In reply to one or two of the points made above - firstly, there's no suggestion that anyone is purposefully trying to intimidate anyone else, the issue is simply one of what feels like a disregard for the sensibilities of others (whether or not that's what it is I have no way of knowing, and I speak broadly, not in relation to any one member). Further, I haven't seen much evidence of people being overly sensitive, if anything the opposite is the case - I know that a number of people have bitten their tongues on more than one occasion (myself included) and let comments which were clearly uncalled for go unchallenged.
Second, I'm not sure where the notion that these forums are intended to either teach people how to ask questions or prepare for adversarial exchanges has arisen from but I can assure everyone that neither is the case. The forums exist simply to facilitate the exchange of digital forensics information and experiences, nothing more and nothing less. The question we have here is how best to achieve that.
The debate as to where to draw the line between what's acceptable discourse and what isn't could go on forever but eventually someone has to make that decision. In this case that's me and it feels like a straightforward choice - if we adopt the approach that the best way to improve the level of debate is to publicly shame those who ask poorly formulated questions (and remember there are many members who have only basic English language skills or very little experience in the field) we both stifle those discussions and create a chilling effect for others in the future. Undoubtedly there are some people who would ask better questions as a result but if we believe that all those who use these forums should refrain from taking offence when they feel they've been unfairly criticised, it won't happen, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the individual situation. The overall result, I think, is less engagement and frequent back and forth like this when I'm sure all our efforts would be better directed elsewhere. Please also remember that when a disagreement over forum participation occurs, a lot of the ensuing discussion takes place privately when members contact me directly (with complaints or comments) and that necessitates a lot of one to one conversations which are important but time consuming.
On the other hand, if a very small number of members can be persuaded to adopt a different approach when dealing with poorly formed questions (whether that be by encouraging further effort/information or simply ignoring the post) the vast majority of these problems disappear. There is no perfect solution to this issue which keeps everyone happy all of the time but it seems to me that the latter allows us all to use our time as efficiently as possible.
I think we've all now had a chance to air our opinions so I'll bring this topic to a close.
Jamie
Slipping this one in under the wire - I've now reiterated our posting guidelines on the form used to create a new forum topic. This isn't a panacea for the frustration caused by poorly articulated questions but I hope it'll have at least some positive impact.
Jamie