People have limited time. Why force hundreds of others to watch (read) people re-inventing the wheel?

Linking to an existing FT thread is another courteous way of cluing people in to the search function. The latter does have its limits. For instance, some very good general information is buried in specific airline forums.

A good judge does not put up with a single juror making the entire rest of the panel, and the attorneys and parties, sit around and do nothing due to tardiness. Conversely, she will not make jurors wait for lengthy "sidebar" conversations at the bench by counsel.

In the same way, using the search function yourself, politely advising others of available resources, and even "resurrecting dead threads" are admirable techniques of maximizing the FlyerTalk utility to all.