Huh! I use almost exclusively -RELEASE versions, but never used freebsd-update(8). Only building from source, I can have a base system tailored to my needs. Of course, this would change once pkg-base gets somewhere, but right now, building from source is the only way.
I don’t think this is a requirement. A newer kernel supports older userland. Even for ports explicitly marked for -current, a better place would be a relevant mailing list, to reach developers.
Nope. It's the ports' responsibility to stay compatible with -CURRENT as well, not the other way around.
I don't say discussing porting issues would be on-topic in a "-CURRENT" section. I'm just talking about one valid use-case for running a -CURRENT machine that isn't developing or bug-hunting in the system itself.
Even so, that is usually where developers hang out and not on a newbie friendly forum.
I think that discussing a given port's breakage in a
-current subforum would serve a useful purpose. But like I said earlier in a couple posts effective participation requires an understanding of a topic, and a buy-in to the goals of the conversation. If you're not a good fit to the conversation, you're not welcome to participate, sorry! This is the dynamic under which most workplaces operate, even in "right to work" countries. This ties into my earlier comments about the disconnect between dev hangouts and user hangouts - some of that disconnect may be intentional. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together". You wanna be a dev - get up to speed on the tools, expectations, interactions, etc. Yeah, that's hard work, and you'll have to take some lumps along the way. 
You posted that about 10 minutes after that thread started. It may be a legitimate example.Here's example why topics about current are not welcome.
FreeBSD 14: no gnome3 and Firefox?
hi, I've installed freeBSD 14 current in a virtual machine Parallels in my MacBook M1 pro (Silicon, ARM). Mostly ok (mate + slim) a part of resolution stuck to 1028x768 (how to increase? here it need a virtue-gpu driver) and a fundamental problem with mouse in GUI (stuck) solved putting...forums.freebsd.org
It's relevant for hardware reasons, but the software part isn't. There's some value for the forums as there's hardware that people want to use, and this gives useful information about that.
Why? This thread should be done. Nobody has addressed any of the reasons in the pinned post about why the original request should be reconsidered.
For new hardware and features, a user should also be ready to use the mailing lists anyway, and be able to report back to developers on there.
We have this same problem on Stack Overflow and another forum I used to moderate. No one reads the rules. It's their fault, not the forums, but there it is.
Except, as stated earlier, newbies shouldn't be using CURRENT and CURRENT isn't designed for users, who this forum is for.
I've seen people who don't post a lot here, but are clearly not newbies when it comes to FreeBSD, and would be comfortable with
-current. Those people do seem aware of what they're getting into.I don't want to admit it, but that's a good point. They need to understand that they're taking a risk that support for a hardware may not make it into a STABLE or a RELEASE. Lots of hardware support is expected to stay in, because it's newer hardware that's becoming more common. It should only be for people who know what they're getting to, and readers need to know that a hardware or feature may be dropped.
And it took 6 pages before sidetone pointed out THAT. Now I feel a little silly, because I haven't connected the dots until now.
A quick look there gives me the impression that a thread about -current would be at home there! It would be a good mental exercise for participants to frame the topic and discussion so that the thread does not become a catch-all for attitudes and politics. 