More importantly, there are answers too available, we should at least try and steer them there. My rules are a little more complex on whether or not to ANSWER the question.

1. Are they Anon? That's a big strike, if they haven't bothered to login and thus aren't planning on staying here to help out, why would I spend much time on em? OTOH, some of the best questions are Anon so I read em all =)

2. Homework. I will no longer respond to em, you're doing them a disservice by "helping" them.

3. Spastics. There are some people who seem to just post all kinds of weird, semi-off-topic posts and start flame-wars just for the gratification of seeing their name on the web. I left c.l.p.m years ago over that and FAQ posting. When the channel is 90% karma-whore/spastic and FAQ questions, it's time to leave.

4. Trying to learn. That phrase is usually a bad sign, as it is generally an amulet held up against expected shouts of "that is a module!" and "why do that with THAT?" I do approve of learning through doing tho so I usually bite on these but I don't often spend the extra time I do on other posts, I just answer the question and let em stew in their own juices.

5. Performance. This word is a giant red blink tag of evil. I'm either going to bail out immediately if it is tied to phrases like (question the, of module, OOP) or spend hours there tinkering with useless speed enhancements.

Ahh this will turn rantish if I continue, keep the good questions coming =)

--
$you = new YOU;
honk() if $you->love(perl)