Old forum members should be nice to new forum members.

We need new people. They make for excellent cannon fodder material. Be nice with them 'till we get'em into a server for a match. Kidding

So eight new minimap threads are okay, just because a few new patches have come out?

Not every topic becomes out of date. Prime example: unit veterancy. Uber has stated that there'll be none of that. It doesn't matter what side of the debate I sit on because as far as I'm aware, that's the end of discussion unless someone can bring a new insight that hasn't been discussed before.

It might be "pointless" to discuss about something that will not be implemented. People keep discussing about it because it's fun to discuss about it, until discussing the subject turns impossible because of the people who come to say how terrible it is to still talk about it.

I think people should go look up the definition of a forum.
You can't penalise people for asking questions, the more the better.
The search function on forums are crap.

That's true, but then that belongs in the "Off-Topic" or other some such "Unsorted" type of forum, because talking about old topics that have already been settled only serves to detract from CURRENT discussions, such as balancing issues, bugtesting, and the like. No one is stopping you from creating a thread in the OT section right now listing the top ten reasons why PA would be a zillion times better if it had commander upgrades (I'm of that mindset, BTW). But there are two caveats to that: PA is going to be GREAT anyway, and the devs (which is the highest word we have on the subject, period) have said there are not going to be commander upgrades. So, unless you somehow know more than the devs on the subject, for this hypothetical scenario, the concept is closed, because there is nothing left to debate.

Yes, but see what I said above to hearmyvoice. If anything, forums should be split into more subforums. I fully agree with you that most forums (especially those that run off of PHPbb) have an absolutely atrocious search function - but that should not keep you from keeping the on-topic threads on-topic. Again, if there's a fan-favorite topic that you absolutely want to discuss, feel free to discuss it! But if a new build has been released that's buggy, unbalanced, glitches out, and has a whole host of other forums, a dozen people saying "Well why aren't we going to have space combat?", even if it's in a nice way, when the issue has already been settled only serves to create a domino effect of delays and detracts from the main conversations in the forum. Again, no one says you can't make those topics, but it would be like turning on CNN and complaining that they're not showing reruns of 9/11 on Christmas 2013. Was it a significant event? Yes. Did it change how America viewed the world? Absolutely. Is it relevant to *every* facet of American life right now, 12 years later? No. There are more current things to be discussed--and yet people can and do still talk about 9/11 all over the TV, web, and in myriad other sources.

This is a really healthy discussion, and I'm glad we're all having it. One thing I do want to make clear is that we won't be tolerating "lol idiot, go search" kinds of responses anymore. That's just gotta stop. The last thing we all want is a new user feeling bad about asking a question or presenting an idea.

I should add, that its also important for old players to be nice to other old players as well.

I agree telling newer players or anyone for that matter to use search is not very friendly.