There are some users who specialize in asking PSQs (crude problem statement questions). According to all the discussions about PSQs, it seems that a vast majority of users think these should be closed. Unfortunately, MSE as a whole is absolutely not consistent about it. To begin with me, for the reasons I mention below.
1 - There was this user specialized in usually non-trivial and interesting topological PSQs, yielding instructive answers from the local topology specialist: lost. There was also this user specialized in challenging integrals and series PSQs: no longer active. Next one? Maybe this user who has been posting a lot of PSQ unusual inequalities in the past months. A lot of them were well received at first, but it seems that it is no longer the case. Etc...
2 - Trivial PSQs like "how to solve this limit with l'Hospital" or "how to prove that this set of vectors is linearly independent" still abound and get many simultaneous fully detailed answers within a minute. I had no opinion about that when I started my activity here. But I have read all the discussions about homework issues and I agree MSE should not be known as a place to get your homework quickly done for free. As a result, I started by the end of april to answer about five to ten times fewer questions than I used to since january.
3 - One thing I like a lot about MSE is that everyone can find answers in this nice and readable environment (unlike those from older forums) to a lot of standard questions. Especially via a google search.
4 - Not very long ago, I chose to answer in detail two functional analysis PSQs, because they were standard facts that could be easily found elsewhere anyway. In the first case, both the question and my answer were upvoted a couple of times. In the second very similar case, both the question and my answer were immediately downvoted, and the question closed as off-topic. And it seems that you can't even kindly ask to discuss the issue.
I really don't care about losing the trivial Q/As of type 2. I care more about losing PSQ's of type 1. In view of 3 and 4, my opinion is that it is a good thing if MSE helps collect standard proofs of standard facts, since it makes them easily and pleasantly accessible in a modern way. I really don't regret the time when I had to find such answers in the relevant books.
Questions: a) Does MSE really gain or lose something when such specific users specialized in interesting PSQs cease their activity? b) What could be done to increase the consistency of the treatment of PSQs on MSE? c) Shouldn't we treat separately interesting PSQs that have an answer in books or are well-known folklore, and the average isolated homework PSQs in elementary linear algebra or calculus?