[TurkishPoptart]

You don't need to rinse them...it actually works better if you don't rinse them, as it give something for the soap/detergent to stick onto. Try it.

[runjake]

I've heard this claim. I have no idea if it's really true or not. I don't really care.

Here's why I rinse my dishes: it keeps the dishwasher trap cleaner and I get less build up in the dishwasher drain lines, so I have less maintenance to do. The dishes come out clean, anyway.

Edit: It’s true for modern dishwashers. I can’t believe I spent time looking into this. The recommendation is still to scrape food off to prevent the aforementioned issues.

[foobarchu]

The reason is that dishwasher detergent is an enzyme based cleaner. Those enzymes need something to react withm.

You still want to scrape of loose food, of course, or yes you'll get a dirty filter faster.