I have been lurking in TMO for 3 months+ now and have been able to find the answers to every question i could possibly have by using the search options, i think if new users were limited in how and where they could post there would be much less hoax threads as they would be able to get a feel for what is and is not acceptable, also i believe short bans would show people that there are consequences to starting hoax threads, im ashamed to say that the first post i made was to insult the author of one of these hoax threads,
Imo until there are bans/punnishments for starting these threads we will continue to see them.