Dave & Jerry,

Referencing the conundrum posed in this thread:
http://www.uniquecobra.com/forums/sh...?t=5536&page=2


Re: dredging up an old thread that covers most of what you want to know

and

Re: how to find out that extra little bit that the old thread doesn’t give you, without asking the same question all over again

These are both valid points that often get argued to death. The fact is a lot of guys (like me) will usually ignore a resurrected thread when we see the original posting date – often resulting in the resurrector (if that’s a word) not getting the help they need. On the flip side, posting a question that has been answered 50 times in the past often gets a guy slapped with, “Use the search function, nitwit!” responses. What’s a confused Cobra guy to do?

I’ve found the best approach is to:

1) Start a new thread, with an appropriate topic description in the title
2) State that, “Hey, I’ve searched, and I found the following threads regarding this topic… (insert links to pertinent threads from search here).”
3) And then say, “But in all of those threads, I couldn’t find an answer to my specific question which is… (insert question here).”

That helps keep threads short and handy, shows that the new poster has done due diligence in trying to find the answer, and provides links to help other posters with formulating a helpful answer to the new question.

Now, my biggest pet peeve? Ignoring step #1 shown above. I despise posts with vague or unhelpful titles, for example:

Car is broke!
Need help fixing car!
Help!
Can anybody tell me?
Quick question…

In the words of Dr. Evil, “Throw me a frikkin’ bone!” If you need an answer to a question, why not be up front with the doggone topic?!?

Anyhow, don't know if this method is officially accepted discussion board etiquette, but it seems to be a decent way of addressing both points.

(Sort of like I started a new thread regarding this topic, instead of burying my response in a thread with a totally unrelated title.)