticed that where discussions have been posted inappropriately, either in the wrong place or without enough, or any, prior research (i.e. "please do my job for me" questions) that the discussion is being locked to prevent further comments or replies. I'm not sure I like that. We should absolutely be helping people to understand better how the system works, and how to use it as intended. However, I think we should also try to be accommodating to people who are new here and are just learning how the community works. There have been a couple of times I've completely agreed with the moderator's comment to go and research the matter further before posting, but actually I knew the answer and wanted to help out anyway. And where I've beaten the moderator to it I've said "You should really have tried searching first - here's what you might have found (link). If you still have questions after reading this, get back to me." Or words to that effect. That just seems more welcoming and "community like" to me.
I know people are still working on moderator policy, people who know this stuff better than I do, and I don't want to interfere. What do others think?
