When to start a new thread?

I've noticed some harsh comments and some positive comments when people start new threads?

What's the general process you follow?

I’d say good etiquette includes:

1. Searching for a topic before posting
2. Refrain from starting a thread just to add YOUR 2 cents about a particular show/actor/topic that you know already has dedicated threads.
3. When in doubt, you can always hedge with your tone/phrasing:

e.g “sorry if there’s already a thread about this. I did a search but couldn’t find anything. If there’s already a thread for this, could you please direct me to it?”
Or
“I know there’s already a thread for xyz, but I had a specific question I want answered, and was worried it would derail or get lost in the existing thread.”

Given the cluttered nature of BWW Chat, I've long yearned for moderators to enact a popup message whenever anyone goes to start a new thread asking them to first search to see if their topic is already covered by an existing thread.

Searching is the first step I personally take. I also usually scan the first couple of chat pages to see if an existing thread is an appropriate home for my question or comment as the search engine here is not always the best.

The chat board experience here could be improved so much if the board had better underlying architecture for threads, as well as even the slighted of moderation in merging them when it would be appropriate to do so.