So I was a little bored today and was looking for pictures of cars running 275's in the rear. I tried searching for 275/40/18, 275/40R18, "275/40/18", "275/40R18", 275x18, 18x9, then the same with 17's. All came up with no match.

Are numbers invalid in the search box? Seems like it would be a pretty common search item.

Hmmm.... good question!
Didn't work for me either in Wheels & Tires.
So I started playing.... I went to Engines and searched on '396' and nothing came up. I tried '041 heads' and only got posts with the word 'heads' in them. Then I tried '327 heads' and got a post with '327' in it.

Went back to Wheels & Tires and typed in '275's' and got a lot of hits. Try that instead.
(all searches were without the quotes)

Thanks Joe, definitely a lot of hits with 275's.

I am having the same problem, can't search 350 anymore. Seams this has been happening for a couple of months now, anything 3 letters or numbers or less.

I can't search numbers either. Trying to search for 1168 (as in Speed Pro's camshafts). I know I can throw in the "speed pro" in the search, but shouldn't we be able to run number searches, too?

Admins, mods: any help?

Thanks!

EDIT: actually, now that I'm running more searches, attempting to search only thread titles, "speed pro cam" pulls up a bunch of irrelevant results. It only seems to find "speed," which helps none. What's up with that?

I used 350ci and got a lot of threads. I got 3 threads returned searching 1168 including this one.

I used 350ci and got a lot of threads. I got 3 threads returned searching 1168 including this one.

Yeah, I got the same results. Guess I just couldn't believe that every single cam in the world doesn't have extensive discussion here on TC!

But what about the searched including the words "cam" and "pro"? Surely those are not overly common words to be weeded out (like "or," "and," etc)?

Do a google search for speed pro 1168 and you won't find much either...

Who ever the database guy is for autoforums it's a tough job to try and make the search as functional as possible. Short 2-3 letter words are resource hogs and don't return much that's usable. Look at the 2 examples given; "cam" and "pro", how many words are those two part of compared to "camshaft" and "professional"? If the db guy let the search engine run with "cam" on this site how many threads will turn up with "camaro" in them?

Right, but not being able to search for engine by displacement is going to really miss a lot of info. The number of threads with "ci" immediately after the displacement as in your earlier example are very, very few relative to total numbers of posts. Some guys type 396, few type 396 ci, few type 396 cu in. But 396 catches them all.

If it's a permanent, non-negotiable change, not much point doing searches trying to help anyone anymore. No traffic, won't be anyone to worry about hogging resources.

I understood not using two character numbers, like 67, for the reasons stated. But three number strings, four number strings? Have to use more than three letters? How many good threads about camshaft selection actually have camshaft spelled out in any one of the posts. I bet it is way less than 50%.

Whatever, I rarely B&C about site admin issues, but this change will frustrate a lot of us, and we'll be gone.

Eric computer resources (processor power) searching a database and bandwidth are different animals. Can you find one automotive site where you can search 3 numbers like 350 or 396 and come back with results? I haven't looked but doubt very few if any because it's a limit of the software and processor resources as well as getting practical results. Sure if you have a database with a few thousand records in it you can get away with a lot more than one with 1.5 mil posts in it like this site. Wonder how many words that is stored total?

I'm not a db guy by any means, I'm just trying to relate that search engines are not perfected, I met a young guy who is in college and working as an intern at a company that is paying his tuition for doing research on making a better search engine. Anyway if anyone finds a site where they can search on a series of numbers like 350 and get valid results, I'll personally contact their web guy and try to find out what they are doing...

Do a google search for speed pro 1168 and you won't find much either...

Who ever the database guy is for autoforums it's a tough job to try and make the search as functional as possible. Short 2-3 letter words are resource hogs and don't return much that's usable. Look at the 2 examples given; "cam" and "pro", how many words are those two part of compared to "camshaft" and "professional"? If the db guy let the search engine run with "cam" on this site how many threads will turn up with "camaro" in them?

Yeah, ran google searches before posting. Not my first rodeo.

Dennis, I get it that owners of automotive websites have technical computing issues that drive some of their decision making. I also would assume that many owners and/or tech guys are not gearheads, they are just in this to generate revenue.

But they could also save resources by just deleting old posts after a certain time, because the wealth of knowledge that lives in this forum is absolutely useless without a way to search and access. So, now if one of us wants to try and help a newbie, or find something for ourselves, it can't be done. Extremely frustrating.

I have stayed loyal here even after the takeover, but you can still search numbers at FirstGens.com , so I guess I'll spend more time over there.

I know that to some extent you and the other mods here have to defend some things Autoforums does, but they really need to understand that the "upgrades" they are making and settings the forum runners are choosing are going to affect viewers and members. Is it possible to pass that message up the chain, or do we have to start deleting our accounts so they cannot point to the total number of members for ad sales?

And I know you have been here longer than I have (and have a nicer vert :) ), so if you don't want to be in the middle, I guess I can figure out how to contact AutoForums on my own.

I used to use HotRodders.com too, but it looks like they have been taken over as well.

Not much of a business model if you can't figure out a way to let folks access info. This will just become some stupid chat room, and that I can do without.

I agree that some number just make sense, 327, 350, 383, 396, 427, etc. It would definitely lead to more useful search returns. The same could be said for some short words and letters, RS comes to mind.

Eric - I'm not taking the owners of the sites side or trying to do anything but offer an explanation as I see it. You mention a site that gets 1 or 2 users on it at any given time and has taken 2 years to generate about 2 weeks worth of of traffic and data that this site does, sure you can search a number in Jims database I already mentioned it would be possible on a small database. Go over to Nastyz28.com (not an autoforums owned site) and search "350" you get exactly the same you get here.

Here's something to try with our search engine if you want; search 3 5 0 with spaces. You'll get zero results but a different message, one that says 3, 5 and 0 are too short. If the 350 search was autoforums blocked as too short then it would report that just like it does with 3, 5 and 0. When every well established forum board owned by others as well as autoforums acts the same as this site searching I don't think there is anything that can be done. Certainly it's not a subversive thing autoforums is doing.

As for the forum changes, I took hours to go through the forums looking at members suggestions mulling them around, then took more hours laying out the changes that would best meet the requests and presented the changes to the team of moderators. When the moderators gave me the feeling that the changes would work I then stayed on the autoforums folks for over 2 months even writing letters to the site owners before the changes were put in place! Before that I spent 2 years riding the autoforums guys to clean up the site, bring back the team store and update this place before more of the membership bails. I finally got their attention and we are getting some things updateds and changed. These changes have had no effect on the search function at all!

Like you I have stayed loyal to TC or I should say stayed loyal to guys like you, the members of TC that make it worth coming here! The only loyality I have to autoforums is they have kept our forums up and running and for that I indeed thank them. Had they not stepped in when they did with a few dollars who knows what would have happened. Al didn't get rich off the sale of this site like some would have folks believe. What did happen is Al got his health back because this place along with his day job was taking his health from him. There is a real good chance that Al would have had to shut down our forums if the sale didn't come along! Since the sale of this site, 3 other Camaro sites have surfaced being run by folks that use to frequent the forums here. It's been 2-3 years and all 3 of them at no fault of the folks that put them together have ever really taken off. I don't know what the magic is to this place but it's surviving and I'm trying to make it better for everyone dispite the fact that the forums are burried under a mountain of advertising which I don't care for but will live with to keep the forums up.

I'm not on the payroll here, my time here is for the members, my fellow Camaro lovers. I've not asked more than a handfull of tech questions in the over 25,000 posts I've made here over the past 10 plus years! My reasons for being here are to help others and that is all I was doing here was trying to help you understand there are reasons you can't search numbers like 350 or 327.

Hey, what's it cost to buy a site these? Maybe we can turn it into a group purchase and co-op it? :D

I'm half kidding, but now that I'm thinking about it, has anyone ever heard of something like that?

First, let me say that I think the mods and admins have a thankless job, and I appreciate all the help I get here, so please don't think it's not appreciated. Sometimes we just make suggestions, or want to know the reasoning why things are the way they are.

It's just that some things that are car related will inherently involve numbers, and being able to include them in a search would narrow down the results. And I literally spend hours searching before creating a new thread on something that has been discussed ad nauseum.

Example: For the past several weeks/months I have been debating whether or not it's worth rebuilding my 10 bolt open differential and installing a posi unit. My current 10 bolt is an 8.2". I have seen mention that the 8.5" 10 bolt is a much stronger unit, a search shows that 8.5 returns no results. A search for 10 bolt doesn't return anything because 10 is too short or too common of a word. Most people recommend a 12 bolt for high torque applications, but again 12 is too short to search for. So any search for information on a new rear end results in threads that discuss bolts or rear fenders or something else unrelated.

Brent - trust me we, the mods get it! Sometimes it's easier to just go to the forum of interest and set the Display Options to show "for the last year" and look through the pages of thread titles. Or post a question, I know some here will flame you with "do a search" but that is not everyones opinion!

There are also many ways to do search for a 10 bolt or 8.2, 8.5 etc. Try searching "rearend", "rear end", "differential", "ring pinion", "center section", "pumpkin"... and be sure to search only the Transmission and Driveline forum, using the advanced search allows doing that.

Brent - trust me we, the mods get it! Sometimes it's easier to just go to the forum of interest and set the Display Options to show "for the last year" and look through the pages of thread titles. Or post a question, I know some here will flame you with "do a search" but that is not everyones opinion!

There are also many ways to do search for a 10 bolt or 8.2, 8.5 etc. Try searching "rearend", "rear end", "differential", "ring pinion", "center section", "pumpkin"... and be sure to search only the Transmission and Driveline forum, using the advanced search allows doing that.

I know, and eventually there is a way to find the info using the right search words. I just wanted to express why some of us ask certain questions. There is a wealth of info here, and I certainly appreciate that.

Eric - nice first post on Jim's site! I won't be editing your mention of his site and have never given Jim problems for starting his own forums. I actually supported him when he got started and gave him a lot of latitude when he was soliciting folks here.

Please feel free to use my name in future reference there or on any other forums you care to post on if you are going to take shots at me or this site, it's a lot easier than saying "the mod on the other site that has been there a long time and has the white car". :thumbsup:

I've gone to a lot of trouble to help you understand a bit about how the search engine on a forum works, sorry if you can't accept that and want to propagate that the site owners here are screwing with the search engine to piss off members and somehow that will help make the site owners more money!

Thanks as always Dennis.
He is right, you know. Most of the mods here were in the first couple dozen members at firstgens.com.

And it was autoforums that fired me as a mod here, Team Camaro mods certainly were not even asked for input.

And no doubt moderating any site owned by a non car guy for profit is indeed a thankless job, kinda makes me wonder why they all came running back here when the @#$^&% hit the fan.

See you all on the flip side. And thanks for keeping an eye on us Dennis.

that's cute... they are flashing ads at me when I hit the back button.

I'm going home, anyone wanna join me, ther light's on

Eric - nice first post on Jim's site! I won't be editing your mention of his site and have never given Jim problems for starting his own forums. I actually supported him when he got started and gave him a lot of latitude when he was soliciting folks here.

Please feel free to use my name in future reference there or on any other forums you care to post on if you are going to take shots at me or this site, it's a lot easier than saying "the mod on the other site that has been there a long time and has the white car". :thumbsup:

I've gone to a lot of trouble to help you understand a bit about how the search engine on a forum works, sorry if you can't accept that and want to propagate that the site owners here are screwing with the search engine to piss off members and somehow that will help make the site owners more money!

A. That was not my first post over there. I revived one Sparky had started, and I had already posted in.

B. It was never my intent to throw you, or the other good folks here under the bus. In hindsight, I guess I could have just hit Jim up personally, but I wanted to express my extreme unhappiness with the changes over here and didn't even think about it. I knew he would know who I was talking about. And I seemed to recall recent times Jim has posted there or his site has been mentioned and the posts removed or otherwise altered by the mod. Maybe it wasn't under your watch. I know the tone of posts and emails can be interpreted many ways, and is one of the things I hate about these forms of communication. I do not have any gripe with you; like you, the majority of my time here and postings have been helping others. To do that, I used to be able to access the wealth of info here using the search terms that are no longer valid, and it is frustrating. I am very serious that if the archives cannot be searched, then there is absolutely no use having them.

C. You point out that you have been trying to explain to us how IT works. I am an engineer; I have numerous projects that require that I interface with my and outside tech guys to set up and run project websites to provide information to the public regarding the status and planned actions at the project site, and have been deeply involved in starting and operation of the necessary servers to disseminate that info. So, I have a pretty good handle on how things work. I also know that recent upgrades and "improvements" have greatly altered the access of info here, and that is not good. It is as simple as changing settings, and the decision to change the way things were done was not a good one, period. If Al could figure out how to make it work with his limited resources, why can't a for profit corporation? Seems pretty simple; they don't want to. That's just sad.

D. I am glad for Al and Dot, that they no longer have the headaches here. It's not relevant if THEY got rich or not. I wish they had. If someone like that was still operating things, I would have gladly signed on as a paying member, and I felt (and feel) bad that I did not kick in to them when I could, but my accident has really affected our finances. As it is, TC has helped me through my recovery and kept me sane as this formerly very active late-30s and now early-40s guy sits on the couch most days and tries to figure out what the new me is going to be. I have made a lot of good friends here, and all I wanted to do after my accident made me unable to work on my own car is help other guys with theirs. So it makes me really sad that I will not be able to that any more here. I am not kidding, I am not angry with you or anyone here, I am just sad that this community that guys like you and I (and Jim, , and KevinW, and Camarodude67 [sorry of I screwed up the username Jeff] and any other number of members) have invested a lot of our time building has now become a for profit deal, and decisions not to "waste resources" makes it useless.

E. I guess I am being a knothead engineer, and you think you're explaining to me things I don't know or am too stupid to get, but like I said, I have a pretty good handle on how server resources are managed, and things I don't know I have people I can ask, and have regarding this issue. So, if you really answer honestly and do not have to explain the inner workings of running all these various automotive forums, doesn't it really boil down to someone making decisions that affect the usability of those forums could have the search pick up any terms of any length, if they wanted? Again, I am not asking for a primer on the IT side of things, I get it. I just want to understand how a small Mom and Pop type of operation like Al and Dot could make this work, and a for profit corporation can't. I am certain that they just don't want to. I've understood all you've explained to this point, but it boils down to that, if the "new" owners wanted this to operate the way it used to, they absolutely could. If this is the way all forums owned and run by the "new" owners here are going to operate, then these forums are going to turn into something idiotic and useless, like Yahoo Answers type of garbage.

F. I said it before, and I want to end with it. I have nothing against you Dennis, nor any other TC member. I just think it is so sad that something that used to be so vibrant and useful that it got mentions in national magazines and had some great get togethers is no longer useful. Do you really think the long timers and/or knowledgeable people here are going to answer the same questions over and over and over again? They rarely did before. I can't guess how many times a guy here would ask a very basic question, and I would see many many views without anyone giving actual help, and I could go to a search, find useful info, and pass it along.

Just last week I emailed a guy selling a 69 Firebird on CL that had something in his ad about not being able to remove the ignition key all of a sudden, and I explained the OE backdrive system and told him to try to rotate the column base and see if the key would come out. He emailed me back that it worked, and he could not believe that a stranger would email him and help him out that way. I explained about Team Camaro, and that what I had done was just the TC way. I learned everything about the backdrive system here, because my 69 came in boxes. And I found his ad because I was searching all of CL, trying to help another member here find a good OE 67 Camaro front bumper.

We just have a great community here, and even though you felt you had to get your own digs in about "other" sites not "taking off", if Team Camaro's owners don't want to devote the necessary resources to keep it useful, then hopefully those of us who care can help build a community somewhere else. It is just sad that it has to be that way.

First don't take my comment about the other sites not "taking off" as a dig because it was not and I have never taken a shot at any of them!

You really send mixed messages by saying that you like me and don't want to throw anyone under the bus then closing with a comment that is trying to put me in a bad light with the other sites!

I'm sorry if you only want to hear what you have to say and can't be a little objectve about the matter. There have been some forums moved around and a couple new ones added. There was no change made to the database search engine. That's all that has happened. I pointed you to a completely independent car site that is comparable to TC and their search won't find 350 either! As an Engineer how can you continue to go on about this with the facts I've provided?

I'm done with this, I don't wish to be any further part of the entertainment factor you are getting from this!

The three letter search or lack there of has been going on for a long time (pre autoforum). Here's a link when I was a bit miffed with the issue. By the way I got over it. :)

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55983&highlight=search

OK I am wrong I guess, and I too am done.

There are also many ways to do search for a 10 bolt or 8.2, 8.5 etc. Try searching "rearend", "rear end", "differential", "ring pinion", "center section", "pumpkin"... and be sure to search only the Transmission and Driveline forum, using the advanced search allows doing that.
Searching the internet in general and forums in particular and getting the desired results is an art. I've spent and hour searching the web for something and not finding it only to ask a coworker for help and the coworker finds what I want in two minutes simply by making a minor change to the search.

Searching the internet in general and forums in particular and getting the desired results is an art. I've spent and hour searching the web for something and not finding it only to ask a coworker for help and the coworker finds what I want in two minutes simply by making a minor change to the search.

Yes, I understand. I was just making a friendly suggestion, not trying to rock the boat.

The funny thing is that I can do a google search with the same words and often times it takes me to the thread on this site that I'm looking for.

Here's another of the sites I frequent for my Tundra, and I can still search things like "4.7".

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/search.php?searchid=5228374

Here's another post on another forum lamenting what happens when AutoForums takes over and starts making changes...

http://autotrend.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=91042&p=3&topicID=18796452

Seemed pretty well thought out and the OP there has much the same issues a lot of us here do. I especially like the fact that it is common for that company to gobble these forums up, yet leave the original owner info up to make anyone who happens to check unable to find out who now really owns the site.

It's a shame, really.

Just to amend, now I am really confused, because AutoForums DOES own tundrasolutions.com . Yet, search terms like used to be valid here still work there. Because I am a knothead, I am going to have to try to understand why. Maybe TS is not VBulletin? I don't want to become a software engineer, but I do have a couple of website gurus I can ask.

Man, it looks like TS is VBulletin like most sites. So why can something like "4.7" or "5.7" be successfully searched there, and we can't search "8.5" here any more? As one of my favorite cartoon lines says "It just don't add up..."

Dennis, not trying to beat a dead horse, but I was just running advance search for thread titles containing "PCV" and, of course, got nothing. Then I was running a search for a casting number yesterday, and, again, nothing. The casting number may not have come up simply because it hasn't been discussed on TC before, I get that. But "PCV"?? And, yes, I also understand I can put in modifiers and other words with "PCV," but it's GOT to be a commonly discussed subject, and hunting for threads on it shouldn't be a chore.

You said before that changes to the site get suggested based on the input you and the mods receive from TCers.

Can you please confirm that you have explained to autoforums, or whoever controls the search functions, how necessary it is to be able to search for short terms and numbers?

Seriously, I'm not trying to give you a hard time and rehash all this, just want to know that autoforums is receiving this input.

Thanks for all your help and time.

Zac - I think you missed a big part of what I was explaining. It has taken 3 years and an act of congress to get the recent changes done. I was at the end of my rope and on my last effort when someone from Autoforums made some requested changes. I haven't heard back from that person since! Some will swear the search was changes recently but I know it was not and Robert pulled out a thread from way back that supports this exact same problem with short 3 letter words and numbers existed long before the new owners.

I would love to see the forum search made to work better but I'm still winded from the last battle I fought to get some changes around here. I am patiently waiting for the second part of what was said would be done to take place. We lost Aidan our Autoforum contact and have only heard from his replacement once in weeks.

As for PCV, to my knowledge you won't get a return on any 3 letter search. PCV stands for positive crankcase ventalation. I tried a search using 2 of the 3 words and got plenty of threads on PCV. I hope that helps,

No, I've been following this thread, and I know you have been going through a lot of BS. And, again, I'm not going on the offensive. I just want some assurance that you have told autoforums folks how much TCers really want to have the ability to search the short terms.

Really do appreciate your efforts. Know you have a thankless job.


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