I think there has been some misinterpretation of what some people have been discussing. I don't think anyone wants to kick students out because they are students. What some people are concerned about is the quality of the questions that are asked.

There is a big difference between someone who makes an effort to try to solve the problem, fails, and posts a question than someone who doesn't spend a minute trying to solve the problem and simply posts the question to the forum. I often see posts where someone asks a question and the replies include the search results from google.com, 8052.com, or from 8052.com tutorials. Why couldn't the person that asked the question find those answers rather than forcing someone else to do the search for them?

A beginner or a student is just as capable of formulating a quality question as a guru.

The idea here isn't to "shut up" beginners or students. The idea here is that everyone (beginners, students, and gurus) should keep in mind that if they are posting a question that they hope others will spend time answering, the least they can do is make a minimal effort to find the answer themselves first. If a poster mentions the fact that he's tried certain things or hasn't been able to find the information successfully, at least we all know that the person has already made some effort. I'm much more inclined to answer someone who is struggling with a problem than someone who doesn't want to struggle and just wants me to give them the answer.

Again, I hope everyone can understand the difference. We're not interested in discriminating against students or beginners. What many of us would like, however, is for people to make some effort to solve a problem themselves before posting to the forum. And when posting a question, it is worthwhile to mention what you've already tried so the rest of the community can see you've made some effort.

Regards,
Craig Steiner