I don't see anything "scolding" about the things I said to that new member. I was politely notifying them. It was full of please and thank you and smiley faces. And that's what we always try to do, so that people know but aren't terribly offended.
And if anyone introduces themselves like most everybody does, the rules are the very first listing on the introductions page and cannot be missed. If they skip reading them because it seems like its not worth the trouble, then its their own fault when they wind up (accidentally or otherwise) breaking them. We don't punish people for bumping old threads on accident, and we are not mean in any way because we know lots of people make that mistake. But it is our JOB to politely notify them.
It would be AWESOME to have some kind of software that takes care of closing old threads for us, but we don't have that available to us so this is the only way that things can be done. Sorry.