I think we are, for the most part, in agreement; but talking past one another. Technology can not fix behavioral problems, if someone doesn't want to search, even doing the search for them isn't going to get them to stop and read what the search found. I agree with that.

And I understand the desire to not put unnecessary strain on a system by doing what would largely be futile searches. I'm not an advocate for the OP's original idea, but I'm willing to entertain weird ideas for the sake of finding something that would work.

What I did say was that the user interface presented by PM has room for improvement, and that the interface could do a better job encouraging people to search for answers before posting their questions.

So, the basic tenet I'm presenting is that while technology can't fix behavioral problems, it can, through the use of good user interfaces, encourage correct behavior. The XP system here is simply one way technology is used to encourage correct behavior. While not perfect, it can certainly be said to be mostly successful.

I'll add some more comments about possible improvements I've thought about in a different node.

-Scott