One thing that would help would be to broaden the search here at Mudcat... and include that broader search in the "Create New Thread" steps...

If the current search wasn't so myopic, these other threads would be found when people started new ones, and that might lead them to simple refresh an old thread instead of starting a new one...

Another thing I'd like to see here simply for the sake of organisation is forums... split the current open forum into smaller pieces... a Gear forum, a lyric/tune request forum, ect ect... tough to define the exact boundaries I know, but it would make finding anything here a hell of a lot easier...

And that can only make Mudcat more useful, no?