Sorry, sugar, you are too fast for us!

[Byzantine]

"Sorry! The administrator has specified that users can only post one message every 60 seconds."

Well, I'll be damned! This was a new one on me! I was trying to post a correction and I guess I was a little too fast for the BBQ Pit.

Or is this a new way of stopping the dreaded double post?

Just wondering.

[TubaDiva]

It's called "flood control," and it's been around since the first day of vB.

And yes, it's to reduce the number of double posts, which used to be a big problem for us.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator

[waterj2]

Actually, it was around even in the dark days of UBB, as this thread from March (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=1870) shows. How quickly some people forget these things.

[Byzantine]

So, I'm just slow then? Gee thanks, I feel so... like... stupid now. No, no, don't cry for me. I'll just go bitch and moan about the "evil moderators" in the Pit or something... no no... the pain... oh, the horror! My heart! ARGGGG!!!! :)

Naw, I'll get over not finding this out until a YEAR later. I may be slow but inevitably I catch on. Like a cold.... or mold... or herpes...

:)

[waterj2]

Think of yourself as being always thoughtful when posting. Or maybe just long winded.

[Byzantine]

waterj2 – or maybe this will give me opportunity to pause and smite the smart asses like YOU! :)

[barstow]

Originally posted by manhattan
Flood control is in fact a feature designed to prevent double posts. It prohibits a user from submitting a post twice in a minute. The theory is that since any thoughtful person takes more than a minute to compose most posts, if a person is hitting "submit" for a second time in a minute, they are probably double-posting.


The problem, of course, comes when the board slows down as a prelude to a crash. As we've seen, much more than one minute elapses before the time-out or other evidence occurs that leads members erroneously to believe that their posts did not go through. They then hit "submit" again, flood control does not work and a double (or more) post occurs.

[barstow]

I just posted the quote above twice to test it.
Over 2 minutes apart.
Posted, then backed to the reply window and hit Submit Reply again (without any changes to the text)

Both times it said "Thank you for posting..."

But, as you see, only one copy appears.

[waterj2]

I think that was probably just because you tried to submit from the same reply page. I will now try copying this post, and pasting it into a refreshed reply window 2 minutes apart. If this double posts, I'm correct.

[waterj2]

Wow, I'm impressed. Never noticed that feature before. I wonder if it's really a good thing. On the one hand, it prevents identical double posts, which are a large portion of total double posts. On the other hand, however, it doesn't foster the attitude of trusting the CGI (people submit twice, one shows up, so they figure the first really didn't go through), perhaps encouraging slightly modified double-posts, or ones where a different post intervened. I guess that on balance, it works out to be a good thing.