Howdy,
The OP has a big point, despite the shortcomings in his arguments (volunteers are mean, etc etc). This site is structured off of late 90's to early-2000's tech, a long time before search optimization became a big thing in the minds of most developers. I want to offer knowledge of other tools in case the repetitive questions ever become too much for the mods and admins.
First, I want to separate the types of topics which I see into two abstract categories: First, you have the banter, shop-talk, news, gossip and all the stuff that's suitable for a bulletin board structure like this site. What you have here is perfect for opinions, observations and the like. The other type of topics involve questions where there is only one correct answer. Those are the sort of topics you may see individuals asking over and over again...
In programming and development, a site called Stack Overflow (
Site -
Wiki) appeared and became the choice destination for Q+A. Instead of a "File Explorer"-style directory structure common in bulletin boards such as Milnet.ca, there's a search bar, some tags, and a legion of moderators and volunteers who gain privilege by giving solid answers to questions by their peers for basic rights such as commenting, adding tags or even editing the original post for syntax and phrasing. In addition, admins are elected or appointed who have magical powers, not unlike here. I get stuck with humdiggers all of a time in my day-to-day civie job, but I find that these style Q+A boards have been my salvation, my code review, and a place where I can learn through the toils of the others. Heck, I barely post as most of my questions get asked twice. But that's not a really big deal as all duplicate questions tend to get linked to the original question - something that creates original content in the algorithms that drive search engine results, meaning it becomes more likely that Google or another search engine can pick up the answer before the newbie has to dig within the site...
Has
Milnet.ca considered creating a separate Q+A section for members modeled after a Stack Overflow-clone? I've checked whether someone else has brought it up via the search and it may be an original thought. If so, there's plenty of clones out there.
Here is a link that lists them all - in the form of a Stack Overflow clone...
While I'm showing off this new toy, I want to be clear that I don't intend to be derisive to all the volunteers who keep the content of this site at the highest standard. You do a good job. But if a future deluge of repetitive questions ever gets too much and those in charge wish to iterate, this is a tech that's been around since 2008 and still is strong in finding solutions to many problems.