Question: I am pretty sure I am stating a risky question here, and maybe it is the hot weather that makes me see things in a different way, but what is the main goal of what we are doing on AU? 

The reason for asking is that -I imagine increasingly- AU is flooded with programming- related questions with a *seemingly* realistic value, but actually can be solved in one or two lines in *any* language. Nevertheless they generate a *huge* voting activity and a lot of answers, as if they were life saving issues.

Although I, as well as many others, benefit of it every now and then, I have the feeling these questions, even if it is `bash`, `grep`, `awk` or whatever language, should be asked elsewhere, unless they have at least some *real* practical value and are related to an existing problem of OP. It is a bit weird that maybe (just a guess) 50% of my reputation I earned in less than 5% of my spent time here, and mostly on answering questions, that, if we are honest, are about completely nothing.

Answer: 
What's your objection to them? That they get too much attention or that they seem too abstract? Who decides what "practical value" means to a user?

They generate so much activity because of the type of problem they are. You can't debug a kernel module or resize partitions nineteen different ways, but I don't see that as a fault of the problem, it's just programmers showing off as they are wont to do.

And that's a reason why having this sort of question around is probably a good thing. It brings people in. I've *seen* people learn things in one question and apply them to help another user. The site's value and ability to attract users is based on our wide range of topics and fervour to answer them.

I'll agree that the lasting value of some of the text-processing questions "convert this format to that format" can seem pretty small but again, who are we to say whether or not it's a real problem or that it won't help anybody in the future? Every problem was original once.

Ultimately I don't think these questions are a problem. I know this changes, but only one of the current newest fifty posts are one of *"these"* questions. If that becomes one-in-ten or higher, we might have a scope issue.
The main goal of Free/Libre Open Source Software is to advance the human race without any intellectual encumbrants. AU is to allow you to contribute to the advancement of FLOSS, therefore you're just helping to advance the human race... **:-)**

Whether it's getting a server back on-line, finally convincing someone to actually take back-ups or convert a text file meaningless to you but used to sort data on retro-viruses finding the ultimate cure to cancer, doesn't really matter, does it?

**Tip:** When you hit 20K and you're an established user, take a small break from answering questions, go lie on a beach somewhere, read a good book and stay away from the site for a week or so. Even top-level guys like you need a break every now and then and it seems you need a break! **;-) :P**