I don't get what all the fuss is about regarding people posting something that's been discussed before. If you see a post you're not interested in or that you feel has already been addressed, just ignore it. You're not obligated to respond to every thread. I mean honestly, if you're that concerned with the boards being cluttered with useless posts, the last thing we need is a dozen replies just scolding someone for not using the search function.

Aside from that though, what is the purpose of these forums if not to discuss topics that people are interested in? I mean, it's all well and good that you can search for old threads on the topic, but as good as those threads may be, they're still just a collection of random thoughts from the people who happened to be around at the time. As you correctly pointed out, there are a lot of new people here and a lot of the old regulars are gone. Is it really so horrible to want to have a fresh interactive discussion with a new group of people? Again, if you think everything that can possibly be said on the subject has been said, you're under no obligation to take part in or even read the new discussion. I know it may come as a shock to some of you, but just because a few people with 10k+ posts posted their opinion on something a few months ago doesn't mean that the topic is "done" and every bit of wisdom on the subject is contained in the archives.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't search for old threads before posting, or that there isn't a lot of great stuff there, but I don't see why a topic should be off-limits just because it's been discussed before. Take the original topic of this thread (before it was completely hijacked) for example. Is the NL section of SSII outdated? Has this been discussed before? Probably. Is there a single correct answer to this question that can be found by searching the archives? No, it's completely subjective. Everyone can have a different opinion, people's opinions can change over time, and there are people who weren't around to post their opinion the first time around. In regards to this particular question about whether something is outdated, the very passage of time itself can change the answer to the question. What's the big deal if someone wants to have another discussion about it? You're more than welcome to keeep your mouth shut if you have nothing new to add.

For every person who's getting frustrated about the duplicate topic, there's probably someone like me who's never seen it discussed before. I certainly wouldn't have minded reading a good discussion of the NL section of SSII, but at the same time it's not the type of thing I would have spontaneously gone and searched the archives for.