So there I was all-pleased-with-myself for figuring out that the different colored 'F's in stock list indicated different amounts of forbidden gear ... y'know ... without having to ask
Since I am still not having the effect I expect with d-b-d (lets assume I have a glitch rather than going into my intelligence and/or sanity) ... I UN forbid weapons and shield in stock list and behold dwarfs go and collect them from the goblins ...
Oops, I forget that you had to unforbid those stuffs too, it's not your intelligence or sanity. Well, at least it makes disarming them easier by doing the dump without claiming and going to stock list and unforbidding gears. Dimmed F means that there're at least one thing either unforbiddened or forbiddened but not all of them.
AND:
I had released goblins into a locked room with fortifications and my stationed squad with marks dwarfs wouldn't shoot them, assigned them to kill them ... still no shooting ... checked weapons ... at least one had crossbow check (didn't check others since apparently not the issue) checked for bolts squad assigned to use for combat and training (that is if the different colored 'CT' indicates that)
If dwarves are more than a step away from fortification, crossbowier can't shoot through them unless they're elite. I don't think actual kill orders works properly for crossbowier like that. Just stationing and making sure they're against fortification works for me. Checkmarks in equipment list aren't always accurate, it means equipments are assigned, not that it's on the dwarves themselves.
AND (on the subject of interface):
brew and cook permissions on the kitchen menu ... wouldn't it have been better to head two columns with brew and cook and yes/no the items? is a blue cook to not cook it or to not eat it? or is that red for no? or is red for heat?
Red means to not to use, blue means to use it. Yeah, it's a bit of odd interface detail, but I usually ignore it and use stockpile giving to kitchen so they can't use anything outside of it and limit the stuff in there.