I think we need some clarifying about the rule about homework questions:There seems to be a lot of confusion among the members and even the moderators. When I see this answer to a homework question from a moderator (and similar answers from different members in other threads), the answer seems to imply that it is not allowed to post homework questions verbatim without any visible effort made from the OP. But I personally can't see this in the rule quoted above. It just says that the OP can't expect an answer from the members (while I already have seen some members answer to such question with the solution).
I think that the rule is reasonable, may be it is possible to change that rule to a somewhat more strict and explaining wording, like: Don't post your homework questions without showing effort to get a solution for yourself. The members will not make your homework for you, but will help you to get to a solution if you are willing to do some effort on your self" or something similar. Sorry, I would be able to come up with such a sentence in German, but have problems with that in English.

I think these sorts of requests are interesting, but fundamentally no one posting homework has read the rules in the first place. 0%. So it doesn't really help or clarify anything for anyone in that situation.

1 members found this post helpful.

Well, it seems to me that some long time members and even moderators think that it is not allowed to post homework questions, people that should know the rules. But the rules don't say anything about a prohibition of posting homework questions, so I think that a clarification would at least be helpful, especially when it gets down to the point where people get warnings for posts that are not against the rules.

Regarding the question you linked to, it's quite possible that posting *that much* of a homework assignment might violate someone's copyright.

My issue would be that if a well asked homework question was posed and I felt that the OP was trying, then I'd answer it. I would usually not help someone that didn't seem to even try. I am not against helping young people. Helping and doing their work is two different things.

Exactly what I would do. But simply not getting an answer because the OP shows no effort is not the same as getting a warning for not breaking a rule. At least as I understand that rule.

You are right, but that is not the point of my request. I want to know if it actually is allowed to post a homework question without showing effort or not. The rules say it is allowed (just don't expect an answer), the moderator seems to say it is not allowed and gives warnings for that. That is simply inconsistent and should be fixed. Which is why I suggested to change that rule to some stricter wording. I am not against unSpawn here, he is a reasonable and fair moderator and I also see his point and think the same way. But the rules don't, so clarification is necessary, IMHO.

I think it is a valid concern.

The moderators are here to uphold the forum rules and keep the forum spam-free. If they do something outside those rules, then the rules need to be changed, or maybe a mistake was made, or at the very least an explanation is in order.

The sentiment posted by unSpawn in the linked thread is indeed the spirit of what the rule is supposed to be. Unless anyone has any improvements, corrections or suggestions, I'll update the rule to be:

Thanks for the feedback (and to unSpawn, whose post was slightly modified to come up with the imrpoved LQ Rule).

--jeremy

I think the revised rule is perfect.

The rule has been updated.

--jeremy

Thanks for that, the new rule is exactly what I had in my mind. I mark this as solved.