Maybe we should define generic roles. Something along the line of a few use cases, basically answering: "What do you want to create photos of?" Or "What photos?" or something like that.
- Walkaround/tourist?
- Studio?
- Landscape?
- Astronomy?
- .. your ideas?
Also the level:
- Novice?
- Intermediate?
- Semi-pro?
- Pro? (I would not put pro here because they are more focused and probably will ask more specific questions).
- ... your ideas?
And the budget
- Budget 1
- Budget 2
- ... etc.
The reason why: people who ask this type of question have no clue how to ask more precisely. Any generic starting point or initial advice allows them to start their research from that. So if they get an advice on a camera, they can study that, do comparison to nearby cameras, ask around, etc. They have been given a starting point for future improvement.
E.g. if someone says he wants to learn to fly, probably he will just be lost between the non-so-informative sites. He has a budget, has a plan with that flying, so he needs just to know that he probably should fly a gliderplane, at club ABC, and the relevant cost is X. Now, he can study that offering, ask about THAT offering, use Q&A more effectively, he can call them, learn about their approach. He can also look them up and their competitors, etc. He will have more and more scope, and more and more specialized search. Eventually he will have enough data to make a quality decision.
And creating simple roles for photographers would do the same. It is not a fit-for-all definitely, but good stabs at the right direction.
