I'm not sure if you consider me one of the people who're bragging about it, but I hope I haven't given that impression. I openly admit to not having really done any research for a long long time. :)
The most productive times where sharing occurs is if discussions about a topic come up somehow which then leads to discoveries. But that doesn't really happen often, if at all. I used to have that more, not sure why it stopped in MD. People just talk less in general I think? Even disregarding messengers.
That aside:
The one thing I dislike is that often enough research and knowledge doesn't get seperated. I try very hard personally to seperate from "confirmed" things and "theories"...this is another point where sharing information is risky. You essentially trust the other to have confirmed things if you accept it as is, which is not always the case.
I do however agree that research as such is really flawed, since there is no real authority to confirm aside form Mur, and any answer you expect will be nonexistent or "soon" unless you really come up with something good. Part of the solution that was proposed was the Research and Clues system, but that's been defunct. In theory I can manage everything of it as is (aside from the fact that I cannot reject submissions at all, only approve things), but practically I'm not even sure if I'm really the "best" person for this not are there even remotely enough clues right now, more need to be written up. I have a partial set of things written up which I might submit later for proofreading by Mur, if it ever comes to expansion of that system.
I have and will rely on old notes, files I keep, but mostly on my memory, which can fail, and odd things get buried. I used to bounce ideas a lot more so they kept fresh, but as it is, I have buried so many things that are relevant, but without the topic coming up I won't even remember I knew something....or fail to realize I forgot things that I should know.