Actually, Grim's suggestion from a previous post about having a "big in SEARCH button" at the top of the page sounds good to me. Maybe a flashing neon red or something.
Why leave it that optional.
Why not have a page between typing in a topic and pressing "Submit Post" where it automatically scans prev topics for similar threads, presents them to the user ala Google results (but perhaps with a better brief) and has the user either check them out first, or press a button saying "no, those posts didn't help".
Most repeat posts on same topic are due to 1) laziness and 2) too much info accumulating so people can't find the old topic they need in a reasonable* amount of time
* see point 1)What about witty repartee? Do you gain or lose points?
Sorry.RoGuE_StreaK, I'd give you 35 points for the witty repartee. Plus the 5 points you'd get per day, you'd be at 40 points! Nice job, you're leading the pack!naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, keep things simple.
*is only saying this because over 65% of his posts are rubbish*
original here.
