Contrary to public opinion, computers, and more specifically databases and spreadsheets, are not at all smart.

What they are is logical and binary, and most important of all they do what they are told, so the old adage of “garbage in = garbage out” has never been more relevant.

Just take a quick look at the screen grab from our maker table above and you will see exactly why we need a background synonym table, and why we put so much effort into getting it right.

Back to the beginning:

When we designed our platform, it was built to take full advantage of the newest technologies and features available, so that any field could be infinitely variable in length, every field would be searchable, and all the standard mis-prints or typos ( “S” instead of “5” for example) as well as “special” characters like the dash the colon the full stop and the space would be ignored by our search engine.

Some of this worked right out of the box, some of it only got to work correctly when we had our major structural update and redesign in 2019, but right now, it is as good as anyone and if you search for an exact item in our databases, you are far less likely to get a ” nearly approximate almost close to” answer as you would with the worlds largest and busiest search engine.

It is the reason we don’t allow anyone to add a new maker themselves ( sorry about that) but it makes for a more accurate and reliable platform if we can limit or control the maker names to ensure that a search is more successful, and in the end the chance or buying or selling the correct part is greater.

“Approved by admin”

So if you see ” parts need to be approved by admin” when you list a new maker, that’s why. It’s also the reason there is a drop-down table when you start typing a maker name when you add an item to the database.

We always question whether what we do can be done better or more efficiently and you may well see evidence of further changes and improvements without prior notice, but at the heart of all we do is an honest desire to make our platform the best product it can be, and to make your businesses run more smoothly.

If you have parts to list or want to update your existing listing please get in touch via e-mail (info@partfindermarine.com ) or call us on +44 1293 871767