Below I have gathered some of the most common arguments used to defend the use of these templates at various TfDs and discussions, and my replies to them.
- "We've always used them!"
So? That is not an actual argument. If it were, nothing would ever change.
- "They do no harm."
Again, not an actual argument. Adding a template that says "This is an article about a current US president" would not do any harm, either. But yet it would be entirely pointless. We do not do things because "they do no harm", we do things because they improve the encyclopedia in some way.
- "We need to inform our readers that the article is about a future product/event/album/planet."
Why?
- "Because the information presented in the article may not be final/may change until the product/event/album/planet is finished/presented/published."
And the information presented in the article will freeze for all eternity then? Nothing will ever change again? Of course information may change more rapidly before a product/etc. is finished, but that does not mean that information will stop changing. Information may (and probably will) change. Always. It's a fact of life that does not need to be mentioned.
- "We need to warn our readers that information may not be final yet."
Every article about a future thing says (or should say) something along the lines of "XY is a future.." or "XY will be held in October 2010.." or "XY is a planned..". The logical conclusion of that is that information about XY may not be final yet. 99,99% of our readers know this and do not need a template to tell them that.
- "The reader might not read the lede of the article."
The reader might not read the template on top of the lede, either. It is not our responsibility to get our readers to read the article. Anyhow, every half-decent article will make it clear that it is about a future thing everywhere, not just in the lede.
- "We need to warn our readers that the article might contain speculation or rumors."
Again, our readers are smart enough to know that "XY might be headlined by band YX." is speculation. If there is an actual problem with speculation and rumors in an article, then there are other, more appropriate templates that can be added to the article. Of course, the best solution would be to get rid of the speculations and rumors in the first place.
- "The template is used to add a corresponding category."
You don't need a template to do that, and it is in no way easier to add a template on the top of an article instead of adding a category at the bottom of an article.
- "People will forget to remove the category because it is hidden at the bottom of the page, but they will not as easily forget to remove the template."
Well, tough. Templates that are added to our articles are for our readers and for our readers only. Templates that are for our editors go to the talk page instead.