"Did you ever meet him?"

Anonymous Do you agree with me?

No; they all have their uses.

Thank you a lot, but then do you think that "I lived in the USA for 5 years" and "I had lived in the USA for 5 years" have different meanings? And "Have you ever heard the news before?" and "Did you hear the news before?" have different meanings? I think sometimes the past tense covers the present / past perfect tense in meaning in causal English. What do you think? Tha

They all have different implications in different contexts, as I am sure you have studied before. If they were synonymous, two of the three verb forms would have been lost to the language.

Although, as mentioned below, they all have their uses indeed, if you know EVERYTHING about Present Perfect, you won't use it in presence of the word 'ever'.

Past Simple serves it better, but Past Simple does not tell aspects. For that reason Past Perfect is the best option, although the least used:

“...Had you ever met Ki Sing, ? – asked Bradley. – Yes; on one occasion

Have you ever met him? - at any time.
Had you ever met him? - at any time in the period ending at a time-point known to the speaker and the person addressed.
Did you ever meet him? - at any time diring a period known to the speaker and the person addressedu

rinoceronte if you know EVERYTHING about Present Perfect, you won't use it in presence of the word 'ever'.

That is ridiculous. We frequently use 'ever' with the present perfect.

rinocerontePast Simple serves it better, but Past Simple does not tell aspects. For that reason Past Perfect is the best option, although the least used

What is that supposed to mean?

We frequently use 'ever' with the present perfect.

I'm not arguing that.

What is that supposed to mean?

That has four statements. Make your question more specific.

rinoceronteMake your question more specific

What is "Past Simple does not tell aspects" supposed to mean?

In Past Simple you don't see the aspect of the verb. You guess it from the context.