The general policy is that we don't like threads titled as "official" unless the mods/admins create the thread or add the designation to an existing thread for some reason. The reason is that having "official" in the title implies that the thread is, you know, official in some way. We'd prefer to reserve that designation for threads that are actually official in some way.
As for avoiding multiple threads on the same topic, that's a losing game no matter how you play it. The best strategy is to point people to the existing thread and report the post so that we can close the repeat threads.