First, I'm one of the "Homework Nazis" - always going "What have you tried?". So, take what I'm saying in that context.

It all depends on the post and the poster. There was a thread recently where the OP was asking if something is possible. I answered with a code snippet. The next response was "What have you tried?" My feeling was that the OP wasn't asking "How" ... the question is "Is this possible?" and there isn't going to be code involved in that question.

Other questions may involve design or requirements gathering ... having a requirement that states "Thou shalt provide code." is simply overgeneralizing and onerous. If code is warranted, then someone will say "What have you tried?"

Remember - you can show a man what a fishing pole looks like, but you can't force him to learn how to fish.