TedMo,
Every moderator has a different place where they draw the "off topic" line. Some pull the trigger immediately at the first post that is off topic, while others will wait a bit and see if the discussion comes back to the topic. Here in the Beginner's forum we tend to be just a bit more lenient about pulling the trigger. You need to remember that many times people that are just getting started in this hobby feel VERY intimidated by EVERYTHING in this hobby, and if they come to this forum and see us clamping down like we're forum czars it tends to put them off and they will leave the forum. Because of this we try to have a lot lighter hand in this forum than other forums do. Trust me, I moderate a lot of different forums and each and every one of them is moderated differently based on the people in that forum. My take on this is that I look at the forums in the same manner as I do the flying field. Every field I have ever been do is exactly the same. Most of the conversation will be about RC planes, but the conversations often wander to the weather (which is actually still RC related in my mind), a good restaurant in town, what somebodies kids have done, and so on. But the conversations almost always return to RC after a bit. And this is what most of us Moderators will do here, I know that I do. When I conversation goes a bit off topic I will watch it and see if comes back on to topic soon. If not I will usually PM the more experienced members involved and ask them to return the thread to topic. Notice I said PM them, and not post in the thread to return to topic. I do this for the very reason I stated above, I don't want to put a bad taste in the mouth of a somebody just coming to RCU. Ask CGRetired, Bruce88123, and some of the other regulars here and they will tell you that all of them have received PM's from me asking them to get back on topic. This takes care of the problem and keeps a good public opinion in the minds of the beginners.

As for answering the questions that beginner's answer here. Yes, it's possible for us to tell them to go look it up. But we won't. Why? Picture this. Imagine you are just getting started in this hobby (real world of course) and go to the flying field to learn to fly. You get to the field all excited and you can't wait to fly. It's not hard to imagine because everybody here as been this way when they learn to fly. So now imagine that you are there with your instructor and you ask your instructor a question. He looks squarly at you and answers "Why should I waste my time answering that question, go look it up!!". Now imagine how you would feel if your instructor said that to you. You'd feel about as low as mud on a snake's belly wouldn't you? Same there here on RCU. While there may be a computer screen and a thousand miles of cable and fiber optic between you and that that new pilot, but the effect is exactly the same. When you tell them that they don't merit your answering their question it makes them feel like dirt. And this is exactly why we don't do that here. As a real world instructor I answer the same questions with every student that I take on. Every instructor out there that has had more than one student knows exactly what I mean here, because some questions are a constant and almost every student asks them. But a good instructor (and I like to think that I'm at least a decent one) will patiently answer those questions each and every time they are asked. If they can't do that then that person really doesn't have the temperament to be an instructor. And the same thing applies here as well. All of the regulars here in the Beginner's forum will tell you that they don't mind answer the same questions over and over and over and over again. They do for the same reason that most of us are instructors. Because new pilots are the future of this hobby and we without them this hobby would dry up and go away. Plus, I do it because I love seeing that look on their face as they learn to fly. Trust me, I relive that feeling of when I soloed each and every time one of my students solo.

Hope this helps clear it up.

Ken