>As for posting code; I agree, it is unreasonable if people expect fully tested and formed solutions whenever they ask. But is that really what people expect? From what I see, often people just want pointers (I mean the normal sort of pointer) as to whether they are on the correct track or in the swamp.

And don't forget that people usually write when they're stuck with a problem; they usually need just an idea, a finger pointed to the source of the problem. And they need it fast, not completely accurate, foolproof tested (not even just simply fullproof). There were really few who needed their homework to be done here.

Or at least this is the sort of question's I'm trying to help with :)

>Even when I used to contribute significantly on C$ I don't think I ever posted much code, more often general answers to "why doesn't this work" or "gotchas" I'd come up against, taking just a few seconds to save somebody else hours of aching but leaving the coding to them. From what I see, that still happens a lot.

And is the most customary here. Anyway, does anyone really read more than twenty lines of code in a message? Probably only the guy who needed that code. I usually don't bother, unless I'm really curious about the matter it covers. Besides, almost any code posted here needs to be tweaked by the one who uses it, simply because identical environments don't exist.