In 2013 ----- I think a downvote and comment are better than a close vote, similar to how Stack Overflow handles it (although "what have you tried" is no longer permitted at SO). Today (2015) ---- A down vote and comment is no longer sufficient. Many users are posting the "What have you tried?" comments only to get lazy replies, replies such as "nothing!", or no reply at all. I'm beginning to think a "lack of effort" close reason has some merit today.