Ben,
You're correct and there is nobody that would be happier than me if we had a robust Search engine here on IH8MUD.
However, this is what we have for now and we can learn to use it and make it work for us as a tool,
or we can refuse to use it and whine about how it sucks.
The consequences of the latter option is that the regulars in the 80 section will get tired of posting the same replies over and over. Then the new guys won't even try to find the information they need. After a while participation will decline because people can't get answers or information. This isn't like "chat" room; it's a technical resource where topics are covered at random; sometimes in depth, sometimes briefly.
Eric (e9's) posted a detailed description of how he did a [ fanatical
] cooling system service. It's unlikely he will post that again and some of us would slap him if he did. In preparation for the summer driving season we'll have a bunch of guys that could use that information. We can wait for Eric to post a link back to the original thread or, in some cases, direct the guys to the FAQ, or we can suggest to the new guys (as Dave did above) that author=e9999 did a complete write-up and they should SEARCH for the information.
I think we do a disservice to newbies when we simply tell them to SEARCH with no other information. I have been guilty of doing this. We need to give them a push in the right direction with an author or a good keyword for searching. It helps if we test our SEARCH suggestion unless we're confident it will produce the desired results. Ex: Using a keyword of "Oil" wouldn't help someone that was trying to determine if they should use 5w50 or 10w30 in the summer.
-B-
(BTW, the above rant isn't directed at Ben. It's OT but IMHO timely.)
.
