I've been thinking about this for a few months/weeks actually, and it only applies to a few things. Namely:
1) AveDesk/other widget engines
2) TrueLaunchBar
3) Anything in the Icon Requests Subforums thread.
I've got an idea for how to address this. I don't think it's really within the capabilites of our Search system to address this.
-NC
Okay. I can't keep checking this every five minutes to keep up with this debate. It's pretty obvious that we all agree on most of the issue. The ONLY thing that I have been addressing has been for mods/members to not simply ignore questions because they have been asked before. A mod should probably close this.
No, let's keep this going. It's good to see comments like yours - they help improve our (mods) work here. All I can say is mea culpa. Sometimes I close a thread saying this vague sentence "please use search". But in some cases I take it one step further and provide the member with keywords to search. It's good IMO but sadly I don't do it everytime. Why? Laziness, irritation, rush. All sorts of these human things.
I'll be checking out NC's idea for this and we will try to make your lives easier here. That's why we're here after all 
I agree to an extent. 90% of the time, the question is searchable - and usually when I see NC close a post, he provides a link that came up from search. It's really knowing what to search for and how to search. The <4 letter filter thing is a pain sometimes too.
However, what really pisses me off is when members know the answer and reply "SEARCH..." when searching provides no answers.
You can always be the knight in the shining armor and answer the questions before mods close the thread.
What i find amusing is that often new threads with almost identical titles are started above threads that hold the answer.
And in 90% of the cases when people say "yes i used search and found nothing" i try a simple keyoword and voila! Solution is found.
What boggles me is that you complain we are strict and suggest we should answer the questions when people asking them won't even bother the stickied "How to Macify your PC" threads. If they read it they would, what a supprise, find out how to get those big icons.
Also consider that we're human and we get sick of seeing the same thing asked 10 times (usually on the same forum page) when people obviously didn't bother to look around before starting a thread.
"if you have nothing nice to say, dont say anything at all"
if everyone followed that rule then even ****ty things would get praise saying "oh its the best one" or "its so good you have mad skillz"
your argument is analogous to me going to the court and saying "next time instead of putting me in prison for attempting to murder someone, just tell me not to murder him next time"
if there is no punishment for rule breaking, then you cant stop it.
who actually READS every single law? no one. but its still your fault if you accidentally shoot someone and say oh i never new its illegal to kill people
i think that kind of discussions are lame.
since a half year, this is for minimum the sixth dicussion like this one. about rules, about the bad and too strict mods, about everything some members don't agree with. if you are using the search button, you can find many of them and you can see nothing will changed. and why???
actually i don't know, but the system works, normally.
and at least this won't be the last one because live is a constant repetition.
@pwnzrzpat: wow. i don't think something i have said has ever been taken out of context so fantastically.
i'm not condoning in any way the breaking of the forum rules. I am simply saying that instead of a mod saying "thread closed," they could answer the question, or wait for it to be answered, and then close it. Maybe just as a friendly gesture.
I'm not discussing punishment at all, either. I have no idea why you brought that up.
Most new members just need to read one of the many guides to change Windows XP into Mac OS X and many of the repetitive questions can be answered.
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