I think the point there is that figuring out where a piece of clipart might have come from is exponentially more unlikely than something like an ID of a typeface where to total is measured in tens of thousands as against tens of millions. Your search for an identical piece of art was thus not likely to meet with success from the beginning. Even a successful search would likely take longer than to just sit down and redraw the artwork.
While a purpose of our forum is to be helpful it is also to communicate ideas and ways of doing things. this forum has, if nothing else, served to make the point that Shovelhead has made. That being the notion that often in this business the quickest way to complete the job is to just sit down and do the work.
No one means to offend you by making that point. It may have been blunt but the point was nonetheless valid.
That's just plain BS. What does it hurt to ask a simple question? What if someone here had done exactly what you suggested and now the OP could benefit from that? Isn't that why we are here, to help and be helped by other's experiences? Granted, his question was pretty specific and not likely to be answered by anyone here, but what if it was? Why shouldn't he benefit by that and not get slammed for asking?
I guarantee you that almost every question asked here could be researched and answered all by ourselves, but that's not the point - why reinvent the wheel every time?
I joined here because I wanted to be able to share knowledge - give and take. I don't have much of it to give yet, but I will eventually. And with the knowledge I gain here I might actually be able to do that sooner rather than later.
There are forums out there that will actually ban people for replying "search for your answer, it's been answered many times before" instead of replying with an answer - there's a reason for that...
Gary