I've never understood why that is frowned upon in forums, as it hardly adds to the server's workload or anything - I think it only applies when someone is blatantly spamming for post-count, and not contributing anything to a discussion.
I've always found it easier to make a different post for a different reply, then it's easier for the person being replied to, to differentiate their discussion, from another one, if they are just skimming the topic
Anyway, on topic, like I said, I can't find where the reference for "50 light years" comes from - it might have been some Memory Alpha editor's personal 'theory', based on travel time/warp speed.
The 2000 light year region might not be quite as awful, if it's far away from the Federation, Klingon Empire, Cardassian Union, and Romulan Star Empire.