To be fair, I think Isildur is giving some suggestions that work within the current structure as alternatives. I agree with your opinion on 'Ask me IC' because it's basically, intended or not, a flip of the bird to whatever question is being posed. The only way I could actually do that is to ask, OOCly, 'Who are you IC?' which of course would go unanswered (or should). Even if I did know that player IC, that doesn't presuppose that I have an IC reason to ask that character that specific question.

Now, to the suggestion of playing goodly characters. It's not a bad idea under the current structure, but now I'm making a decision about my character based on OOC reasoning. I like playing goodies, so this isn't a bad route for me in particular, but not everyone wants to play that kind of character, so for that person they are now looking at playing something they don't want to for OOC reasons. It seems ironic to me, because the system is now encouraging IC choices due to OOC pressures. Failing an appopriate character to ask said information of in game, my best bet outside of the item search is to look through the old item lists on the Dioxide's wiki, another OOC source and unfortunately just as reliable as asking some random player that may or may not have beneficial advice. I have learned some item locations even from some of the maps on Dio's, for example the 'Dawnbringer' staff in Fhaulgash. I don't see how adding such information to the db would be all that different. In fact, in the case of Fhaulgash I would have taken much longer to find the staff if I only was given the area. I would have needed to actually explore the area to find what I was looking for. It incentivizes exploration and simultaneously makes brand new players more competitive.