@BenVoigt I don't think they should be closed, just that impossible as an answer is sometimes correct, given sufficient details.

Good question. I just came back here after answering one of my own question that made me feel like I have the dumb today... stackoverflow.com/questions/19063217/… I made it a Wiki citing user error.

I tend to leave comments where I thing I know the answer, and want to prompt progress. I don't expect points for it. Good example superuser.com/questions/647618/… I posted my thoughts, and it resolved it. I took the request to make it an answer and got the 2 votes and a solution check. I say if you see an answer, as the poster to make an answer if the substance is there.

Some things are certainly impossible. I need to accelerate my R18 Honda Civic to C without converting it energy <-- Impossible. I need to legally install Mac OSX on my IBM PC, currently it is running the factory installed version of OS/2... Also not possible...

This was sort of my thought, but I never see these downvoted and wondered if there was precedent or a popular opinion with this approach.

@Ramhound There is a grey area here, as some closed questions do have good answers. Some questions are good questions, but off topic and a good answer should get points. But I am looking at horrendously bad questions that still get OK answers, where any answer should be discouraged because the questions are really that bad.

Yes, the question should be closed, but for more than that one reason. But how to deal with the answers on these same questions in extremely bad cases like the one above. I feel rewarding the answer with points for a bad question, that will undoubtedly be closed should have some way to prevent these answers. Down-votes might help...

@DoktoroReichard and thats exactly what I think we should see, direction but not answers to those types of questions.

How can you have a good answer to some really bad questions though. For example, H3lp me with Batch, possibly a better SO question, but I am ok with those, but with a long list of wants for a script.The answers then, are generally easy answers, but if the comments and downvotes are already there stating this is a bad question I would hope people would refrain from easy answers. Easy answers by themselves, again are OK. But easy answers to bad questions encourage bad questions...

@slhck but this is about downvoting answers to very poor questions.

Since you moved this to an answer, I will paste here: It may not be the answerer's fault the question sucks, but if the question is off topic, poorly written, has a non-descriptive title, and shows a lack of basic research, then the person answering person should be encouraging better questions not giving an answer, it seems to me. And though I do downvote bad questions, I would also like to see others not respond to them with easy answers to bad questions.

It may not be the answerer's fault the question sucks, but if the question is off topic, poorly written, has a non-descriptive title, and shows a lack of basic research, then the person answering person should be encouraging better questions not giving an answer, it seems to me

Even stupid easy questions can have complex and good answers I think, "what to do when computer prompts for restart" is a question that Google can not even come close to having a good answer for. I will generally comment things like, "Why not just click Restart Now" and see if there is more information to be found... But sometimes they really are just stupid questions and I down vote them, especially if Google has many good hits on the first page.