Simple translations
I think questions like "How do I say window in Spanish" should be simply deleted. It takes more time and effort to formulate the question and get the answer than to go to the dictionary and looking it up. People who volunteer to help others who take it more seriously are wasting their time with this kind of questions.
IMHO.
22 Answers
Honestly, I think such a policy would come across as extremely rude and off-putting. I think some newbies who potentially might have become long-time, contributing members might decide not to use this forum at all. Also, I see some benefits. Often newbies answer such questions and may themselves have to look up the word or, at the very least, get to practice a word they already know.
I just ignore questions I don't feel like answering.
The "ask a question" box at the bottom the page when you look up a word in the dictionary should be replaced with a link to the forum.
And the forum rules thread should be made a "sticky" so it is always the first thread a new user sees.
I think the end goal here by allowing those sort of posts is to become a community and help each other out. By providing someone an answer to their question, you improve your own understanding. To teach something to someone means you have a grasp of it and can only reinforce your knowledge. I admit it is frustrating, but we all know the answer is easy to come by with the tools on this site so maybe they are looking for the interaction. Who knows? It doesn't hurt anyone for them to post and it's easy enough for us to just ignore them.
Just my two cents.
Ciao!!
I am wondering why you are posting this thread instead of submitting your suggestion to administration if you are serious about this.
Jason,
Thank you for replying, and you are right I do not advocate spoonfeeding , that is
not the way to teach, or for the other person to learn. I remember when I first
tried to post a picture and asked the question, how do you do it? I got
dozens of great answers all explaining in great detail how to post a picture.
But there was no way I could do it, untill Marianne realised that I did not know
how to use the computer , I had only recently started using a computer in
conjunction with joining SD, so without the patience and understanding of the
members I would still be unable to post a photo. But I think a line must be
drawn as to the type of question allowed before we say ,"no answer, look up this
link, or go to Translation " But in a well mannered way.
Incidentally I have noticed in the last two weeks there have been an avalanche
of these small "how do you say questions" Why is that so?
I've been wondering about this for a few days now. I think possibly what's happening is that newbies think that this site is a search engine or "translation engine". For example - he/she might (quite innocently) type "how many countries speak Spanish" - they think this forum is like Google - blissfully unaware that real people like me and you are actually reading their "stupid questions". After all, who bothers to use proper punctuation, capital letters, please and thank you in a search engine? Maybe after reading the replies like "Why don't you do some research first? ..... This has been asked before ..... Try learning English before attempting a foreign language etc" they realize, to their embarrassment, that they have made a mistake and don't return. Would you?
I also refuse to believe that so many people are rude and ignorant. Even the most ill-mannered slob in my city says something like "Excuse me mate ....." before asking a question (even a rude and ignorant question).
I agree that there should be a way to filter-out these problems - maybe using software (but I'm no expert). A website update would help immensely but, as we all know, that ain't gonna happen.
Saludos.
I've said it before - I think people should have X number of learning points, rep points, or whatever in order to be able to start new threads.
If this could be implemented, then I am sure that a lot of these threads would never even show up on the forum.
If a person with not enough points tries to ask a question, they will get a message:
"Sorry, you do not have enough Learning points to ask a question on this forum. However, if you would like to translate something, please click the link below for the dictionary."
I think this would be a great improvement to the site.
should be simply deleted.
No, not until you change the invitation! You (SD) can't keep advertising Free Translations and then just pitch the requests!
[link text][1]
[1]: Is there a competition for the most absurd question today?
Come now LatetoDinner, Free Translation doesn't mean there is somebody waiting for the next person to ask what the word for "door" is and then proceeds to translate it. There are too many features on this site that can teach you things like this. I'm sure SD wasn't proposing this to the public. It's all about directing, guiding, and if an attempt is made gently correcting the person that needs help. 
Cogumela,
Not a bad job at all!!
Well, I understand to Lazarus. First, I appreciate his opinion and generally he has my support. Now what I'm wondering is if this thread was released:
I would have said, "I understand what Lazarus is saying and I appreciate his opinion. Normally he has my support. I am wondering if he posted this thread:
because he really thinks that these posts are annoying for anyone because he believes it does not help to who asks or because he believes it does not help to who answers
because he really thinks that these posts are annoying for everybody, they do not help the people asking the question or they do not help the person that responds to the question.
These are some minor corrections for you. I did not give them all to you but if you change these that will be a great start and I will check back later. 
Well, I understand to Lazarus. First, I appreciate his opinion and generally he has my support. Now what I'm wondering is if this thread was released:
because he really thinks that these posts are annoying for anyone because he believes it does not help to who asks or because he believes it does not help to who answers
Actually, I think these threads are a form as valid as any to learn vocabulary, speaking about beginners. If we assume this forum is opened to all levels, I think that this kind of post should not bother, you just have to ignore them.
But it happens that there are people who know a lot here, and I understand that these issues are not too stimulating to them. This requires patience, and thinking about it. And if majority finally believes that this questions are detrimental to the forum, rules must be adjusted by the admins.
I'm sorry for my English!
Well, I understand where Lazarus is coming from. I appreciate his opinion and I generally agree, but I'm wondering if he made this thread because he thinks these posts are annoying to everyone, because it doesn't help the person asking the question, or because it doesn't help the person answering.
Actually, I think these threads are a way as valid as any to learn vocabulary for beginners. Since this forum is open to all levels, these kinds of posts should not bother you, and if they do you should just ignore them.
However, there are people here who know a lot and I understand that these issues are not too stimulating for them. This issue deserves more consideration, but if the majority feels that these questions are detrimental to the forum then the rules should be adjusted accordingly by the admins.
Asking basic vocabulary questions can be annoying to some members I´m sure but we were all there at one stage in our learning - and don´t forget when all is said and done - there is a box that say´s "Ask the experts"! It does not say what not to ask them.
Normaly I always try to take the middle ground, but at the moment I have noticed that
there have been far too many of these type of "questions" and not enough
testing questions which take us to the limit of our understanding. How to tackle
this problem is difficult , we do not want to stifle members before they get a
chance to dive in and swim with the school , perhaps it may help if "dictionary"
and "Translation " was highlighted to the left of the green "ask a question " box.
In the meantimeI I guess we must answer the sometimes annoying questions which
we have all asked at one time or another , but keep reinforcing the dictum to
please look up your own questions first.
I agree with you , when I find any question like this I usually spend too much time writing the translation and telling the person to look it up in the dictionary and also providing the link for it !
But if we deleted those questions , than we'll probably need to put a new rule that tells the new members here to avoid those questions and to look up in the dictionary :
= Please avoid asking questions about the meaning of one word ( or more ).
If you need to translate one word ( or more ) please visit the Dictionary sectionhere at SD , and if the word doesn't exist there than you can ask about the translation on SD forum .
This may seem a little bit hard to understand because I am not a native English speaker but I am sure if anyone corrected the mistakes in it , it can be a good solution for everyone .
I understand what Lazarus is saying and I appreciate his opinion. Normally he has my support. I am wondering if he posted this thread:
because he really thinks that these posts are annoying for everybody, they do not help the people asking the question, or they do not help the person that responds to the question
Actually, I think these threads are a form as valid as any to learn vocabulary, speaking about beginners. If we assume this forum is opened to all levels, I think that this kind of post should not bother, you just have to ignore them.
But it happens that there are people who know a lot here, and I understand that these issues are not too stimulating to them. This requires patience, and thinking about it. And if majority finally believes that this questions are detrimental to the forum, rules must be adjusted by the admins.
I'm sorry for my English!
