[DanBC]

I don't understand your first para. New users don't want to ask questions. They want an answer to their questions, and only if there is no answer they want to ask a question.

SO is not just a question-asking site, it's also a repository of already asked questions.

Many (but admitedly not all) questions closed as dupes make no effort to distinguish themselves from previously answered questions.

(I'm someone who thinks there are problems with some of the SO sites. I'm not a fan.)