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@bshacklett: The difference between hardware and software is that hardware has a very short shelf life and replacement products even by the same manufacturer are often very different, making any recommendation invalid after a short while. Software on the other hand tends to be very similar from version to version and if I recommend foo v1.0 as fitting for a certain problem, this is likely still valid for foo 4.0 three years down the road.
I think it is more important to allow users to ask good questions than to prevent possible spam. If this really leads to an increase in spam, I could imagine a system where experienced users (>10k, maybe >15k rep) are allowed to close/delete questions or answers by any user with less than maybe 100 rep in order to reduce the workload for moderators. This option could be disabled for a given user if he abuses this power.
