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Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent.

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!

Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent.

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!

Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent.  

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!

Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent.

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!

Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent.

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!

Adrian has a point ... perhaps meta is a better fit. This has certainly been discussed there, and on stackoverflow. But it's here and so am I!

My take ..

1- I answered the homework issue on meta. I am not concerned about whether a question is homework, work-work, hobby work, or curiosity. I am more concerned that the question displays some thought and effort. I don't want to do anyone's work for them, whatever kind of work it is. I want to help them get past issues so they can do their own work.

2- I generally presume the best about people until they demonstrate otherwise. If I can contribute to a question, I do. Many questions can have bad intent .. for instance there have been questions here about scripting robocopy or rsync. Those could certainly be used to steal corporate data. But we presume good intent. 

3- I suspect the real answer to the "ethical question" conundrum is the Potter Stewart formulation .. I can't explain what makes an unethical question, but I know it when I see it!