Maybe in the titles, even.

Like in Journalism 101, the 5Ws:
WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY except here it's
YEAR
MODEL / BODY
ENGINE
TRANSMISSION
and even WHERE (geographically)

This way, we'd prevent the typical question "MY car starts slower than usual (what is usual) when it's cold out" Cold WHERE, stupid - are you in Arizona or Alaska?

LOVE the site, however my tolerance for wasting time searching because of someone else's omission is sometimes maddening.
-Tom
1996
E320 (W210)
M104
4sp. auto with no asr button
Tennessee (I know, you'd think my tolerance for stupidity would be higher)

__________________
RIP "Betsy" (Oo=*=oO)
'96 E 3 2 0 (W 2 1 0) M 1 0 4 (Totalled)
Spaces in sig so as not to screw up the SEARCH; every time someone searches for that MB they don't want my sig!

2004 Audi A8L
'98 VW Passat 1.8T 5M
'87 Alfa Romeo Milano 2.5L 5M
'67 Impala convertible, 327cid

We have always tried to encourage people to post needed info. That's why Larry Bible originally posted this and we made it a sticky:
TROUBLESHOOTING, Get the Most from your Post!

It hard to help people when they withhold critical information!

__________________
Bill Wood - Retired Webmaster
My Personal Website
1998 Mercedes E430
2010 Toyota Sequoia
My Photo Albums

Yeah, following that would make searches a lot easier. Sometimes I search for things I've seen before, know they are on the forum SOMEwhere, and still can't find them.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I think a pre-post form to fill out with make model and what not that gets attached to the header of each post. OR the same form, same information, attached to signatures?

__________________
RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

____________________________
FACEBOOK: PANZER450

A lot of us have "vehicle histories" in our sigs. I think it's not a bad idea.

I disagree. Let's not make this bureaucratic, let's make people understand they won't get answers if they don't include info.

Either that or require people to list all cars and their location on their info.

Fill out a form before each post? Oye muchacho!!

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Unfortunately, if your signature changes...users browsing the archives really have to wonder which car is being discussed!

It's really easy to just put the information into the first post...however, there are plenty of members that don't, and it usually gets an immediate WHICH CAR ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

It's not hard. The information is crucial to getting other members to help offer insight or troubleshoot. I wouldn't mind a form, or maybe some form of tagging. It'd make finding old threads much easier.

__________________
1982 240D, sold 9/17/2008
1987 300D TurboW124.133 - 603.960, 722.317 - Smoke Silver Metallic / Medium Red (702/177), acquired 8/15/2009
262,715 and counting

How about a little bit of question and answer prior to user sign up?
Just simply have them click I understand that posts must be blah blah blah or certain requirement or such and such.

It is frustrating when thread titles are poorly worded and the initial post is confusing.

Really the best way to handle these situations is to ignore it and move on....

__________________
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.