How about a pop-up box activated by the Post New Topic button encouraging people to SEARCH BEFORE POSTING. The current reminder--a bullet point in the grey "Posting Reminders" section--is clearly not effective.

* Please Do not post ads in the Tech Forums. Use our popular free Classifieds
* Do not post topics merely promoting your business or website.
* Street Racing and "kill stories" are removed.
* Include enough information to answer your question: eg: year, model, specifics as needed.
* Please try a search before posting, thousands of questions have already been answered.
* Vendor bashing, personal insults and political topics are not welcomed.
* Please do not post commercial information that is not intended for the public, including coupon and discount codes.
(My emphasis)

I think it'd be a PITA for 99.99% of the users plus a big programming change. I spend most of my time in Tag Team and people never use the sticky for Decoding Resources where 99% of their questions would be answered. Not saying people are lazy but it's easier to ask a question than it is to do the research and look it up yourself. :(

Vbulletin software isn't very good with its search capabilities either, IMO, and has nothing to do with this site in particular just Vbulletin sofware in general. Doing a search for something like "1966 tach" (or "1966+tach") turns up everything containing "1966" and "tach." Add to that if someone spells "tach" as "tack" or "tac" as they often do, it doesn't get found unless another thread spells it correctly. ;)

it's easier to ask a question than it is to do the research and look it up yourself. :(
Yup, that's exactly my point.

Vbulletin software isn't very good with its search capabilities either, IMO, and has nothing to do with this site in particular just Vbulletin sofware in general. Doing a search for something like "1966 tach" (or "1966+tach") turns up everything containing "1966" and "tach." Add to that if someone spells "tach" as "tack" or "tac" as they often do, it doesn't get found unless another thread spells it correctly. ;)
Very true. I suppose there's no way to change that without dumping the entire Vbulletin software. The inability to search for phrases instead of individual words is a huge drawback.

I agree.
I am guilty of asking something I did not SEARCH for though...