Troubleshooting forums are incredibly valuable sources of information even for people who aren't members. I know I've solved many computer problems by doing a Google search and finding some forum somewhere I had never heard of where some user had the exact same problem I did, and someone else posted a solution.
The fear, which I think is legitimate, is that when people take troubleshooting questions into private messages, that ends up depriving the Internet community at large of the benefit of that conversation and the wisdom and experience of the folks involved.
As far as I am concerned, Tacit hit the nail squarely on the head. We do not want troubleshooting threads to get into the PM system — or into private emails. (At MFIF I sometimes received — and rejected — three and four private requests for help in a single week.) Then and now, if you post your email address and request troubleshooting help to be sent there, rather than posted on a forum I moderate, I will remove the email address with a request to confine troubleshooting to the forum. But there is no way to provide similar management in PMs.
Certainly the FTM community is important, IMO very important, which is why we have The Lounge.
