Personally, I think it's kind of rude to respond to a request with a lecture on searching or a wordy invitation to join Mudcat. If a person requests information, I think we should respond with a link to the information if the information is posted at Mudcat, or with the information itself if it's elsewhere. One reason we instituted the crosslinks, is to eliminated the reason for Mudcatters to post those annoying lectures. We still get those lectures posted once in a while, but not as often as onceuponatime, when some Mudcatters even had prepared lectures to copy-paste as responses.
If a person requests lyrics we already have, I can't see blowing a simple lyrics request into a discussion of stuff we've already discussed before. I think maybe it's best to respond with a polite link, and maybe a summary of what has already been discussed - without a lecture, and without being curt or pedantic. It's a matter of balance - how can we invite discussion without reinventing the wheel?
-Joe Offer-