But the hashtags would contradict what I think is the best feature of this site — that you don't even have to know about it to use it.

It's so strange that you say that - I actually initially coded it with this exact idea in mind! The only reason I pivoted to regex queries was that in its initial stage, I would have no questions to serve up - but I think #screech is subtle enough to be integrated when the userbase is there!

Thanks again for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

I think the suggestion is that you first look for questions with the hashtag and then if you don't find any look for questions the way you currently are. That way a small user base can make use of the feature but for everyone else it stays the same.

You should also take a look at youasked.it. They're very similar. I think giving the user a chance to filter questions by topic is a very key feature that is missing right now from your implementation.

Or you could pick up questions for existing popular tags. #stackoverflow might be one of them.

Hey, Zack, wanna see me drink a milkshake through my nose? #screech

It's official. Version 2.0 demands Vine integration.