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User2057693 is a new user who seems to be writing his own collection in C#, but does not know C# and therefore asks a lot of (not always top-notch) questions. Some people are annoyed by this and vote his questions down and vote them to be closed.

In particular, only because of other questions this user has been asking (as shown in some comments), this question was voted down and closed:

Expand an array with a method

I have an array that I have predefined to have a length of 2.

private int[] numbers = new int[2];

Now, I want to write a method that creates an array with double size of its current state and copy all the data to it. Then it assigns the array reference to this new one. Any ideas on how I should start with the method?

There is not really anything wrong with this question. It is very clear what's being asked here, and it is not ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, localized or rhetorical. It is not a subjective question and can be answered (and shown by Jon Skeet, who earned +7 on his answer already). The question is suitable for SO, and I could not find any duplicates of it. I did not know Jon Skeets solution, so shows that both the answer and the question are valuable.

It is wrong to close a question based on anything other than the question itself. Unless there is a particular valid reason as for why this question should stay closed, I would ask for it to be reopened.

Close votes (and -1 votes) should be impartial and irrespective of user, reputation, questions asked, background, gender or race.

In response to Slugster, I agree wholeheartedly with your statement about effort.

Being an absolute beginner does not excuse them from applying some effort themselves.

But apart from the research effort the OP did not put in, the question can not be closed as not a question. There is no close reason that states: the OP did not show he put in research effort. That's what downvotes are for.

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1 Answer 1

Down votes and close votes should be "awarded" based on the quality of the question and the level of effort shown by the asker. It is irrelevant how knowledgeable the OP currently is, they can be an absolute beginner.

But being an absolute beginner does not excuse them from applying some effort themselves.

Stack Overflow is not a "take me by the hand and help me write every line of code in my first ever app" type site. The user should be doing some research and learning on the side instead of just blurting out a question every time he gets stuck. Learning to work things out is an essential skill to have as a programmer.

I would suggest that question is not reopened. By all means leave the OP some helpful comments to help them craft better questions. They need to be able to show what they have tried so far and what hasn't worked (and how they know it hasn't worked). Showing one line of code then asking how to write the next dozen isn't showing a decent amount of effort.

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I agree with you on the effort statement. No research effort will result in downvotes. But there is no close-reason 'he did not put enough research effort in it', so closing the question as not a question is not correct. –  Virtlink Feb 25 '13 at 12:13

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