In order to solve this, I offer the suggestion of implementing a Google Custom Search to replace the built-in phpBB search. The process does not seem complicated, and is explained in this post on the phpBB forum. I've seen a lot of threads with their first reply being "use the search" or "search the forums". If the search located the information requested in the first place, it would save users like myself from having to either read through the hundreds of posts that the phpBB search returns in the hopes of finding the information requested or take the plunge and hope that we have not re-posted a question.
Really, it couldn't hurt to have it implemented, especially if it can save everyone's time in the long run.
