Believe it or not, that is the ROE. It's not that simple though in practice. To forestall the flames that sometimes occur when it's the same question that has been asked weekly since the dinosaurs roamed, the various "Stupid Question/Mega-threads" (OCS, ASTB, Naval Aviation, etc.) were introduced in the past year to allow newbies or as it has turned out, anyone including mods to ask burning questions that Mods feel should be captured in these "learning/reference" threads. The intent is to also provide protection from flames as the "Stupid question" threads are sanctuary from same by definition (ie there are no such things as a stupid question). Their popularity has spawned other Mega-threads like the Picture Gallery, "Paddles", Brown Boots, Flight Jackets and others.
Other exceptions are the newbies that are very curious and tend to create threads faster than a M16 in full auto and the temptation to ask the verboten "What are my chances?" Note: many users fail to note that besides using search function, vBulletin has a nifty feature that does an automatic search for you in every thread you look at and it's sitting at the bottom of every page. It uses the key words in the title of the thread (that's why Mods will modify title of threads to not only better "advertise" the content of the thread, but give the automatic search a better leg up in finding and displaying similar threads. If you have never scrolled to bottom of page, try it on a few threads. If you are starting a thread, check it out as well as it will clue you in as to whether you really started a unique topic (if not, Mods will be along soon enough and merge it if warranted).
That said, the practice of pushback on certain questions is generally no different than what you'll experience in any Ready Room. In that fashion, AW serves a "Virtual Ready Room" or rock tumbler to smooth some of the rough edges on a newbie's quest to a cockpit.
