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Although this has been a topic before I wanted to re-raise this issue as an ongoing concern in Biology.SE.

Is there something we can do to make the homework policy more visible especially to first-time visitors of the site? I feel like a substantial number of questions on the site are from users with no reputation asking clear homework questions with no effort. Sometimes I spend more time policing the homework policy than writing actual questions - granted, that is my personal decision, but I don't think I'm alone in this.

I don't know what the possibilities are within the StackExchange framework so I am hoping to gather some suggestions.

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    $\begingroup$ I feel the same way about species ID questions... JUST ADD PHOTO and LOCATION $\endgroup$
    – theforestecologist Mod
    Feb 21, 2017 at 22:38

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I agree. When you ask a new question, there's a yellow box on the right titled "How to Ask". In there is a couple of sentences and links to the help center. I think we should greatly expand the information in this box to include the homework policy and other pertinent information.

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  • $\begingroup$ Few users will read it, no matter how obvious it is. :-/ $\endgroup$
    – anongoodnurse
    Feb 19, 2017 at 4:48
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    $\begingroup$ @anongoodnurse I'm sure you're right, though few is better than none. The space is essentially unused as it is. $\endgroup$
    – canadianer
    Feb 19, 2017 at 9:02
  • $\begingroup$ May be that can be placed at the top of the space assigned for the question's title. I saw that on some subreddit that will make the guidelines obvious to new users. $\endgroup$
    – Tyto alba
    Feb 19, 2017 at 14:41
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, I was thinking perhaps something along the lines of what @SanjuktaGhosh suggests. I am fully aware that not everyone will read it but anything to cut down on the volume even by 20-30% would be nice. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause Mod
    Feb 20, 2017 at 22:01
  • $\begingroup$ It will actually work. May be not for the first time but on the 2nd and 3rd when a user tries to post something after having experienced closure or requests of improvement before. Based on all resources available online one can actually resolve most questions arising out of self-learning provided they knew where to look for. If we provide them hints as what the key resources are, which we usually do then the overall quality of questions can actually go up. $\endgroup$
    – Tyto alba
    Feb 20, 2017 at 22:15
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    $\begingroup$ This is a good idea. I agree that even if you cut down the bad questions by only 10%, it's an improvement and time saver for everyone :) $\endgroup$
    – theforestecologist Mod
    Feb 21, 2017 at 22:40

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