[lord of dor-lomin]

Geez, some people don't have much sympathy. Why don't you read the story of the Noldor again, this time putting yourself in their shoes instead of seeing it from your "super-holy- I wouldn't have done that" state of mind.

A bad guy that the people in power release from prison does unspeakable evil to you. You want to go after him, and you are told no, stay home. Then, you go up to your buddy's place and ask him to give you a quick ride in his boat and your buddy says no. You've just been royally screwed over, and now your friends won't even help you. How would you feel?

What exactly did the Noldor's pursuit of Morgoth accomplish? They failed utterly in trying to overthrow him.

Really?
1)They nearly completely held Morgoth in check for five hundred years.
2)Fingolfin permanently wounded Morgoth.
3)In the battle of unnumbered tears, they very nearly won the day despite all of Morgoth's balrogs and dragons. I recall that at the beginning of the battle Morgoth was afraid when Gwindor and Co made it all the way to his doors.
4)They considerably raised the quality of men.

Yes, they didn't overthrow him, but you can't say they didn't accomplish anything.

Melkor could not be contained by all the Valar combined in his beginning. It was only after he had expended himself in the endeavors you mention that he could be dealt with. He eventually became incarnate, and only then was it possible to execute him without apocalyptic consequences, if at all.

Actually, I really like this point Obloquy. I always thought he was already diminished a lot after his encounter with Shelob, enough to overthrow him anyway, but I can see that it was a good idea to let him weaken.

and he would be threatening innocent people, not rebellious, murderous ones.

And threatening innocent people is a good thing? That's exactly why the Valar shouldn't have waited to go get Morgoth, because he'd be threatening innocent people. I've always thought that the Noldor taking the brunt of his wrath and attempting to stem his evil in the north was the greatest thing they accomplished.

Morgoth was too powerful for them to overcome, and being hasty cost many of them their lives

Yes, but how many lives were saved by their sacrafice?

Eventually it would've been time for the Valar to take out Morgoth anyway

Yes, just let him run rampant and enslave part of the world for a while and then take him out. That's really noble.

As far as the Vanyar were concerned, Morgoth was eventually taken down, and they didn't even have to be constantly making war on him.

They were able to take him out without constantly making war on him because, as you stated before, he had lost lots of his power because of his fight with the Noldor.

Now remember, I don't think the Noldor were perfect, but I am tired of seeing everybody bash them.