Receiving email requesting help to doing school projects is a very common experience. I've gotten them for all sorts of things. Some come about as emails originating from lurkers in newsgroups I post in, mostly related either to image processing or the C++ language. A few are related to things Indian. Several others key off on random mentions in my website -- about Rothschild , say, or eggplants . Many ask about Native American tribal customs, under the impression that "Indian" would always mean Native American. A cursory read of the web pages would have disabused them of the notion that I am expert on these things, but the type of person who wants another person to do his homework is not the kind of person to read, even if only cursorily.
I follow a simple rule when responding to such emails. If the emails ask a specific question and indicate that the questioner has gone to some lengths to obtain an answer, I might point them to the right place. Occassionally, especially for image processing questions, I will provide a specific answer. In most cases, I used to send a reply saying that school work is meant to be an individual effort. With the frequency with which I receive such emails these days, I don't bother.
I am not alone in being irritated by school kids (and college students, who should know better) trying to get by without learning. Most newsgroup posters confess to similiar problems. Almost to a fault, they will avoid answering questions that look like homework. But in every crowd, there is one person who is naive enough to answer questions that are obviously school work. That is all the encouragement needed for the next twenty school kids.
As an additional incentive, there are sites that archive answers to help dozens more in their academic tasks. Often, a fellow in a remote place or on a tight schedule needs a quick reference or tidbit of information. This is the sort of thing newsgroup readers would hand out without a care. Now, wondering if this is someone trying to avoid a literature search, they give answers so vague as to be worthless.
People talk about how the culture of the internet is being eroded by commercialism. I am more concerned that it is being eroded by low-rent cheats.
