I downvote questions and answers that are blatantly off-topic.

Here is what I do with trivial homework questions without shown effort:

• I downvote the question.
• I downvote the answer if $\geq +1$ and they really just did the whole thing, including all calculations.
• I upvote comments saying something along the lines of "this is a homework question, don't post it without showing effort."
• I never downvote anyone who provides encouraging hints without providing a full solution.
• I have also upvoted an answer to an elementary question. The question came up in my lecture once and I couldn't figure out what is not to understand about this concept. Through the answer I could figure out what went wrong in a confused mind and how to answer it next time.

In general, I do not think that learning economics should be discouraged. I do think that shirking on homework questions should be discouraged. However, if minimal effort is shown, I am happy to be a teacher.

I downvote questions and answers that are blatantly off-topic.

Here is what I do (now) with trivial homework questions without shown effort:

• I downvote the question.
• I downvote the answer if $>+1$ and they really just did the whole thing, including all calculations.
• I upvote comments saying something along the lines of "this is a homework question, don't post it without showing effort."
• I never downvote anyone who provides encouraging hints without providing a full solution.
• I have also upvoted an answer to an elementary question. The question came up in my lecture once and I couldn't figure out what is not to understand about this concept. Through the answer I could figure out what went wrong in a confused mind and how to answer it next time.

In general, I do not think that learning economics should be discouraged. I do think that shirking on homework questions should be discouraged. However, if minimal effort is shown, I am happy to be a teacher.