It is true that the information is easily available; but personal experience tells me that what's underneath the posting box doesn't get seen much. And I agree that there are plenty of people who will ignore all advice no matter how easy and clear it is.

This forum doesn't require any more formatting than any other forum. But a 500-word post with code needs formatting on any forum. The person with the answer might possibly be busy and not willing to waste their time wading through a crappy post. It behooves the seeker of wisdom to put some effort into making the question as easy to answer as possible. It shouldn't be that much of a burden to learn <p> and <code> tags. Notwithstanding the fact that on Perlmonks everybody gets answers (good ones) regardless.