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Background

The Auto on Info website is currently undergoing a dramatic restructuring. This is an arduous task; one fraught with many potentially broken links. Consequently, should a visitor encounter a broken link, please use the Comments link near the bottom of each page to notify site manager. When reporting a broken link, please identify the page that contains the broken link, as the Comments page is common to the entire site.

When the restructuring is complete, the Auto on Info website will span three domains, each with a different host. Each domain will have its own features; however, each domain will also contain pages common to all domains. The common pages are provided to ensure that if one domain is down, the visitor will still be able to gather the basic information necessary for decision-making.

The domain www.autooninfo.net is the original Auto on Info address. This domain will contain the detailed Reliability Percentrank tables, charts, and extrapolations (save the 1993 table that gives Percentrank changes over time, which will be found on the .org domain) and the High Mileage rosters and galleries.

The domain www.autooninfo.info was Auto on Info's second. This domain will contain the Auto News and Analysis section and the Visitor Comments and Commentary section.

The domain www.autooninfo.org is Auto on Info's most recent addition. This domain will contain the detailed Reliability Grades tables and charts, the Surveys,  the Mini-Surveys and Results, the 2001 Auto Review, and the Auto Quizzes.

All three will contain (1) the pages of the Reliability Index Values and Averages section, including the Bottom Line on Auto Reliability page, (2) the Auto Durability pages, (3) the Suggestions for New Car Buyers page, (4) the Advisories page, and (3) the Table I-MVRx's of the Reliability Percentranks, the Reliability Grades - High Standards, and the Reliability Grades - Exacting Standards sections. Also, all will have the directory pages - Home, Site Layout, Site Index, and Quick Jumps. Two of the three will have the Comments page.

Note: The above segmentation will occur in stages over the time period June 15, 2004 to August 30, 2004. During this period, delays in publishing auto quality news and updates will occur and some links will be inoperative. Also, some pages will be accessible only from the domain containing them. In particular, to view the current menu list of news articles, go to http://www.autooninfo.info/AutoonInfo/NewsAnalysisandEditorial.htm.

Recommendations

Site manager recommends adding pages from both URLs to one of the visitor's "favorites" folder menus to ensure access to information, for two reasons. Firstly, if one URL is down, the other URL may be accessed. Although both URLs have been down for several days, the URLs have not been down coincidentally. Secondly, the most commonly used North American search engines have recently (mid-March 2004) favored one URL over another and no longer list both URLs on results pages. Consequently, the visitor may have to "search the search engines" to access the URL that is not down, when one is. Although every web user should have, for ease of information access in trying circumstances, a file folder containing the query pages for eight or more search engines, most don't and for such finding the URL that is up may be a challenge, if a page from each of the two URLs is not in a favorites folder menu.

Observations and Other Aids

Car quality data may not always be easily accessible. As car quality data so greatly prefers some manufacturers - notably, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Nissan, at the top end - over other manufacturers - General Motors and Chrysler, at the other end, it should be assumed that at times such data may be very difficult to access, i.e., from time to time, one or more search engines may not give meaningful results to search queries auto reliability, auto durability, Acura reliability, Audi reliability, BMW reliability, Buick reliability, Cadillac reliability, Chevrolet reliability, Chrysler reliability, Dodge reliability, .... The following describe examples of recent occurrences that point in this direction.

One example that serves to buttress the point that easy access to auto quality information may not always be available is the Canadian Automobile Association's discontinuance of its annual auto survey of its membership. After 20+ years of providing auto reliability and ownership satisfaction statistics gathered from this survey, the Canadian Automobile Association discontinued it as of 2004. The lady with whom site manager spoke gave two reasons: (1) The annual survey of its membership was very costly. (2) "Most studies" indicate that the reliability gap between auto manufacturers is narrowing, "at least I believe that is what most studies indicate." (See The Bottom Line on Reliability for a very strong contra indication.) However, reality is that the CAA survey results indicated that ten- to fifteen-year-old Toyota models generated greater ownership satisfaction than new Big Three models, results that every Big Three manufacturer, as well as any of a number of related groups and associations, almost certainly would prefer not to be widely disseminated. And within 2 years after Auto on Info gave the results broad international exposure, the 20-year survey history came to an end.

Other examples may be found in "Info on Car Safety Off-Limits to Public," an August 18, 2004, article by the Detroit Free Press, and "Big 3 Turns on Overdue Charm in D.C.," a September 26, 2004, article by the Detroit News.

The following table gives synopses of several of the more prominent search engines.

Search Engine Summaries
	MSN (new)	Strengths:	Few, maybe none.
		Weaknesses:	Seldom can the leading information sources on more narrow subject areas be found within its results pages.
		Comments:	This recent attempt by Microsoft at going it alone is likely the closest thing to no search at all that can be found on the internet. Nonetheless, in the unlikely event that all other engines are offline, it may be the best. And if used, search the broadest possible subject area, for example, auto reliability in lieu of 1996 Buick Regal reliability or Buick Regal reliability or Buick reliability or General Motors car reliability. In summary, it seems fair to say that MSN's new search engine is, presently, more a farce on search engines than a search engine. To access its old search engine, MSN (old).
	Google	Strengths:	Currency. Removes flaws arising from the use of FrontPage subdirectories.
		Weaknesses:	The dominant information source for a search phrase is likely to be found within the first 100 entries, but may not be also. A meaningful information source for the search phrase may be within the first 50 entries, but may not be also. Furthermore, the page containing the information sought may be two or more provident clicks away.
		Comments:	The quality of Google's search results varies dramatically over time. Nonetheless, if the searcher has the time, patience, and stamina to examine four or five pages for each of the first 100 entries for a search phrase query, Google remains the search engine of choice. If not, check below.
	Yahoo	Strengths:	Moderate currency of limited scope.
		Weaknesses:	Currency of newly added pages is measured in weeks. Unable to handle FrontPage subdirectories and/or flaws arising from the use of FrontPage subdirectories (since its separation from Google). [After doing extensive searches, site manager was no longer able to find instances of this inability to handle the flaws or shortcomings of FrontPage. 01 May 2005.]
		Comments:	Yahoo has improved some of late, but it is difficult to estimate how long this improvement might last. Currency of newly added pages is measured in weeks, not days.
	Ask Jeeves	Strengths:	Generally, leading information sources for a search phrase query appear near the top of the first page of the web results list (after the list of sponsors). Removes flaws arising from the use of FrontPage subdirectories.
		Weaknesses:	Currency is measured in weeks, not days.
		Comments:	Likely second-best of the practical four - Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Wisenut, and Lycos.
	WiseNut	Strengths:	Generally, leading information sources for a search phrase query appear near the top of the first page of the web results list (after the list of sponsors).
		Weaknesses:	Currency is measured in weeks, not days.
		Comments:	Likely third-best of the practical four - Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Wisenut, and Lycos.
	Lycos or Hotbot	Strengths:	Generally, leading information sources for a search phrase query appear near the top of the first page of the web results list (after the list of sponsors).
		Weaknesses:	Currency is measured in weeks, not days.
		Comments:	When a fast search is needed, it is a good search engine to check, together with Ask Jeeves and WiseNut.
	Alta Vista	Strengths:	A different format for Yahoo!
		Weaknesses:	Currency of newly added pages is measured in weeks.
		Comments:	Some visitor's may prefer this format to the of the parent Yahoo.
Note: If your home country has a national search engine, it may include a short international (or, rather, non-domestic) list of 5 or 6 entries to the side of the domestic results. This short list may do a better job of including the dominant and leading information providers, for the topic searched, than does either MSN or Google.

For prelimnary searches, the metasearch engines, giving a composite of the results that appear within the top ten entries of two or more search engines, may be useful. Three such are:  ixquick, Dogpile, Kartoo.

The visitor is welcome to use the above search engine and metasearch engine links to put any of the foregoing linked pages into a "Search Engine" favorites folder.

Not to be overlooked are the hundreds of directories based on DMOZ's directory. Some that have done some-to-considerable weeding are becoming quite prominent.

Date of last update: 02 May 2005.

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