This is a tough subject, one that most forums that are more than a few months old go through. A new member does not have knowledge of what is an obvious question and what isn't. To someone who just signed up, "what offset should 18x8 rims have" may be no more or less obvious than "what would it take to get to 300 awhp". The former could be quickly answered or found in a basic 5 minute search, the latter is likely to start a flame war, but the point is that someone who has been here a year (or 4 in my case) should not have an expectation that a new member will know what has been beaten to death and what hasn't. Even some topics that have been beaten to death never get conclusively answered.

We (admins/mods) expect that when a new member asks a question, it gets answered by those that know the answer or have a qualified opinion (in the case of more subjective questions like tire choice, etc). Members have no obligation to answer the question, but telling someone to search isn't an answer. A good reply to the wheel offset question could be: Quote:
I used the search function and found this thread about wheel fitments on Evos... an 18x8 with a 35mm offset will fit properly.

In that manner, the new user gets his answer and realizes he can find out a lot by searching. That is not flaming someone, it's educating. When users throw in insults into the answer, it discourages the user from posting more questions, but may also discourage them from relaying their newfound knowledge or from even coming back to the site, and that's why we don't tolerate it.

In short - answer the question, indicate you found it with the search, but do not flame the new users just because they asked a repetitive question.
http://forums.evolutionm.net/showpos...8&postcount=13