<p>Over the course of almost nine years, we have amassed a body of good answers to many clearly stated questions: one of our site's principal goals.  To be useful, though, these answers have to be accessible--and that means <em>searchable.</em></p>
<p>&quot;Searchability&quot; is the capability of offering links to likely answers based on the initial formulation of a question.  Two search mechanisms are currently available to everyone:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The site search mechanism at <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/search">https://stats.stackexchange.com/search</a>.</p>
</li>
<li><p>External search engines such as Google, <em>etc.</em> To search <strong>only</strong> our site, copy into your searchbar: <code>site:https://stats.stackexchange.com</code> and then add your search terms. This is often the fastest way to search, and looks also at comments, left out by site search.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>More often than not, new questions posted here have been asked and answered.  <em>Our initial review activities ought to focus on linking them to answers,</em> leaving us to address the genuinely new questions that remain.  However, more and more, newcomers plead ignorance: they are unaware of the search tools available or uncertain how to use them.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>The purpose of this <em>Meta</em> thread is to collect your advice about searching our site so we can refer users here for quick help and advice about finding answers to their questions.</strong>  What kinds of searches work?  How can a user identify appropriate keywords or tags?  What special options in the site search mechanism can be helpful?  How can external search engines help?  What tips and tricks can you share?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Please consider illustrating your replies with sample questions from our site, showing the search or sequence of searches you constructed to find the answers.</p>
