Ok, so this seems like a topic that comes up a lot on forums. "How do I search for something?" Has been asked in some form or other by everyone. So, I propose this: Make the search button insanely obvious. For example: *make the text for the button a bright color *put a bold red line around the search button *make the button flash annoyingly like those irritating pop-up ads *include a recommendation to everyone who joins the forums to search for their topic before they post anything Just some ideas on how to call attention to the search function. None/one/any/all of these could help to do that. Do with my idea what you will but I would love to see some more attention given to the search function to help prevent some topic spamming.
Why not search for the search button? It's the first entry in browser find bars. It isn't hard to miss anyway.