A few discussion sites I've participated in have made good use of "help desks". It's a standing thread for a particular forum where people can ask/answer simple questions or FAQs that don't need a full thread.
For example, in the All About Japanese forum there might be a help desk where people can ask a question like my last few "do you recognize this kanji?" etc.
The benefits of having a help desk is
1. less clutter (e.g. 2 or 3 post threads) in the forum
2. more people will see and learn from the simple questions
3. encourage more participation
Maybe this would be helpful here too.
