[henrikschroder]

> If we don't reduce the noise, then search engines have a harder time trying to find the signal.

Let the search engines figure that out! It's their job!

Is there any evidence whatsoever that deleting/closing questions like these make SO a better place and improves the rate with which people can find answers through search engines?

I suspect there's none.

[cruise02]

> Let the search engines figure that out! It's their job!

Ummm... right. You go ahead and keep posting noise to your site and let the search engines figure it out. Let us know how that works.

[dpark]

Search engines tend to place Wikipedia high for almost every relevant query. This happens despite the amount of useless crap on Wikipedia. Hell, how often is Yahoo Answers on the first page of results. "Noise" won't stop you from getting listed if you've got enough page rank.