My 2 cents: I always do a search first. Frequently the search function fails or hangs up, but often I find what I want and wander off quietly with my lyrics in hand. Like everyone I would like it if people checked out the obvious first.

However, I'm tired of the incessant demands for people to do their own research first (the only exception, the creepy students who come here first hoping to be spoon-fed term paper material). I usually forage through the library on my own too, using the card catalog etc. But you know what, often the dummy who just walks in the door and throws himself at the reference librarian is the one who finds out the good stuff. It's OKAY to talk about stuff with other people sometimes. They often know more than what has already been recorded.

I LIKE the threads that dredge up old forgotten songs because they go off on tangents I didn't know about and AREN'T in the old threads. And also, I understand some people aren't real smart, or can't read road maps, some can't do effective searches, and some can't spell or can't think of what distinctive phrases to feed into the search engine. Often the right brain talent for art and music is well developed but the left brain verbal organization is lacking.   GET OVER IT! If you are intelligent and have been blessed with a talent for rapid effective searching, be glad and share it with other people, stop shushing them, it's mean-spirited and unworthy of folk folk.