A lay person has no idea what is legal or not and no idea where to even start. I am currently studying law and it has been a process of progressively peeling away layers of lore (especially when studying torts).

IXL questions are a good thing. Hopefully experienced users will ask them well (e.g. by something coming out of http://meta.law.stackexchange.com/questions/441/request-for-comment-how-to-write-a-good-law-se-question). But even IXL questions by people with no background or experience in the law help by building up a framework; when we answer questions from lay people we build up a valuable public resource. If you were writing a law textbook, where would you start? With IXL questions, you have a todo list.

Another thing about IXL questions is that lay people generally cannot ask questions about a specific area of the law. They ask about areas of life. They don't ask specifically about criminal liability, tort liability or contractual liability. They ask about what they want to do/what they see happening. It is then the appropriate role of the answer to set out the areas of the law that are relevant and discuss each.

Vague questions and vague answers are no good. But the thing about answering a legal question, whether in a lawyer's office or on Law.SE, is the need for a dialogue whereby you iteratively clarify the poster's needs.

IXL questions are not bad. Vague questions and answers are bad. IXL questions are not bad questions. The only bad IXL questions are the questions where the asker refuses to provide clarification and insists on asking an impossibly broad question; that's just a vague question. The fact that it's IXL doesn't make it worse.

A lay person has no idea what is legal or not and no idea where to even start. I am currently studying law and it has been a process of progressively peeling away layers of lore (especially when studying torts).

IXL questions are a good thing. Hopefully experienced users will ask them well (e.g. by something coming out of Request for comment: How to write a Good™ Law SE question). But even IXL questions by people with no background or experience in the law help by building up a framework; when we answer questions from lay people we build up a valuable public resource. If you were writing a law textbook, where would you start? With IXL questions, you have a todo list.

Another thing about IXL questions is that lay people generally cannot ask questions about a specific area of the law. They ask about areas of life. They don't ask specifically about criminal liability, tort liability or contractual liability. They ask about what they want to do/what they see happening. It is then the appropriate role of the answer to set out the areas of the law that are relevant and discuss each.

Vague questions and vague answers are no good. But the thing about answering a legal question, whether in a lawyer's office or on Law.SE, is the need for a dialogue whereby you iteratively clarify the poster's needs.

IXL questions are not bad. Vague questions and answers are bad. IXL questions are not bad questions. The only bad IXL questions are the questions where the asker refuses to provide clarification and insists on asking an impossibly broad question; that's just a vague question. The fact that it's IXL doesn't make it worse.