I don't like posting questions that have already been answered but I can't figure out a good way to search past threads. Does anyone know a simple way to search past threads?

There is no effective way to search through past threads as of now. Not sure if the admins are going to add such a feature when they relaunch the site.

But for now, your best bet would be to google "sylestia" with the key words you're looking for and hope something turns up. You may not get accurate results though, and sometimes you'll get very old threads that may not be accurate anymore. So I'll think the safest way is to just post a new thread. Most of the players wouldn't mind. =)