I don't think it will stop all the threads, but if the news box displays a status... Down since 00:00 1 May 2008 for instance, it will help people know that it isn't just them or that it is not necessarily a quick hiccup. I personally like the threads because it annoys people into responding
I mean that in as nice a way as possible. But seriously. If the server is not responding to me at whatever time i attempt to log in, I have no idea how long it has not been responding unless there is one of the server down threads to reference. I have seen people announce a restart in-game and that is useful to those in-game at the time. It is not, however, useful to those of us not in game at that moment in time.
The news box could also be used as a positive... server up since 00:00 2 May 2008.
Again though, I am trying to offer constructive criticism, and I am offering to do some of the leg work to make it happen. I am not just griping because the server isn't up 99.999% of the time.
[EDIT] Raa... I don't hate you... but I frequently enjoy annoying easily offended people... so this post is for you! :-P
