Just to chime in with my opinion on this. I think that the search is partly to blame, but as others have said, it's also got to do with the lazyness of a minority who can't be bothered to read. The same people who don't read readmes will post 20+ threads on various common issues because they never had the good sense to do a good old fashioned
lurk. Lurking is very good forum practice, IMHO. It means you spend years (in my case

) observing the community in question, and reading about all the various issues. Then, when you do come out into the open with your first post, it isn't something completely inane, but rather a pertinant question or valuable input.
People just don't read enough nowadays.
Stickied threads aren't the answer, because people post these threads
because they can't be bothered reading and therefore won't have the patience to go through a massive sticky. Modding and using mods can be a very complicated experience, and that's something that some people just don't understand.
I too would agree in praising the general attitude of this community though, I've said before that I like how it's one of the more mature communities I've seen.
Now what would be good, as an extrapolation of the good practice of linking these problem threads to the correct official threads would be some sort of macro or automated script (I don't really know what it's called) that would post in such threads, using an anolysis of keywords to then post links to the relevant official threads, and perhaps even asking the thread to be locked. I say locked, because frequently the links will be posted, but the OP will just ignore them and insist on solving their problem in their thread, regardless of the fact that they could easily get a better quality of support (IE. from the author) by posting in the linked thread.
Oh, and I think that 'the best?' threads should be automatically locked. It's a rediculously stupid question to ask, no matter the environment, and especially on the internet. It only takes a moment's thought to realise why too.
/ramble.