4 ms·

Don’t answer questions that have already been answered elsewhere. Yeah, you might earn a couple of points of reputation, but... Doesn't this just suggest that

• klochner 16y ago
  Maybe. There isn't necessarily a points-based incentive system that will achieve the desired goal here, at least without breaking something else. You can consider points and social norms as combining to form a global incentive system that is more robust (but less well defined) than a strictly points-based system.
• jessriedel 16y ago
  I agree with klochner. The most efficient legal systems have always been combination of strict rules at large scales, which are replaced by social norms on personal scales and family values on familial scales. It would be great if there were a tweak that fixed this problem without breaking anything, but I'm not surprised or uncomfortable with the fact that common sense needs to play a role.
• ot 16y ago
  A tweak could be to prevent answers to closed threads to give any reputation points, even if the answer has been posted before the thread was closed. This way if the question is obviously duplicate but not yet closed, reputation-hunters are not incentivized to post an answer.