When asking a Question should users be encouraged to provide photos illustrating their question? I think we can provide answers that are more helpful, quicker when we have photos.
3/11/14: Edited to add mock up of suggested change to Question screen (below). To emphasize the importance of photos, a separate row is added.
Photos are always encouraged. We even say so in the help center.
If you see a question that really needs a photo, be sure to post a comment asking the OP for one. And if the question is completely unable to be answered without a photo or more detail, cast a vote to close with "unclear what you're asking" as the reason, or flag the question to get the moderators attention. Closing a question isn't permanent, it's just a way to motivate the OP to get the question updated so we can reopen it and get a good answer.
+1 on this. A heavy fraction of questions could get a much more focused and sure answer with (1) photo (2) jurisdiction (3) age of building. And while it says all this in the help center, I doubt one on a hundred new posters has read it.
"OK Cupid", a dating site, has an interesting setup. Prior to asking a question you must first run through a bunch of existing questions essentially forming a quiz. You learn (in a fun way) what makes a good question prior to getting thrown to the dating wolves.
There's a tension between lowering the bar so the site is active enough, and raising the bar high enough that the questions are good.
