New search feature, what give?
 

Group;
What is the story with the new search feature? Are we no longer allowed to use numerical engine nomenclature like 3.0 or 2.7 in the search sting? I am contemplating switching out my 1974 2.7 for a 1980 3.0 with the improved Lambda CIS and I know that I have read posts on this forum concerning the pitfalls and potential problems that you need to plan on and avoid but I will be darned if I can sucessfully use the new search feature to find them. Specifically I know I have read a thread on how to modify the wire harness and engine wire plug.
Does anyone have links to those threads saved? Please post them if you do or can you tell me how to search for them? This board is the last true bastion of free, unfettered Porsche information.

Thanks;
Ventana

I have found that annoying also. Searching for other things such "RS" and "SC' also don't work.

+1 on this... not sure why Wayne has this setup that way... maybe it cuts down server resources. The Bimmerforums software looks very much like PP and it has more search leeway.

I suspect the answer is that anytime the letters R and S appeared next to each other, it would give you a hit; so you would get thousands of hits for a search for "RS". Words such as doors, floors, cars etc would all be hits.

You used to be able to search for 3.0 for example because it is three characters - the 3, the ".", and the 0. Will try that now...

Edit: yep, can't get any results with the 3.0 type search. I would swear that used to work, I may be wrong. That is a major limitation, IMHO...

Punctuation doesn't count.

You can search '123' fine, but not '1.2' so...

Has to be at least 3 characters.

Why is it set up this way?

I thought it always had the 3 character minimum for the search to function. I never have been able to punch in 3.2 and it work, it always gave an error message. There may be a feature that could be programed so the engine designations could work?? I don't think that 2.2, 2.7, 3.0, 3.2, 3.6 would have the same problems like RS or SC can have, like mentioned before.

the more searches and more results generated per search the more the disc thrashes on the server...

I agree that the index should be rebuilt for the motor designations.

Other tips need to be undertaken by users - e.g. when posting (or if you do a search and find something) help out others by adding the full name, e.g.:
Constant Velocity -- for -- CV
Carrera RS -- RS
transmission -- if thread only has trans. or tranny in it
engine -- motor (& vice versa)

that is, add "key words" to a thread you've found to help out.

Someday, that Great Wiki in the Sky will save us from all this...

use the wild-card symbol "*" after the 2 characters....

If you plug into the search feature RS*, then the search function works.....I haven't tried 3.0* yet, but I'm betting it'll work

Well I am glad to know that I am not the only individual that cannot seem to make the search function provide useful information. If Wayne could post a primmer on how and what to enter and what not to enter it would be most welcome. I did check on the FAQ page and there is some information on the search but really not much. I am sure the search logic is truncated to use less server space and cut down on the search time but it would be much better if we knew what works and what won't.
RWebb- You are absolutely right. Initial only abbreviations are the curse of search engines. I know why they are used but it does make searching for the specific information that abbreviation represents almost impossible. I seriously doubt if we will ever get this group to quit using initial only abbreviations but we can ask nicely and hope for the best.
Bluesky- I will try the wildcard approach this evening when I have a little more time to play with it and see how it works. Thanks for tip.
Later;
Ventana

If all else fails, go to google and enter "site:forums.pelicanparts.com (search key words)"

Well, I tried the wildcard with 3.0* and 3.0L* neither worked.....it did work with the RS* search.

+1

Limits to 3 characters significantly increases server speeds.

people have posted primers on searching before -- BUT you have to search for them...

when someone first joins they could get a nice return Email that politely gets them to use the search engine & tells them how...

The problem with Google is it also ignores punctuation, so engine size searches are limited there too.

Google is still a better way to search except that you can't limit it to a single forum.

If you enter, say, "3.2" as the keyword including the quotation marks it will search for only the string with exact match :)

Google also doesn't index EVERY page (understandably) so that's another limitation. Try searching for threads like "73 RS Project Week 1" through "73 RS Project Week 10" and you won't get all 10 threads.

You can enter the EXACT TITLE of the thread, and if any part of it's not the required 3 plus characters and whatever other limitation is built in, it will not find it.

I find that very ineffective, frustrating and puzzling, that's like saying "you can't get there from here" or it's called "The Thread" and the program says no it isn't and no you can't.

I didn't write this software, so I'm limited by it's limitations. Adding two-character indexing would increase the search indexes tremendously, and I already have enough problems with server speed when searching. In the future, I may be looking at different add-on search engine packages, like the ones used on a few other forums. But for now, this is the way it is...

-Wayne