Steve, can we go for "gentle rebuke". While I agree with you where the case is not having searched for IRDA before asking "what is IRDA" there are many instances of "unskilled search". It takes time to develop the skills to search for RS232 as well as RS-232 and serial and communications and "stop bit"
If you read my answer to "need information about intel P8096" (now on page 2) you will see that I am all for the gentle rebuke. The fact that the actual link was to 8x9x may very well surprise the beginner. There are also cases where the question, which after being refined by questions in your reply becomes a new one. Very often the first question from a beginner is way too unspecific, (s)he does not know how to ask. This issue is a matter where a fine balance must be maintained: yes it is irritating to see the same question popping up again and again, but do we want to scare the kids away by flaming them, some of them may become master answerers 5 years from now.