Post by ALJD on Feb 26, 2009 20:31:13 GMT -5
Hi folks,
It seems like we have some newer members who are not familiar with the search function in this forum.
We started this forum in August of 2007, and almost three years have passed since then. We have gone through multiple round of OPM ALJ testing and SSA ALJ hiring. With the addition of new members, it seems that many old questions are being asked by new faces.
While there's nothing wrong with that, seeing the same old questions posted again when it was beaten to death again and again had set some veteran posters on edge. Especially since none of the relevant regulations have changed in the past year. On a more practical note, if the answer is already buried in the forum, it's less likely someone is going to answer it again.
Therefore, the search function is your best friend. Look at the tool bar right below the forum banner, and there is the search button right between "help" and "members."
Do login before you search, since the forum search option is only available to registered members.
Once you're logged in and click on the search option, it will bring up the search panel. Type in the key word(s) you are looking for, and set the "Posted Within the Last" to something like 600 days instead of the default 7, and "Maximum Results" to 99 instead of the default 10. This is done so you can hopefully search through the entire database for maximum results. The rest of the options just leave them as is.
Now the key is to click on the "Search" button right below the "View Results As" panel. Do not use the Google Search button. It's a different search engine and will not retrieve the relevant posts like the built-in forum search function.
Hopefully this will get you the answer you need. However, if you have done a due diligent search, reviewed the results, and still have an unanswered question, post away. Folks here are generally helpful and you are more likely to get a helpful answer (instead of flames) once you shown you have done your homework first. Good luck!
*updated 4/20/2010
It seems like we have some newer members who are not familiar with the search function in this forum.
We started this forum in August of 2007, and almost three years have passed since then. We have gone through multiple round of OPM ALJ testing and SSA ALJ hiring. With the addition of new members, it seems that many old questions are being asked by new faces.
While there's nothing wrong with that, seeing the same old questions posted again when it was beaten to death again and again had set some veteran posters on edge. Especially since none of the relevant regulations have changed in the past year. On a more practical note, if the answer is already buried in the forum, it's less likely someone is going to answer it again.
Therefore, the search function is your best friend. Look at the tool bar right below the forum banner, and there is the search button right between "help" and "members."
Do login before you search, since the forum search option is only available to registered members.
Once you're logged in and click on the search option, it will bring up the search panel. Type in the key word(s) you are looking for, and set the "Posted Within the Last" to something like 600 days instead of the default 7, and "Maximum Results" to 99 instead of the default 10. This is done so you can hopefully search through the entire database for maximum results. The rest of the options just leave them as is.
Now the key is to click on the "Search" button right below the "View Results As" panel. Do not use the Google Search button. It's a different search engine and will not retrieve the relevant posts like the built-in forum search function.
Hopefully this will get you the answer you need. However, if you have done a due diligent search, reviewed the results, and still have an unanswered question, post away. Folks here are generally helpful and you are more likely to get a helpful answer (instead of flames) once you shown you have done your homework first. Good luck!
*updated 4/20/2010
