Current ruling actually achieves only 2 things:
- Newbies with previous version of Ubuntu feel like they had been shown at the door. This is especially rude in November and May.
- Experienced users will omit or tell lie about ubuntu version.
If one thinks that non-supported ubuntu version is actually the culprit in given question, he should flag it and explain in comment why he thinks upgrading will fix it. For example "This feature was implemented in Kde 4.11" or something. On the other hand I know a dozen of bugs that are here since 2010 and still not fixed in Unicorn. If another newbie runs into such bug, his question should be marked as duplicate (which points to solution).