To All New Members.

[Oldman]

I received this E-mail from a new member speltman:

Hi,  I am new to this forum and I am having a hard time navigating. I saw a few minutes ago you listed a short cut to smoking salmon.  What a great short cut. I went through the recipes  trying to figure out where you got it. Not only could I not find those recipes but I also lost your post to the short cut. How do I retrieve a post after I read it?  Would you please re-post that short cut? Thanks Scott  (speltman)

I'm posting this rather than sending back an E-mail so that anyone else who get a little lost at first may also finding this  information helpful.

On this site there are 21 forums. Even though Martin does his best to keep things in order by moving postings to their correct category it is still easy to lose things. The important thing to remember is to post your topic into the correct category. For example you would not post about fish in the meat forum. 

Now that we understand this basic rule let's get down to how to find a lost topic. In speltman's E-mail we see that the category would be fish as he it states:  ....smoking salmon....or is it?   Next he is looking for the link I added in my post.

1.) Above the first forum listed on this site is a tab labeled "Search." Click on it.
2.) In the next screen in the box Search for: the topic salmon is typed in.
3.) Set it for Match all words.
4.) In the box by user: type in my name Oldman *
5.) In Options drop down select: Show results as messages
6.) In the box Search order select the option: Most recent topics first.
7.) If you are not sure what forum the post is on then place a check in the box: "Check all"
8.) Click on search.

What come up first in this case is the posting that speltman is looking for: Found Posting.


Now do take note that this posting was not under fish it was under General Discussions as the originator was Mark and it was his introductory posting. In that posting he talked about salmon:

I remember years ago my Uncle Walter used to smoke his fresh caught Salmon.  On a lucky day I would get a sample of his smoked fish on a cracker with a tiny bit of cream cheese.  Oh boy!  Do I remember how good it was and that is my main reason for getting going on my own with this new Bradley smoker.

So unless you are really sure that the item you are looking for is in a certain category then always do a search on the whole site. 

*If my name had not been used and that box left blank then you would end up with hundreds of posting to go through. It is important to narrow your search as much as possible.


Olds

[speltman]

  Thanks for your help.   Speltman

[iceman]

Thanks Old's. That is going to help a lot of newbies out. You sure know how to make things run smooth around here. ;)

[asa]

As someone who discovered this by trial and error, I would emphasize the importance of following Olds' directions by clicking on the search TAB (Home - Help - Search - Profile - etc - etc) and NOT just entering your search term into the field on the right hand side and then clicking "search." The latter seems like it ought to work, but it doesn't. For some reason, it seems to get you a lot of inappropriate hits. The TAB, however, once I discovered it, has worked very well. Thanks Olds.

[Oldman]

The search on the upper right is for doing a word search with a thread that you are current on.  For example if we use my name Raye and do a search while on this thread it will locate it for you.  This is a great feature when you are on a large thread.

OK folks while on this thread type in my name it will take you to it~~!

Olds

[asa]

Well thanks for that helpful explanation Olds. Since I'm new to this style of forum, I'm also wondering what is a sticky, who applies it, and how is it helpful to the rest of us? (Sorry - I couldn't find an explanation on the help screens)

[Oldman]

All threads drop down the food chain as new threads are posted. A sticky places a thread at the top of a board so that it does not drop down. Only Admin or a Moderator can sticky a thread.

The Admin we have here is Martin, and the Moderator is Chez. For a thread to be stickied it must have much future value / importance.
Olds

[asa]

Thanks. That's helpful.

[Oldman]

You are welcome.