How do I search for a topic?

In the search dialog, enter the topic, for instance “cats”

How do I search for a community?

The easiest approach is to use its shorthand location: for instance, search for !books@lemmy.ml

Or, paste the community’s URL in the search box: https://lemmy.ml/c/books

No results!

Many searches are performed by checking with the federated instances, so while the search may at first return ‘No results’ you should wait a few seconds anyway.

What are Local vs Subscribed communities?

This one can be a bit confusing.

Local communities were created on the instance you are visiting. This means this instance will always be up-to-date with the latest posts and reactions. However, they can also be browsed from remote instances, since they are federated.

Subscribed communities are communities that you “joined,” whether local or remote.

Why can I not search for instance/community xxx?

There is a possibility that it got blacklisted on this instance. This would unfortunately happen with some extreme instances. This does not mean that there were censored, though, as you should be able to browse them from other instances.

– More to come! –