title: How to compare local branches in github from a forked repo?
body: <p>By &quot;local&quot; I don't mean local to the development machine. I mean when you are logged into GitHub, the branches directly in the repository you have navigated to as opposed to the ones in the repository you forked from.</p>
  <p>So I have access to a user's repository that was forked from another user's repository which I do not have access to.</p>
  <p>When I create a branch on this user's repository, sometimes I want to compare with the default branch on the SAME repository (the one I have access to). However, it always defaults to compare to the upstream repository which produces a 404 because I don't have access to that one.</p>
  <p>So then I use the &quot;compare across forks&quot; link. This was soooo confusing for the longest time because the drop down would show the account/repo that I wanted AND when I clicked the drop down it was also the one that was checked. Yet I couldn't find my branch in the next drop down. I've <em>finally</em> figured out that GitHub is lying to me. Even though it says the account/repo I want is already selected; it's not. It's really got the upstream account/repo selected. So now I know I have to actually click on the correct one (that's already allegedly selected; but not really). Then it takes me to a page where I can select my branch and do the comparison I originally wanted.</p>
  <p>So to recap here is what I have to do:</p>
  <ol>
  <li>From the repo page with the default branch selected, click the Compare link</li>
  <li>Click the compare across forks link.</li>
  <li>Select the account/repo I want from the drop down (which is already selected; but not really)</li>
  <li>Select the InsiderCharts branch from the base drop down.</li>
  </ol>
  <p>I'm fairly new to Git, so I'm trying to figure out if I am somehow approaching this wrong and should be doing it a different way... or is this just a terrible bug in GitHub that makes life miserable for new users already having trouble figuring the darn thing out?</p>
  <p>I have to say I am not a fan of Git. I'd love to rant further about my frustration here... but I suppose I'll spare you since this isn't really the place for that. :)</p>