Sub directories for each car?

[mac2444]

Hi,

I've been visiting this site for a while and have been impressed with the quality of information and knowledge of it's members but find it tough to find what I'm looking for at times. When I'm looking for technical information I have to sift through over 100 pages of posts which generally ends up being fairly futile. The search functon helps but I think the site would be greatly improved with sub catigories for each model of Alfa.


Here is a site I used to visit for one of my old cars that did an amazing job of grouping related information into sub directories, it certainly saved me time when I had an issue to solve:

AMC Eagle Nest Forums - Index

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Graeme

[mac2444]

Actually no, I'm quite serious. I like this site but think it could be improved upon. Having the technical sections broken down into systems etc. might save a lot of searching.

[Tifosi]

Your link doesn't appear any more organized or sorted than the groups in the tech section here, less so in some instances actually. :shrug:

[mac2444]

Maybe that site isn't the best example I only like that they break things down into sections for that specific model and engine. i.e. when you opened the section for say the 164, you would then get a list of systems to further streemline your issue. There could also be a seperate section for each engine (dohc4, 2.5 V6, 24v V6, etc.) independant of the models they are found in.

In any case, it's just a suggestion. I'll still be looking throught the posts for tips either way!

[Farace]

This comes up from time to time, and the problem is that let's say you've got, oh, a late-'70s Spider. Issues dealing with the body could be specific to the late S2, but might also be applicable--and found in--a sub-folder dealing with any of the four series of Spiders. Issues dealing with the engine might be found in folders dealing with anything that has a two-liter engine, e.g. Spiders, GTVs, Berlinas, Alfettas, or maybe only those with a Spica, or the issue might be common to any of the twin-cam engines from the 1300 on up. And then there are the posts and threads dealing with a mix of issues. You get the idea--even if there were subfolders for every car, you might still end up looking through all the others for the solution to your problem.

I've found that in searching the BB, unless I'm searching a single word, I've lately defaulted to using Google. If you go to Google and type in what you're looking for, and then follow it with "site:alfabb.com" (without the quotes), it will restrict the search to this site. It's still not perfect, but Google's search options are more flexible than those built into the BB's software.

[tubut]

I have mixed feelings about sub-forums for each as model. It appears the software the BB is built on allows only for a hierarchical structure and such a structure inherently doesn't lend itself to efficiently cover topics that fall into more than one category (e.g. parts or problems that are common on more than one model). Furthermore there is the problem that newbies sometimes post in the wrong forum and/or that threads change the topic. I believe correcting such issues by moving and splitting threads would be more than a full-time job and would require significant knowledge about Alfas, Alfa history and specific car models -- more than can be expected from the admins. In addition, I don't think there's an easy solution to the fact that some people use AlfaBB to chat and others use it as Wikipedia.

Furthermore, I think AlfaBB is a bit of a general purpose web site that complements some of the excellent model specific web sites on the Internet (for example, Bruce Taylor's Alfa Montreal site, Wille's Spider Veloce site come to mind -- I'm sure there are many others).

Last but not least, the course hierarchy helped me stumble across interesting topics that I would not have thought out intentionally (kind of like browsing through a magazine) and that, in my mind, undoubtedly would have been buried in a deeper hierarchy.

With respect to searching, I have given up on AlfaBB search and use Google instead. I use either "search terms site:www.alfabb.com" or "search terms site:www.alfabb.com//bb/forums/whatever-forum-you-like" and get much better results than AlfaBB could ever provide. A further benefit for the BB is that such resource-intensive and 'computationally expensive' searches are off-loaded from the AlfaBB server and happen at Google's expense.

[mac2444]

Thanks for the Google tip, I didn't even know you restrict their searches to one site. I'll try that one for sure.

[tubut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac2444 Thanks for the Google tip, I didn't even know you restrict their searches to one site. I'll try that one for sure.