Question

Do you think most people here are trying to learn material, or just get homework answers?

Answer 1

HW, obviously

Answer 2

Homework.. but there are a little who really tries to learn

Answer 3

i've met some people who are actually trying to learn the material, but it seems like a lot just want homework answers. i find it kind of depressing.

Answer 4

most people try homepwrk, and others like me try and ask for homework but want to kno how to do the problem. other times if i see a question and i dont know it, i ask to learn it.

Answer 5

i check my answers with others people. and plus i always ask for the work

Answer 6

i'm curious if you ask for the work and then take the time to understand it, or just copy it? i am not trying to be mean, just curious

Answer 7

haha, i'm using this worksheet my teacher gave me. It's not homework, she says it's because she knows i'm struggling in algebra. So, i using that worksheet to study, the questions that i have trouble with, i check them with you guys. Thanks =)

Answer 8

someone once asked a test question a b c d, I solved it completely even writing an answer but just didn't state letter (whether it's a or b or c or d) and he couldn't choose letter himself and asked question 3 more times until someone said it's a :DDD

Answer 9

lol

Answer 10

tomas; yeah that is exactly the kind of thing i find depressing.

Answer 11

I think the goals of this site are lofty but I'm wondering if anyone really learns in practice, or if it's just a place where people copy homework answers.

Answer 12

at the end of the day if the persons not willing to learn or ask how its done its their loss and they will struggle later on you cant force someone to learn :)

Answer 13

and peepl who just ask for the answers would b getting no where in llife and all the other questioners will get somewhere..

Answer 14

certainly you can't force someone to learn, but when someone comes and just asks for answers without making any effort at understanding, i get frustrated

Answer 15

yeah and they spam them like 10 in a row and they are absolutely similar just different numbers...

Answer 16

Its up to them to not cheat themselves.
It is also up to others to not just give them the answers.
It is okay to give answer as long as it comes with explanation.

Answer 17

yea, but i doubt many ppl even car about the explanation, haha

Answer 18

Well when I was in school I'd often hear "when you cheat, you're just cheating yourself", but I think that's not always true, now that I'm in the real world I see people succeeding by being dishonest all the time.

Answer 19

It is up to people whether they want to live honest lives or non-honest lives.

Answer 20

Cheating can't be prevented. If they really want the answer, they will get it even if it is not from this site.

Answer 21

This site doesn't support cheating.

Answer 22

But it does happen

Answer 23

but that seems to be its primary use oftentimes.

Answer 24

I mean if 95% of the questions get answers that just get copied onto a homework form, it's hard to understand the statement "This site doesn't support cheating"

Answer 25

Like i said it is up to people to be honest. This site has nothing to do with people's honesty. It is just a tool.

Answer 26

I think like 90% of questions are for cheating :D

Answer 27

My question really is, is there some way to shape the tool to make it less convenient to cheat? For example, allowing only one open question at a time.

Answer 28

When I see people post 10 questions at once, it's obvious they are not sitting in the chat room waiting to have a detailed conversation so that they can learn how to solve it. They just want someone to compute the answer and leave it there so the question asker can come back later and get it.

If the site only allowed you to have one "active" question at a time it might cut down on that behavior.

Answer 29

If I think they're cheating by just asking for mindless answers then I try to teach them how to cheat for themselves. It's called WolframAlpha, and if you can use it by yourself I guess you learned something.

Answer 30

or there may be some restrictions for new users about posting questions, so they would help others too

Answer 31

Most of the people are here because they're too lazy to do it on their own.

Answer 32

Yeah, at least learning wolfram|alpha is a useful tool. Actually, if students could learn how to express a real world question in such a way that a computer algebra system can solve it, I'd consider that a FAR more useful skill than learning the elimination method to solve systems of equations.

Answer 33

Yes, but I learn by browsing through the questions to find an interesting one, your format would prevent me from that. I would be sad :(

Answer 34

well i like this site and like i said the people who dont understand wont get anywhere in life much and the people who do ask questions and understand will get somewhere

Answer 35

I think the site admins are doing themselves a disservice by just ignoring the problem and saying "it's just a tool", though. In fact the first time I even asked this question a moderator deleted it.

Answer 36

lol

Answer 37

censorship!

Answer 38

Maybe they deleted it because it kinda in wrong place, it should have been asked in OpenStudy feedback room :)

Answer 39

haha, where were they when a guy yesterday was asking if anyone had seen Hotel Rwanda, and another guy was asking what the arguments against Pascal's Wager were?

Answer 40

There's definitely a vicious cycle of activity here where people do ask homework questions, people with a desire to show off give them the answer without explanation, which encourages more homework question asking, which gives the 'show-offs' more opportunity to jump on the question.

These sort of responders also short-circuit attempts by others to force the questioner to think through the problem, by giving the answer.

In my judgement, the system has reached an equilibrium where a majority of questions are from those not wanting to learn.

I can't change the site overall, although I would if I could. But given it it is what it is, my personal policy is not to answer questions from those whom I judge to be HW short-cutters.

I also try and push those who I work with to do some of the steps themselves. I recently stopped helping someone because he never did any steps himself and I decided I couldn't facilitate him anymore.

If more of us adopted this policy, I think the site would be better. But given that is unlikely, it is what it is.

Answer 41

I always try to report those questions but I didn't notice that someone would delete them :D

Answer 42

Hear, hear, JamesJ. I frequently try to start asking probing questions like "Do you know the distance formula?" and then someone comes in and just gives the answer.

I'm guilty of being a shortcutter as well, sometimes, though. I get so frustrated sometimes that it's easier.

I spent 90 minutes tutoring someone on here yesterday, working through linear equations meticulously. That was satisfying, though depressing that she'd gotten so far through school without learning basics like how to solve a simple, single, linear equation.

Answer 43

Yes I think I know many familiar faces here that never want to learn. The first time I may give the answer. The second time I will force you through it slowly. The third time you have to tell me what it is that you do not understand, so I can help you help yourself.

If most people who know what they are talking about stopped giving answers then only the new visitors will do so, and they will frequently give the wrong one. I like watching a long stream of "it's a", "no, it's c", "nuh-uh". Let them suffer until they tell us what exactly they need help with.

Answer 44

TuringTest: My proposal isn't that there is one active question open at a time, but one active question *per person* open at a time. Would your problem selection be signfiicatly diminished by that?

Answer 45

So I guess teachers support cheating since it happens in their classrooms...

Answer 46

how would you determine when it becomes inactive? when answer is given? but it happens fast and sometimes there maybe such question that no one knows how to answer

Answer 47

myininaya: Please, I think you're being disingenuous. I'm not saying I demand *no* cheating happens here, I'm just saying it seems like the overwhelming *majority* of what happens here is cheating. That is not true in classrooms.

Answer 48

Tomas: the asker can disable the question when they're done with it, and can't start a new one until they stop their previous one.

Answer 49

well you said it is hard to understand why i'm saying this site does not support cheating
but it does happen

Answer 50

but sometimes you can get answer after a day which complements already given answer, especially in other rooms so it's not really good solution

Answer 51

I'm saying that if the overwhelming majority of questions here are just cheating, there needs to be a better response than just say "We're just a tool, I can't control people's behavior"

Answer 52

Sometimes it is hard to see if someone is cheating.
But if it is obvious report abuse and tell the admins exactly what happened.

Answer 53

Also you only need one report per person.
So don't keep reporting it like 60000 times because then they will get 60000 emails

Answer 54

Sometimes if 3 different people report one person they are automatically kicked

Answer 55

when you report only admins receive it? what about moderators?

Answer 56

myuininaya: try looking at the most recent 10 questions posted and ask your honestly if there was any actual tutoring going on or if people were just getting answers with no discussion

Answer 57

I think that still works

Answer 58

Yes admins/moderators get the email

Answer 59

theres no point trying to explain something which people just are not interested in learning some people just want the answers so why waste your time with that person when you can be teaching and helping someone else who actually wants to learn

Answer 60

The most recent question as of this moment that has an answer is kiss69fist23's question about the vertex of a graph. She got just 2 numbers as an answer and the discussion ended. Should I report it as cheating?

Answer 61

The suggestion of "one active question" is interesting. I agree there's also a problem with defining when it is not active.

So instead how about the rubric adopt by a lot of other discussion sites: No more than one post per x minutes.

For us, maybe 1 post per 20 minutes would be good.

Answer 62

She just posted another question asking about x- and y- intercepts. Clearly she's just getting someone to do her homework for her. I'm serious: should I report this as cheating?

Answer 63

This question would have been better in the feedback section.
At least an admin would have answered it then (eventually)

Answer 64

ill post it there!

Answer 65

Well, that ship sailed; I'm asking for your opinion though. Right now kiss69fist23 is asking questions that just get "the answer is (2,3)' answers, with 0 discussion, 0 tutoring. Is this cheating or not?

Answer 66

its getting to long anyways

Answer 67

maybe moderator (you) can move this question to feedback? or not possible

Answer 68

For example, meow18 has come on here nearly every day for the last couple of weeks and posts 5-10 questions in a row. That's clearly problematic.

@myininaya: yes, let's all go there now. ktklown: you should have the honor of posting the question since you first posed it.

Answer 69

meow18 is an interesting case; I actually spent 90 minutes with her working through a problem. She is the only one I've met who is willing to put that kind of time in. Everyone else just gets pissed at me when I try to guide them through the problem instead of just giving htem the answers.

Answer 70

I'd be happy to post in the feedback section, thanks James.

Answer 71

i don't have those powers sorry tomas

Answer 72

myininaya: I'm stil interesting in if you consider the current stream of kiss69fist23's questions cheating or not

Answer 73

for example i've just answered 'salvarican769's question and doesnt look like anyones bothered at the working out even tho i sat here and worked it out i just dont see the point of writing it all out for someone who just clearly isnt interested

Answer 74

For the record, this question is now posted in the Feedback group with a link back to this conversation.

Answer 75

it also gets annoying when it says you have been given a medal even though its just someone talking back on the same page.. just thought i'd point that out :p needs to be fixed

Answer 76

and i a, doubting this one dude named botheenglishmastiff

Answer 77

OK, I posted on the customer feedback forum

Answer 78

Ok hopefully the admins will see it. They are more likely to look there I would think.

Answer 79

myininaya: did you look at kiss69fist23's questions?

Answer 80

thanks James!

Answer 81

wow this thread might be the longest on open study

Answer 82

Hmm math stackexchange has a strict policy, it makes sure every answer as well as question has a detailed explanation.
http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/1803/how-to-ask-a-homework-question
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/how-to-answer
Though it discourages Discussion, which in my opinion isn't right.

Answer 83

You will always find a mixture of people on a site like this.
I personally find it extremely rewarding when I am able to successfully help someone understand a concept for the first time. In addition I also enjoy learning new ideas and techniques myself by observing other people answer questions on topics that I have not studied.
I don't think it is anything to get depressed about, you can often ask a pertinent initial question to gauge whether the person is just looking for answers or truly want to learn.
Think of it like panning for gold - its hard work and you will need to get through a lot of dirt but its all worth it when you find that one true nugget! :-)

Answer 84

Hmm and they have some kind of voting system or maybe some feature which allows senior members to close a question.

Answer 85

but usually others don't care what you try to explain

Answer 86

in stackexchange you can flag questions and then members with high reputation can close it and it happens pretty fast like in 10mins, not like here

Answer 87

this isn't really like stackoverflow. there are far younger members here, and their knowledge variously enormously.

Answer 88

**stackexchange

Answer 89

I am not saying make it like stackexchange but we can learn something from them and implement it here with a little modification.

Answer 90

At the end of day you have to ask yourself this question: "are you helping people in order to get praise or just for the joy of seeing others learn something"

Answer 91

Hmm It's always been medals for me

Answer 92

:-)

Answer 93

this is loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Answer 94

Medals or If I find something challenging.

Answer 95

bottom line is theres no point wasting your time to try and improve this site..

IF people want to learn they will if they dont they wont they will still just copy the answers and hand their work in the next day so what difference does it make lol

Answer 96

in a typical school classroom, I am sure there are a minority of individuals who take what the teacher is saying in one ear and straight out of the other ear - but that does not mean we should stop teaching.

Answer 97

anaseer: get pleasure from both learning and from teaching someone somethign new, which is why i find it frustrating that so many people here don't actually want to learn.