I agree with most of the points brought up already in this discussion, and I personally think that it is a large grey area. In the case of the Software Development Testing node mentioned above, I think that more time was needed before that node was reaped. With a node such as that one, we should wait to see if any discussion is generated before reaping the node. If an intelligent discussion is formed, then then node should be left, but if there is no discussion, then reap away.

I think that some people are quick to reap nodes like that due to past experience. For me, and probably some others here, I had to find the answers to questions like this one by myself, by digging through books, man pages, and search engines. I do feel somewhat miffed when people ask a basic question that is easily answered by themselves with little searching. Now this doesn't mean that all nodes like the above should be reaped, but it would be nice for these questions to foster more discussion.

I would have thought the Software Development Testing node to be more interesting and better for discussion if it were worded like so:

I searched google for Software development testing, and came up with a couple ideas like <Whatever the person found on google>. What do I need to make sure I test? Are their any particular traps I need to watch out for? What makes anyone of these ideas better then the rest?

I agree with tilly that the purpose of the site is to generate discussion, and as long as a node does this, then I think it is worthwhile for that node to exist.

-xPhase

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