# How do I do a keyword search?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 25, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629 "2007-02-25T19:13:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aluminumdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@aluminumdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aluminumdisc)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629/1 "2007-02-25T19:13:14Z")

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I would like to be able to do a search of old threads to find if a question has already been asked. I don’t see it anywhere and that means that it is most likely in an obvious place that I have overlooked.

Thaknks  
AD

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629/2 "2007-02-25T19:23:25Z")

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Guests do not have access to our search function. The ability to search is one of the benefits of paying for your membership.

Lynn  
For the Straight Dope

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629/3 "2007-02-25T19:59:07Z")

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Which means that if you ask and it has been asked before, nobody will be (or at least, should be) upset that you didn’t search.

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-do-a-keyword-search/393629/4 "2007-02-25T20:36:56Z")

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Or you could mention that you would have liked to do a search when you start your thread, and a friendly member could see if it’s come up before. Then you can check out those past discussions and refine your topic if you think you have an interesting angle on it that hasn’t quite been covered in the older threads.