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I think you all are still correct but some of us have some personal problems due to which we come to sites like this. I think we should be treated well.

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    $\begingroup$ "I think we should be treated well." - We are sorry you're not satisfied and we are processing your refund now. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Apr 3, 2016 at 20:58
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    $\begingroup$ I admit I am out of sync with the "homework question" philosophy here, but I feel that a better way to respond to a new person asking for homework help would be to try to explain to them why just having someone do the problem for them won't teach them anything, and that's why I would not provide a full solution. But I would try to see if I can guess where their main issue might be and try to help a little with that. I don't think anyone should react angrily to a question with a homework "look" to it. $\endgroup$
    – user55515
    Apr 4, 2016 at 0:37
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    $\begingroup$ Note that there are forums online focused on homework help. This forum is focused on active research and advanced education. $\endgroup$
    – garyp
    Apr 4, 2016 at 0:41
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    $\begingroup$ @user55515 By all means, do explain that while you're motivated to do it. The rest of us, after doing it dozens and dozens of times and usually drawing entitled, angry responses from the person we try to advise, have just resorted to downvoting, voting to close, and moving on :) But it's always good to have motivated, non-jaded people who want to make an effort when the rest of us have become grumpy and bitter... $\endgroup$
    – tpg2114
    Apr 4, 2016 at 1:28
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    $\begingroup$ Oh, on a good day, I'll still do one. Especially if it seems that the asker is well prepared to make the transition from "show me how to solve this problem" to "I don't get what is up with this principle". But I get a positive response less than half the time. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 4, 2016 at 1:33
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    $\begingroup$ @garyp This forum is focused on active research and advanced education I always thought the Stack forums were for ordinary people to ask questions of experts, not for experts to ask questions of each other. $\endgroup$
    – user854
    Apr 4, 2016 at 12:27
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    $\begingroup$ @barrycarter The first line of the SE tour: "Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics and astronomy." There is certainly room for serious students with serious questions. But just as you might be frustrated by our response, we get frustrated by questions that are off-topic, not serious, or by posters who steadfastly refuse to listen to what we are trying to say with our volunteered time. There are other physics forums for general questions. $\endgroup$
    – garyp
    Apr 4, 2016 at 15:20
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    $\begingroup$ @garyp I have two problems with that statement 1) for a long time, astronomy questions were rejected here, and astronomy had to form its own site, and 2) "students of physics and astronomy" is not equivalent to "advanced education". Perhaps the statement could be modified to indicate what the site means by "student of physics"? $\endgroup$
    – user854
    Apr 4, 2016 at 16:08
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    $\begingroup$ @barrycarter: AFAIK, Astro queries have always been on topic (and very much still are, despite the 2nd Astro site in beta) $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Apr 4, 2016 at 17:02
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    $\begingroup$ Physics questions related to astronomy or in a astronomical context were never off-topic here, but as we weren't handling questions about telescopes and the culture is different, so an astronomy site was formed. And it died and we absorbed almost all its questions. Then another astronomy site was formed. And we wish them the best. Again. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 4, 2016 at 17:05
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    $\begingroup$ @garyp I have to say that while "This forum is focused on active research and advanced education." expresses my aspirations for the site, it's not really a description of what goes on. We actually answer a heck of a lot of very basic questions. The thing we're tough on is not level, but form. We mostly insist that questions are framed in terms of ideas instead of exercises. And it makes a significant difference to the feel of the site. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 4, 2016 at 17:08
  • $\begingroup$ @dmckee Yes, I rather regret my wording, and my mood when I wrote that. Your wording expresses much better how I'd like to see things work. $\endgroup$
    – garyp
    Apr 4, 2016 at 19:22
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    $\begingroup$ @barrycarter You have every reason to object to my statements. They were out-of-bounds, and I apologize. See my comment right above this one. $\endgroup$
    – garyp
    Apr 4, 2016 at 19:24

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Imagine the following scenarios:

For some reason, maybe you want to study abroad, you need to write a letter of motivation in a language you are not very good at. Now, this needs to be very good, but you don't want to bother your friends with correcting it. You pass by some notice where some language enthusiast club for this particular language advertises their meetings. So you decide to go there and just say "Hey, can anyone quickly correct this letter, please? I'm not very good at it and it's urgent!" Would you expect a good response?

Imagine you have a dispute with your friend about some grammatical finepoint of your mother tongue (if it was English, maybe you ask yourself about how to correctly use the passive voice in a very intricate and very specific example). What do you do? Well, first you look it up in your English book, but the explanation is somewhat intricate and you don't really want to spend time trying to decipher it. So you decide it's quicker to just ask the experts: you look up your local university and call the dean of the language faculty to ask him or her about that particular problem of yours. Would you expect a good response?

In both cases, I suspect that the recipients of your requests will tell you that this is not the place and tell you the rules or show you where to look them up. Sometimes they will be patient, othertimes they will react sullenly, because they are tired of similar requests.

The two examples are not exactly the same as a homework question on this site, but pretty close. In "real life" most people understand that for every question and matter, there are different places to ask - you don't start with the expert, because other people can answer your questions equally well and are willing to do so because they still learn and like to learn from these types of questions.

You need to understand that it's the same on the internet.

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    $\begingroup$ But stackexchange should make a specific site for physics and maths homework help!! $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:11
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    $\begingroup$ Does my above idea have some value? :-) $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:12
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    $\begingroup$ But what is this site for???????? I don't find answers to any of the good(actually the best) quality questions here. $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:17
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    $\begingroup$ @aymusbond: but stackexchange should make a specific site for physics and maths homework help (a) This has been tried before (the latest incarnation), but you are welcome to propose (for the n-th time) such a site at Area51 (b) Mathematics does accept homework. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:29
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    $\begingroup$ Why "should" they? Because you want to? That's not a good reason, I'm sorry. You are not alone with wanting some homework help-site, but the idea has been declined till now. One reason is that the format of the site (Q&A) is not very well suited for providing valuable homework help. If you need a hammer, you shouldn't ask for a screwdriver. $\endgroup$
    – Martin
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:30
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    $\begingroup$ @aymusbond wrote: But stackexchange should make a specific site for physics and maths homework help!! - and I'm sure that those with competent physics knowledge will flock to the site for the reward of answering the same sh*tty questions day after day after day. $\endgroup$
    – Alfred Centauri
    Apr 4, 2016 at 16:47
  • $\begingroup$ @aymusbond "But stackexchange should make a specific site for physics and maths homework help!!" Leaving aside the doubts that the regulars on Physics might have about the viability of such a site, you are welcome to go the area51 and try to gt together the support. I note that there is both English Language & Usage and English Language Learners, for instance. It can be and has been done. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 4, 2016 at 17:04
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At this point I have written and erased several strongly worded paragraphs expressing my intense frustration with the entitlement expressed in your question. You seem to assume that our purpose here is to be a resource for you in particular.

What if that is not why we are gathered here?

Here are some things you could have done to find out if we were going to want to solve elementary problems for you:

And I note that some of your questions have been left open and answered. That's because we're not responding negatively to you as a person but to a particular request that you keep making of us: we don't want to be a homework help-site, and we don't care if the questions were assigned as part of a class or not.

At some point you have to take responsibility for understanding what this site is and is not.

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    $\begingroup$ Ouch ;-) I would have written it more diplomatically, I suppose, but I agree with the point you're making. $\endgroup$
    – David Z
    Apr 3, 2016 at 16:57
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    $\begingroup$ Ya, it's all correct but not happy still. At least don't deny to help homework help seekers. At least we should get explanation to our questions. $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 8:34
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    $\begingroup$ Anyway I am sorry for misusing your site. $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 8:34
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    $\begingroup$ But what is this site for???????? I don't find answers to any of the good(actually the best) quality questions here. $\endgroup$
    – aymusbond
    Apr 4, 2016 at 10:16
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    $\begingroup$ As per the tour: "Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for active researchers, academics and students of physics and astronomy." It's just that the users have consistently voted not to do homework help. We have more than 70 thousand questions, so what we're doing is clearly of value to someone. And I suspect that you and the long-time users have a different idea about what makes a "good" question. And that's okay. We don't have to agree and this site doesn't have to be everything to everybody. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 4, 2016 at 17:03

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