[wccrawford]

You can search local communities, or all communities. If someone else has previously searched and found the remote community you're looking for, it'll appear immediately. If they haven't, you need to already know the url (or short alias) for that community, and search for that... And then it'll take a while to federate, and then anyone can find it with an easy search from there.

It's kind of complicated, but is only a problem for new instances and new communities. After everything is established, it'll be a lot easier.

[volongoto]

I tried to search with the full URL and it didn't show up. That's why I thought it wasn't the way to do it. But I can now see it when I search for it. So, you are right, it takes some time.

[wccrawford]

Yeah, that's incredibly unintuitive, and I only know it works that way because I've seen a few people say it does.

I expect the software will continue to improve, though, so these rough edges will eventually be taken care of. I hope. :D