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I'm looking for a post that I'm 100% sure was still here on this site about a year ago. It probably has tags "big-list" and "soft-question", and at least several of the responses received more than 100 upvotes.

So far the search using keywords and other clues from my memory is futile.

There seems to be more big-list and soft-question in the earlier years, and some of them either got closed or deleted.

I wonder if there's a way to search among the deleted posts (just the titles) as a user with minimal rep (like me).

BTW, is it okay to ask for help in finding a specific post? If that is not frowned upon, I can provide a description of the post I'm looking for.

In response to @ToddTrimble, the post I'm looking for is about:

seemingly elementary or simple facts (theorems, concepts, analogies etc) one learned long ago that still amaze you now (or that you later realized are profound). Only one item each entry as per usge.

I actually don't remember THE top upvoted answers, but I recall "the linearity of expectation" got over 100+ while ranking outside of top 5 (by default listing). I was a bit surprised not by this answer itself but that this answer resonated with so many people.

The top answers were relatively less memorable to me because either I didn't have a deep understanding about those, or they were more "predictable", like some celebrated common knowledge in set theory or number theory (less sure about geometry here).

I will be deeply embarrassed if it turns out that my memory is totally off, but at least as of now the image in my head is vivid.

The phrasing of that entry included "additivity" more likely than not, so it could be "linear additivity of expectation", "additivity of expectation", or "expectation is linearly additive".

As for the key adjective (or the corresponding verb) being used in the title, like "profound", "favorite", "intriguing", "amazing", "dazzled", etc ... sorry this part I really have no clue. Thanks.

I'm looking for a post that I'm 100% sure was still here on this site about a year ago. It probably has tags "big-list" and "soft-question", and at least several of the responses received more than 100 upvotes.

So far the search using keywords and other clues from my memory is futile.

There seems to be more big-list and soft-question in the earlier years, and some of them either got closed or deleted.

I wonder if there's a way to search among the deleted posts (just the titles) as a user with minimal rep (like me).

BTW, is it okay to ask for help in finding a specific post? If that is not frowned upon, I can provide a description of the post I'm looking for.

In response to @ToddTrimble, the post I'm looking for is about:

seemingly elementary or simple facts (theorems, concepts, analogies etc) one learned long ago that still amaze you now (or that you later realized are profound). Only one item each entry as per usge.

I actually don't remember THE top upvoted answers, but I recall "the linearity of expectation" got over 100+ while ranking outside of top 5 (by default listing). I was a bit surprised not by this answer itself but that this answer resonated with so many people.

The top answers were relatively less memorable to me because either I didn't have a deep understanding about those, or they were more "predictable", like some celebrated common knowledge in set theory or number theory (less sure about geometry here).

I will be deeply embarrassed if it turns out that my memory is totally off, but at least as of now the image in my head is vivid.

The phrasing of that entry included "additivity" more likely than not, so it could be "linear additivity of expectation", "additivity of expectation", or "expectation is linearly additive".

As for which of the key adjectives (or the corresponding verb) were being used in the title or text, like "trivial", "profound", "favorite", "intriguing", "amazing", "dazzled", etc ... sorry this I'm really foggy on this part, and I don't remember if there's community wiki or an answer marked as "accepted".

I'm looking for a post that I'm 100% sure was still here on this site about a year ago. It probably has tags "big-list" and "soft-question", and at least several of the responses received more than 100 upvotes.

So far the search using keywords and other clues from my memory is futile.

There seems to be more big-list and soft-question in the earlier years, and some of them either got closed or deleted.

I wonder if there's a way to search among the deleted posts (just the titles) as a user with minimal rep (like me).

BTW, is it okay to ask for help in finding a specific post? If that is not frowned upon, I can provide rather detailed description of the post I'm looking for.

In response to @ToddTrimble, the post I'm looking for is about:

seemingly elementary or simple facts (theorem, concept, analogy etc) one learned long ago that still amaze you now (or that you realized is profound later). I actually don't remember THE top upvoted answers, but I recall "the linearity of expectation" got over 100+ while ranking outside of top 5 (back then). I was a bit surprised not by this answer itself but that this answer resonates with so many people.

I will be deeply embarrassed if it turns out that my memory is totally off, but at least as of now the image in my head is clearly as described.

The phrasing of that entry included "additivity" more likely than not, so it could be "linear additivity of expectation", "additivity of expectation", or "expectation is linearly additive".

As for the key adjective (or the corresponding verb) being used in the title, like "profound", "favorite", "intriguing", "amazing", "dazzled", etc ... sorry this part I really have no clue. Thanks.

I'm looking for a post that I'm 100% sure was still here on this site about a year ago. It probably has tags "big-list" and "soft-question", and at least several of the responses received more than 100 upvotes.

So far the search using keywords and other clues from my memory is futile.

There seems to be more big-list and soft-question in the earlier years, and some of them either got closed or deleted.

I wonder if there's a way to search among the deleted posts (just the titles) as a user with minimal rep (like me).

BTW, is it okay to ask for help in finding a specific post? If that is not frowned upon, I can provide a description of the post I'm looking for.

In response to @ToddTrimble, the post I'm looking for is about:

seemingly elementary or simple facts (theorems, concepts, analogies etc) one learned long ago that still amaze you now (or that you later realized are profound). Only one item each entry as per usge. 

I actually don't remember THE top upvoted answers, but I recall "the linearity of expectation" got over 100+ while ranking outside of top 5 (by default listing). I was a bit surprised not by this answer itself but that this answer resonated with so many people.

The top answers were relatively less memorable to me because either I didn't have a deep understanding about those, or they were more "predictable", like some celebrated common knowledge in set theory or number theory (less sure about geometry here).

I will be deeply embarrassed if it turns out that my memory is totally off, but at least as of now the image in my head is vivid.

The phrasing of that entry included "additivity" more likely than not, so it could be "linear additivity of expectation", "additivity of expectation", or "expectation is linearly additive".

As for the key adjective (or the corresponding verb) being used in the title, like "profound", "favorite", "intriguing", "amazing", "dazzled", etc ... sorry this part I really have no clue. Thanks.