| Finding Topics of Discussion |
The forum offers members the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of topics. To find the ones that interest you, use the forum index or the search feature. Instructions for both appear below.
 Tip: The forum offers some shortcuts that enable you to find topics quickly in ways other than those described below. Help topics for these features appear in the Related Topics section below.
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| To use the forum index: |
| 1) |
Start at the forum index page and view the discussion categories and forum names that appear underneath each category. If a forum has sub-forum or sub-categories, they will be listed directly underneath the corresponding forum name.
Tip: You can navigate to the index page at any time by clicking Forum index in the navigation linkbar on any page (shown below).
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| 2) |
Do any one of the following:
Click on a category name to display the page that lists all the forums in that category.
Click on a forum name to display the page that lists all the sub-forums and/or topics in that forum.
If sub-forums exist for a forum, click on a sub-forum name to display the page that lists all the topics in that sub-forum.
Depending on which choice you made, a page is displayed that contains a list of forums, a list of sub-forums, and/or a list of topics within one forum.
Tip: Some forums contain sub-categories. These are listed in the same place as the sub-forums that are shown in the image above. Sub-categories are preceded by a slightly different icon ( or  ). |
| 3) |
Keep clicking on names until you reach the forum you want. Then, click on the name of the topic you want to read. The image below shows topics (circled) within the 350Z forum.
The topic page appears.
Tips:
If the topic has more than one page, you can click on one of the page numbers to navigate to the page you want (or you can click Next or Previous). Messages appear in ascending chronological order.
As you navigate to a topic, columns appear on all the pages except actual topic pages that contain various types of information to orient you. Descriptions are as follows:
• Author - username of the member that created the topic.
• Replies - number of reply messages that have been posted in the topic.
• Views - number of times the topic has been viewed.
• Topics - number of topics in the corresponding forum.
• Posts - total number of messages posted in the forum (for all topics combined).
• Last Post - details about the latest message posted in the forum or topic.
You can click the last reply icon ( ) in any Last Post column to navigate directly to the last message that was posted in the forum, sub-forum, or topic.
You can navigate directly to a particular forum by selecting the name in the Select a forum drop-down list (shown below), which appears on most pages throughout the forum.
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| To use the Search feature: |
| 1) |
At the top of any page, click Search.
The Search form appears.
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| 2) |
Define your search query by entering text and/or making selections in the Search Query section of the form. You can use any or all of the options in this part of the form. The more information you enter and/or select, the fewer topics (or messages) appear in the search results. Descriptions of each option appear in the Search Options section below.
Tip: A query is a question that you ask the forum's search engine. The search engine analyzes this question and returns a list of matching topics or messages.
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| 3) |
If you know when messages were posted in the topic(s) you want, you can refine your search query by selecting choices next to the Search previous option. Explanations of these choices appear below in the Search Options section of this help topic.
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| 4) |
Define the manner in which you want the search results to be displayed by selecting options in the Search Options section of the form.
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| 5) |
Click the Search button at the bottom of the form.
A page appears with your search results.
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| 6) |
Do one of the following:
If you selected Topics for the Display results as option, the system displays the title and other information for each of the topics that were found in the search results. Click on any of the topic titles to read the corresponding message posts.
If you selected Posts for the Display results as option, the system displays the first few lines of text in each of the messages that were found in the search results. Click on any of the Subject lines to view the entire message within the corresponding topic, or click the topic title above each message to view the first post in that topic.
Tip: The tips at the end of the forum index instructions above apply to the search results pages that are displayed.
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| Explanations of Search form options are as follows: |
| Search Query |
| Search for Keywords |
When you enter words (called "keywords") in this text box, the system searches for the topics that contain those words (e.g. Social Security).
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| AND, OR, NOT |
When you enter AND between two keywords in the Search for Keywords text box, the system searches for topics that contain both of them, together.
Example: Social AND Security searches for topics that have the phrase "Social Security" in the topic title or message post text.
When you enter OR, the system searches for topics that contain any one of the keywords.
Example: Social OR Security searches for all topics that contain the word "social," as well as all topics that that contain the word "security" (including "Social Security").
When you enter NOT, the system excludes topics that contain the keywords.
Example: Social NOT Security searches for topics that contain the word "Social," but not topics that include the word "security." Therefore, no topics that include the phrase "Social Security" would be included.
 Note: If you are unfamiliar with these "Boolean operators," you might want to use the Search for any terms or Search for all terms options, instead. Both are described below.
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| Search for any terms |
When you select this option, the system searches for all topics that include any one of the keywords you enter. (This works like the word OR as described above.)
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| Search for all terms |
When you select this option, the system searches only for topics that include all the keywords, exactly as you enter them. (This works like the word AND as described above.)
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| Search for Author |
If you know who posted a message in the topic(s) you want, enter his/her username in this text box.
Note: This option only works with one username. If you enter two more more usernames, no topics will be found.
Tip: You can find all the messages posted by a particular forum member by clicking a link in his/her member profile. How?
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| Wildcards (*) |
You can expand your search by using wildcards in the Search for Keywords or the Search for Author text box. To do this, enter an asterisk (*) before, after, or both before and after the text that you enter.
• Examples in the Search for Keywords text box:
social* finds topics that include the word "socialization"
*social would find topics that include the word "anti-social"
• Examples in the Search for Author text box:
se* finds topics that include messages written by members whose usernames start with "se"
*er finds topics that include messages written by members whose usernames end with "er"
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| Search in forum |
If you know the specific forum that contains the topic(s) you want, select it from the drop-down list.
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| Do not include sub-forums |
If you choose a forum from the Search in forum drop-down list, you can select this check box to exclude the corresponding sub-forums from your search. If you leave it blank, the system searches the selected forum and its sub-forums for topics.
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| Search Options |
Search previous:
All Posts |
If you keep the default option (All Posts) in this drop-down list, the system searches all message posts for the query you defined. If you select a specific time frame, it searches for topics that were posted during that time frame, only.
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Search previous:
Search topic title and message text |
If you select this option, the system searches topic titles and the body of messages for the query you defined.
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Search previous:
Search message text only |
If you select this option, the system searches only the body of messages for the query you defined. It does not search the topic titles.
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Sort by:
Post Time |
When you select an option from this drop-down list, the system sorts the search results accordingly. The default is Post Time, which is the date and time that messages were posted.
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Sort by:
Ascending or Descending |
Sorts the search results in either ascending or descending order. The default is Descending.
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| Display results as: |
If you select Topics, the system displays the search results as topics. The results look very similar to what you see when you browse the forum index. If you select Posts, the system displays partial messages, instead, with the corresponding topic title above each one.
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| Return first [x] characters of posts |
If you select Posts in the Display results as option, you can choose how many characters appear in the partial message that the system displays. If you want to view more of the message text in the search results list, select a larger number.
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 Related Topics:
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