Yes, people *should* read stickies, FAQ pages etc- this is a struggle for every forum. The issue was not people asking the same questions, it was stopping them from posting specific uncomfortable or inconvenient questions and statements. In order to do that, they simply dismissed all new questions and prospective users into an unproductive ghetto.
I'd say the fact that you're getting a reasonable debate on your points here brings into question your assertion that a Newbie area is "unproductive."
Rather than simply allow posters to decide for themselves to ignore a repetitive or negative threads they made the choice to make it unlikely they would see them at all- that kind of censorship is a mistake and it undermines the credibility of the Bitcoin. If Bitcoin can't survive a few people saying mean things about it, then it's not much of a currency.
You are conflating Bitcoin as a technology and a currency with this forum. They are not one and the same. No one here is stopping you from opening another forum where anyone can post anything at any time, on Bitcoin or off of it... 4chan needs more competition.