Nautilus One Window Mode?
 

I haven't seen this brought up anywhere, and I was wondering if there was one. Having tabs is a nice step, but if every time I open a folder and it opens a new window, it is almost pointless.

Is there a way to stop this? If not, what do you think the first step is to getting them to ad the functionality?

Perhaps you mean this...
Open the Nautilus
Edit / Preferences / Behavior tab
[X] Always open in browser windows

Not quite. Think web browser. You open a link, it opens in the same window as the others. This is the behavior I am talking about.

I THINK that is buried in the Gnome settings (.gconf). It has been discussed before. That is about all I remember.