Dave,
After your post I couldn't sit by on this one. I agree completely with you. Most of these types of posts I dont even bother with but certainly didnt want you standing out on your own.
onlyonmonday,
Dont let it get the better of you. There is some good advise in this thread. If I can offer some assistance it would be to master the search feature. When I started searching the info wasn't coming as well as I thought, however, once you get the hang of it there is more info than I imagined in there. In my experience,
1. To search specifically, enclose your search in inverted commas
2. Remember that a search will typically be automatically limited by the system. In my experience its about 1 year or less of history. Nothing you can do about this as I understand it.
3. Use the advanced search always instead of the generic. That will allow you to change the way the results are displayed, filter to the sub-forum and select the date to search.
4. I have also observed that even if you search between a specific date, depending on the search term, the system will automatically limit your search to a specific number of results.
Sometimes I find myself searching from 6 month periods all way back to 2004.
Angus