SMH;
because if a person is in distress of some kind, they are seeking assistance? Is it not our duty as Freemason's to offer aid to another Freemason and as human beings to offer aid in general. In fact, I recall that our ritual and charges say we are to show preferment to our brother masons first and above the general public.
And can't a person's masonic standing be gathered discreetly when in a public setting? I advocate that it can if you are truly conversant in the ritual of your jurisdiction, and have made study of Freemasonry in general. This would prevent you from violating your obligations.
There are ways outside of the standard Q & A you may have been taught to ascertain a true brother, and I maintain that questions outside of the "norm" may be safer ways to determine a true brother from an imposter in a public setting.
As an earlier post commented, a person could be an imposter, yet, I maintain that same imposter with a sign or a grip will not have the things that go with that sign or grip(if they are an imposter). If a person has never sat in a lodge, they will not be able to tell you things that anyone who has sat in a lodge will know.
Hence, questions outside of the norm may help spot an imposter from the true even quicker, and those questions would be permissible in public, and negate a person from violating their obligations.
I get so puzzled at some the responses I see/read, and how things in our obligations get so twisted into something unrecognizable to the average mason.
Side note: I stopped once to assist a brother mason, who happened to be white (which for me didn't matter). He had such a problem with me being Black, and acknowledging/ responding to him as a Freemason that he turned his masonic ring upside down so that the masonic emblem couldn't be seen from the top of his finger.
Now, I was a member of the so-called "mainstream" Grand Lodge system at the time, but he never bothered to find out where I hailed from, he made an assumption, and therein is the biggest problem I see with these one-sided viewpoints regarding our obligations.
In the end, it appears that it is a personal choice whether to acknowledge any masonic signs or to render aid or how to go about it. That's the only point I seek to make, and am not interested in prolonged personal debate on this topic. I have simply offered an opinion, just as others have done on this same topic.
Respect my opinion as I have respected yours. (I feel this was a required comment since I have certain individuals on this forum that always want to challenge my opinions on subjects up for discussion) Why? Because none of you know me or the personal hell I went through to earn the title "Master Mason".
I thank the original poster of the question, because it was an interesting question(in my opinion).