Re: should lack of knowledge about an existing thread be tolerated in the forum?
This topic has been discussed before 
For example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5462762.0
But all kidding aside, it's a grey area... Sometimes i start a topic that was *allmost* identical to an existing one (a prime example would be your topic and the link i posted... they are similar but not identical), or where the existing topic was last used several years ago (and necroposting is still discouraged)... Sometimes i use the search function but use "wrong" search parameters...
For example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5462762.0
But all kidding aside, it's a grey area... Sometimes i start a topic that was *allmost* identical to an existing one (a prime example would be your topic and the link i posted... they are similar but not identical), or where the existing topic was last used several years ago (and necroposting is still discouraged)... Sometimes i use the search function but use "wrong" search parameters...
This happened to me about two weeks ago. I asked a question about the error message that pops up after a user tries to access a topic that has been deleted. I want to know if there are sections on the forum that were restricted to users or if it was something the admins would do in the future. I didn't know something similar had been discussed some years ago but it wasn't identical. And even if I had used the search bar, I would not have found it.
However, one of the users pointed it out to me by sending the link to a similar but not so identical question asked and it did it for me. I thanked him and locked the thread.
You can find it here- Error Message: Topic Deletion and Access Restrictions