As I search the forums, I'm running into a problem whose solution presents me with a dilemma.

I have always found it interesting to see a member's signature with a list of the Benz's they own. But, listing the cars there throws off the search engine, making the forum history less useful.

For example, if I'm looking for postings relating to a 300SD, and simply search on that, I'm going to get every message Robert Roe posted, even if it's his input on someone else's tech issue, since he has a 300SD listed in his sig.

Or even if I look for two search terms like "380SE" and "suspension," I get better results, but still get every posting that Aaron Greenberg (a prolific contributor) made regarding suspension, even if it has nothing to do with a 380SE.

Curious as to other users' opinions on this matter. Is the signature info useful/interesting enough to outweigh the fact that it throws the search off? Or is the search more important?

Suggestions for a solution? Perhaps a section of MercedesShop with a little database of people's names and cars, and then a URL to an individual's profile on the site could be put in the sig instead of the actual list.

Just food for thought...

I have often wondered this as well, but never voiced my opinion. I try to put my car model in most of my post titles unless they are generic questions. I like your idea about the separate section. The webmaster might have a litle work cut out trying to edit the current auto sig to restrict it to names only and no car models. I guess he could just delete all and make us re-list! The only other problem is that some people have other useful info in their sig, especially some of the true techies who make their living doing MB work. I really did not provide any solutions, just raised more questions!

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Deezel
87 300TDT
150,000 miles

You bring up a good point although I'm at a loss right now to think of a good solution.
It's nice having the car listed in the sig but, it does play havoc with the search engine. We already have 10's of thousands of posts with cars in the signature that would have to be edited.
...Hmmmm

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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC

Maybe we should put Chassis-Type #(W140..etc) and Engine-Type #(M119...etc) instead of the model #(400SE...etc)..maybe that will cut down on the problem....

Andy Kuo

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<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
<LI>Moonstone Grey/Black Leather
</UL>
ICQ#26950002
Mercedes Owners ICQ ActiveList ID#61730549
Mercedes S-Class Page
http://drive.to/akry
http://akry.homestead.com

I have an idea. If we change our sigs to say "300 SD" instead of "300SD" the search engine should skip all but a search for "300" or "SD".