There is already a major thread on this topic, and it has already spent time on the front page. Anyone who wishes to participate in that thread is welcome to do so.

Is he saying that because a thread exists for a topic, anyone who wants to discuss that topic needs to go and track down the buried thread? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

If the community still wants to discuss something, why not let them? Why force the discussion into a rarely-visited thread ghetto?