How do you search the forums for past topics/posts?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hope this isn’t a stupid question, but how do you do a search on the forum?

I’m looking for information on newer DCC friendly switches versus older switches, I know I’ve seen the discussion before. I punched it into the “search this site” , I tried the “sort & filter” (I have no idea on that works) all with no success, what am I doing wrong?

Oh by the way, I am on the Layout site or the DCC site when I do the search.

Thanks,

Cunfused in Ohio,

David

2

There are two ways to search.

Go to the right column and scroll down to Search our Community. Search from there.

Some folks have put a tag on their posts, for those, scroll down just a little further to Popular Tags. Problem is not everyone adds the tag to their post.

Since you have a DCC question, you can also post your question on the DCC portion of these forums. I expect most of those folks check these forums too, so you might wait a day and see what this one yeilds for answers. before asking there.

Good luck,

Richard

3

David - If you look a little lower on the right hand side of your screen you will see a box which reads “search our community” with a text search box and a drop down box to pick a particilar area i.e. “layouts”, “DCC”, etc. The search works great. I use it often.

Dan

4

Cowman - You beat me to it. You must have posted your response as I was typing mine.

5

First I go to the forum subsection dealing with the specific topic. Then I insert my keywords, surrounded by quotation marks (“xxx xxxxx”) in the Search Our Community block. In your case, I would go to the Electronics and DCC Forum and search for, “DCC friendly turnouts.”

The first cut may give you a hundred pages of answers. You can refine by adding a specific brand name, or add date constraints (if that option is available) in Refine Search. Or you can specify a single poster by screen name (“xxx xxxxx” AND screenname) if you know who’seems to be the acknowledged expert.

If I’m looking for a thread that I posted to, I can usually narrow it by using my screen name and a remembered key word or phrase, like “hand-laid specialwork.” Unfortunately, that example will net me a hundred or so posts! [EDIT: 223 posts!]

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

6

Thanks guys, I kept using the “search this site” thats upper right corner. Now I see the “search our community” lower right.

Thanks,

David

7

Dan,

It’s happened to me too. The important thing is we got the OP headed in the right direction (I hope), so he can get his answers and then be ready to ask more.

Have fun,

Richard