More than thinking 3 or 4 times before starting a new thread, it's more important to do a search just to make sure that there isn't an almost identical one in existence. I realize that some here prefer to start their own, but it can make it very confusing. Plus the confusion can be compounded when a discussion about one thing is hijacked and headed in an entirely different direction. I guess we just need to use common sense to at least try to avoid such repetition.
Well the problem here is that the search engine is a problem.
When the search engine is fixed/updated/improved, then it will become a viable tool in helping to avoid unnecessary threads. It does work sometimes and help you find what you are looking for, but very often it does not, and as a basic website navigation tool it is an issue that should've been addressed a long time ago.
