I tried to point this out previously only to be shouted down because unfortunately a lot of the elitists are moderators themselves. It is good that this issue is coming to people's realisation but what does anyone suggest should be done about it?

@HåkanLindqvist as I said, you should not forget that the info is for people other than the OP too. Regardless of whether you are inclined to help the OP, even a badly asked question is an opportunity to share some knowledge with the wider audience of people who find the question later with a similar problem. Often the devil is in the details, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing that someone has dealt with the same issue but given too general an explanation to fill in the vital assumption or implication that you are missing.

A generic answer is all very well but often people are stuck on the specifics. It takes more effort to understand exactly which part they haven't got if you don't just go through the whole process. (don't forget a question is for others than the OP too) There is fine line between them being lazy and you just not being very helpful.

I agree with what you are saying but I think it also applies to the case where eager beavers have answered or voted to close every question before they get to try to answer anything. There are tags, top questions, etc. to narrow down what you are interested in, you shouldn't expect to want to answer every question. Someone else might. Total junk questions will soon get voted to oblivion.

Yes it is only my opinion that niche experts arn't in SF but are in other SE sites because they are not made welcome. But it is only your opinion that that isn't the reason. If you are going to question assumptions then you need to look at your own too. My only agenda is to make a SF that is popular and works better. The people who have been trying to steer it in that direction haven't been able to make a difference, at what point are you/they going to listen to other people's ideas?

You are taking that reasoning too literally and not seeing the big picture. Other SE sites work fine with niche experts amongst a wide scope. Maybe the answer actually is to chop up SF gradually and leave the toxic culture behind.

I think at the moment a lot of people feel unwelcomed by SF and would rather start their own communities

@ChrisS as for vampires and the article, I am well aware of what you think the answer to problem is and it hasn't been making much of an improvement. I think that your solution actually encourages that to be the only behavior whereas my solution is to ignore those vampires and drown them out by supporting everyone else rather than pushing desirables away as collateral damage. The SE rating model does allow a natural balance if you let it do its job.

@ChrisS Clearly how it is happening now doesn't 'work' if it is burning people out.

Also I am not tearing down any structure, or criticising the SE model. Other SE don't seem to have this problem. What is different on SF is that there is a vocal minority pulling it in a direction, rather than letting it find it's natural balance. I just question whether the assumptions that that vocal minority work on are correct.

SF can not work as a handful of high reppers answering questions for all of the masses, it needs a heirachy of answerers and that means a range of difficultly in questions. It is ok to have questions that you find too simple or boring, you don't have to answer everything. But by kicking out all those questions you take away those stepping stones of entry.

you acknowledge that some people have a different opinion then immediately disparage it as an 'unenlightened suggestion', prime example. I would rather have 1000 'spoonlickers' with one who potentially turns into a sysadmin than a snob club. Poor questions shouldn't wear you down, you can just ignore them, ratings and search are there to highlight the wheat amongst the chaff already.

IMHO clueless questions are easily ignored, its not them so much as the elitist attitudes often displayed that puts off the target audience

Yup the purest definition is that an engineer makes network products rather than uses them. If an engineer is someone who sets up a network, then what is there left to be administration?

Good to see you dealing with it sensibly @voretaq7 but we need to stop it from happening so much in the first place.

Well here is a example of what apparently never happens. How many others just give up and leave rather than coming onto meta to ask? No doubt those who disagree will find some technicality to nitpick rather than see the core message.