20. The "players online" feature is Not a "Deep scanner"
If you mean that we should avoid using it, i think you're wrong. You said something about matching your ship with the opponent (so no battleship to gun down a vhf). Well using the players online list, adds to this. Without it, you'd have to get either a visual or get in scanner range to see what ship he/she is using. Most of the times the ships aren't matched up (since lots of people fly cruiser by default). By the time you realize what he's flying, it's most likely he already opened fire. If you return to a base to change ships, it's considered fleeing. If you don't make it to a base in time, you're dead. You can't type up anything, since that mostly equals death.
So wouldn't it be better to see what the enemy is flying, then change to an appropriate ship?
You can think "hey, the players online list wouldn't be needed if everyone follows these guidelines". True, but i guess only 60 - 70% of the players playing the discovery server, visits the forum on a regular basis. The rest never heard of it, or used it only to find the best weapon, best ship, best traderoute, easiest way to get lots of cash or how to get the bountyhunter id.