This forum is pretty worthless

Without a method to search specific forums your chances of finding a post in this forum are slim to none. 

Who peruses this forum anyway? Better to post in the respective area forums. All this forum appears to do is lessen the change anyone will get their lost stuff back.

Found Nikon Cochise Stronghold i think this is the one you are looking for. 

Actually some people  do get their stuff  back.  I personally have reunited a pair of climbing boots with their righfull owner. It depends on the integrity of the person finding  things.

I used this forum to reunite someone with a whole backpack full of gear left at a TH. 

I posted a reply in your original thread about that "Found Nikon Cochise Stronghold" post maybe being the one you're looking for but either it wasn't yours or you didn't read it. Good luck.

Edit to add: I've reunited people with shoes on this forum and got some local made honey in return. Definitely not worthless.

I reunited a rope with a grateful owner. 

I think the forum is pretty cool. 

Someone who doesn't really use Mountain Project heard from a friend that I posted about my lost gri gri and biner in this forum. She messaged me and sent my stuff home! I also posted in the area one but that's not where she saw the post

My point is that without being able to search this specific forum I can't find out who has found what without scanning reams and reams of unrelated noise from areas thousands of miles away. Without this forum people would just post in the area forums

Politically Correct Ball wrote:

My point is that without being able to search this specific forum I can't find out who has found what without scanning reams and reams of unrelated noise from areas thousands of miles away. Without this forum people would just post in the area forums

I respectfully disagree.  It is easiest for a Finder to post in "Lost and Found" and a Loser to look in the "Lost and Found".  

This way miscommunication between what area is what, will not happen.
-If found something in Texas, I might post in "Southern States"  because to me Texas is geographically a "Southern" state, but it is in the "Midwest" area forum.  The person who lost something might search in the Midwest forum, where Texas falls under in Mountain Project.  
-If I found something in West Virginia or Kentucky, I might post in the "Midwest" area forum, because they are geographically Midwest, but oddly enough they fall under the "Southern" area forum.
It would be a hassle to search every area forum.

What if a place does not have an "area" forum?  For example, Ohio does not have an area forum.  Where would I post it?  Options are to clutter up General, hope the person looks in the Midwest forum, create duplicate listings in East and Midwest?  Lost and Found captures all these places.  

I agree, it would be useful to have a function to search individual forums. I think it would also be helpful to have the lost and found forum broken down into same set of groups as the partner forums or regional forums. 

Lost and Found captures all these places.  

It covers too many places...namely all of them. 

I mean why relegate it to climbing? We could have one forum for all lost & found items in the entire world with no categorization whatsoever. However even this would be an improvement if one could search that forum. A better analogy would be a forum for all lost & found items but when you search, it searches the entire internet as well. It's a brilliant system I tells ya

I disagree there needs to be a Lost and Found for different areas.  When you lose something, a One stop shop is best, to avoid mis-posting or looking in the wrong area.  Are there so many lost and found items that you can't scroll a bit?  I don't think your analogy is accurate, it does not search the entire Internet, just climbers who lose or find something and also use MP.  Looking at the Lost and Found forum, the Lost and Found goes back 10 days on a single page.  People generally post lost/found items quicker than 10 days, so just hit control+F and see if you can find it on that page. It would be tougher to click into every Area's Lost and Found, to make sure someone posted in the correct area.  As I mentioned, Texas is not in the Midwest (where it's classified) and West Virginia is not in the South (where it's classified). And some States (eg Ohio) are not classified into areas at all, which may cause confusion if someone finds/loses something in Ohio.

I agree it would be useful to have a function to search individual forums.  I have wanted to search the For Sale forums for a particular item, but come up with a lot of reviews or discussion about a device/shoe.  If this applies to the Lost and Found, then that could work.