Students using us as cliff notes

[Patrick_Bateman]

Is there a way we can make it so that a new member has to have 50 posts before he is allowed to start his/her own threads?
It would curtail the volume of people who make an account post a thread appealing for help with an essay and then never post again.

[Charles Darnay]

You can usually tell when such a person arrives, and then ignore them if you so choose. There was a time when I jumped all over people just looking for easy answers for schoolwork, I tend to not tear people apart so much these days.

When someone asks for help with homework I rate them on a scale of 1-5

1 = blatantly posts an assignment and demands answers
2 = same as 1 but poster is more polite and apologetic
3 = poster admits that he/she tried and is stuck on something and is looking for help
4 = poster shows signs of having done work and is looking for further assistance. Also includes posting answers/essays and looking for feedback
5 = poster posts a response and asks for further discussion or opinions. Demonstrates that he/she cares about the work and not just looking for an easy answer.

Anything that ranks below 3 I will usually ignore. (Shakespeare questions is the only exception....I just like Shakespeare too much).

There are plenty who just happen upon the site looking for someone to do the work for them. But there are those who are confused and want clarification - and for that I would not begrudge them.

Also your proposed rule would put a dent in the creative writing fora.

[BienvenuJDC]

If you just ignore them, they will go away.

[Darcy88]

I don't mind it that much. I'm studying by distance right now so I understand the need for help when trying to understand a text. When they basically want us to do all the thinking for them then I just ignore. I'm sure some members first come here for that purpose and then wind up sticking around.

[Admin]

Not going to happen, I could do it, but I won't. The purpose of this site is to provide information on literature. If you do not want to help a student, that is fine, you don't have to. But the site exists to educate. Maybe 1 in a hundred people become more regular posters, but you never know which one the one will be.

I do wish people would use better titles sometimes. Instead of calling a thread "Help me please" call it "Subtext in Merchant of Venice" or something descriptive like that. That way the next person with the same question can more easily find the thread that has already been answered.

[cafolini]

Not going to happen, I could do it, but I won't. The purpose of this site is to provide information on literature. If you do not want to help a student, that is fine, you don't have to. But the site exists to educate. Maybe 1 in a hundred people become more regular posters, but you never know which one the one will be.

I do wish people would use better titles sometimes. Instead of calling a thread "Help me please" call it "Subtext in Merchant of Venice" or something descriptive like that. That way the next person with the same question can more easily find the thread that has already been answered.

Agree with that wholeheartedly.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Yeah, this site doesn't have a huge abundance of members, so putting more restrictions on new members is not the best idea.

[hellsapoppin]

Dunno about anyone else but I'm glad to help anyone in need of help in interpreting literature or in any other form of writing assignment.