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Relax. I'm not trying to argue anything here. :3
While my bold topic was more general, my own response to it was fairly specific. I was talking about information-prologues specifically, though anyone was free to talk about any kind of prologue if they so chose, which they did. Clarification wasn't needed because I wasn't trying to specify a particular kind of prologue, though what kind I was personally thinking of should have been rather clear due to my initial response and my later discussion of it with bobandbill and others.
Yes, every piece of writing in a story has a meaning... But do all writers apply meaning to the nuances in their writing? No, they don't. Some aren't that experienced, while others just don't event try. It would be nice if every writer put that much thought into their work, but sadly not every one does. And the ones that don't are the ones I'm talking about.
I should probably go into some detail as what I feel about prologues so you can have a better understanding of what I mean. Please realize that this is all my opinion and I never meant to narrow my bold topic.
There are four basic kinds of prologues: informational, character, story, and thematic.
Informational is the kind I was talking about for the most part, which is typically bad due to inexperience. An informational prologue does nothing but explains things. No real character, no narrator sometimes, just a plain old textbook. This is weak, boring, and bad writing. If this is the only kind of prologue someone is doing, then all that's in it is better worked into the story.
Character prologues establish a character, usually protagonist. Any real story or information is generally absent, with the real focus on showing a character doing something definitive of what kind of person they are. This is also a possible bad kind of prologue, which can hold information easily worked into the first chapter.
Story prologues usually work with a character to set the stage. Unlike a simple character prologue, something happens, whether you know the implications of it or not. The character could be developed or just a viewpoint-device. These kinds usually have a "x amount of time ago".
And, finally, Theme prologues don't usually have any of the above at all. These kind are usually just dictionaries, encyclopedia entries, or quotes (fictional or real) that establish the kind of world you're about to enter. Also usually an info-dump, but has some distinct character to it.
My point is that using just one of this are usually the signs of a bad writer. A good prologue usually combines aspects of more than one. For example, a good informational prologue would have some real story development often carried by a character to make the world more vibrant. Simply dumping a background summary of the world-at-hand is not good.
Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from now. :)
