Translation of "the asker"

Question

Sometimes when I have to refer to the poster of a question in this site, in English I can use the asker as it seems it is the most used word, at least here. But what if I want to refer to the asker in Spanish? I usually write my sentence like this:

El que pregunta conoce la diferencia entre...

O even like this, to hide any possible reference to a specific gender (el/la):

Quien pregunta conoce la diferencia entre...

Nonetheless, I would like to know if there is any noun I can use in Spanish, registered in the DLE, that conveys the meaning of 'someone who has asked a question', something like el preguntador or el inquiriente (links to the proper suffixes used for both cases), that may be valid words but sound a bit strange to me. Leaving aside the debate about trying not to assume a gender for the asker, does such a word exist in Spanish?

Answer 1

I would say that there's another more common that is a good fit. consultante (que consulta [one who asks]), which appears almost 10 times more frequently than preguntante (6559 vs 730) when checked at the same source Hemeroteca Digital

Here is the RAE's definition of this (latin) verb:

consultar

Del lat. consultāre, intens. de consulĕre 'considerar', 'deliberar'.

1. tr. Examinar, tratar un asunto con una o varias personas.

2. tr. Buscar documentación o datos sobre algún asunto o materia.

3. tr. Pedir parecer, dictamen o consejo a alguien.

Answer 2

The word preguntante is in the DLE with this meaning:

1. adj. Que pregunta. Apl. a pers., u. t. c. s.

It does not seem to be a very common word, but a search in BNE's Hemeroteca Digital shows that it is indeed used sometimes.

Answer 3

In my work in Latin America, in the Legal / Financial / Political sectors, we usually bifurcated the English word “asker” two ways into Spanish. When spoken, we generally used “Quien pregunta” or, “El / La que pregunta.”

However, in writing or in a formal interaction (like a debate) we generally used “el / la autor(a) de la pregunta”. In Spain, they often seemed to use “el / la interrogador(a)”.

Answer 4

Instead of preguntante I would say preguntador, but imo consultador/consultante sounds a bit better. Anyways, I don't think there is any word used frequently to talk about that person, I think Quien pregunta is the best way to refer to him/her.

Answer 5

Very much to my surprise I find in the dictionary https://dle.rae.es/inquisidor?m=form

inquisidor, ra
Del lat. inquisītor, -ōris.

1. adj. Que inquiere. U. t. c. s.
2. m. Juez eclesiástico que conocía de las causas de fe.

I had assumed that it only applied to the historical figure mentioned in definition 2 but but it seems I was wrong. Again.