We need a better search engine.
I estimate that 50% of my searches do not return a result, or, at least a recent result.
I search entire titles, then I search one or two individual key words.
And my posts still get pulled.
As long as posts are separated by a couple hours, what difference does it make?
In fact, there are important posts that hundreds of readers miss every day because of the “one post” rule.
As a reader, how am I supposed to search for posts that I don’t even know about?
Topical searches help somewhat, but every time I read at Free Republic I find new information or new articles I never would have searched for.
I estimate that 50% of my searches do not return a result, or, at least a recent result.
Just use Google.
E.g., site:freerepublic.com cowbellistan
Bingo! Looks like it's already posted!
Make sure you search on a key word or phrase from your topic title, and/or for the article's author.
Make sure you have all the data on your article--including the html-tagged excerpt--ready for posting, and do your search just before preparing your submission.