A question about the search function

About This Message Board
1

Can someone explain the logic behind the 120 wait time between searches?

I understand that a search may be something that requires a bit more (insert favorite computer resource here) than say, loading a thread.

However, I am wondering…

  1. how long ago was 120 seconds chosen, and does it still make sense now?
  2. was the search function abused in the past, bringing SDMB servers to their collective hardware/software knees (which was why the 120 second wait time was implemented in the first place)?
  3. does this limit still need to be in place now that the SDMB is not on those same servers? (If I understand it right, the SDMB now sits on a commercial, 3rd party server (please correct me if I am wrong).

I don’t know if many people even use the search function any longer, or just use google to do the dirty work for them.

Is it possible to re-visit the length of time between searches?

Thanks

2

Jerry doesn’t have time.

3

The 120 second wait time was put in place many years ago in order to reduce server load. Some people may not realize it, but when you click on new posts you actually trigger the SDMB database to do a search. So a lot of times people may be searching without realizing that they are searching. I don’t think people were abusing searches or anything like that, but when the limit was put in place there were notable performance issues with the servers at the time.

You are correct that we have since switched servers. Considering that we still have occasional slowness problems (there have been quite a few threads about that just this week as a matter of fact) the 120 second wait isn’t likely to be removed any time soon. It’s not that Jerry doesn’t have the time, it’s just that it’s kinda foolish to remove something that reduces server load when we still have occasional server performance issues.

When you do a google search, you are searching through google’s cached data and aren’t putting any extra load on the SDMB servers. Google is good at searching stuff (it’s kinda their thing) and they have a metric shit-ton of servers dedicated just to searching, so often a google search ends up being faster and has more flexibility than using the SDMB search function.

Here’s the sticky on how to search the SDMB using google:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638051

4

I seem to recall the wait time between searches used to be five minutes, so the two minute wait time was considered an “improvement.”

5

Thanks for the info.

I am wondering though… With the slowness of the board lately, and my experience with the search function seemingly forever, here is what I see. Maybe someone can explain how this impacts (or doesn’t impact) the servers.

When I do a search, I would say about 90% of the time it hangs, just like people are complaining about the SDMB in other threads in ATMB right now. Inevitably, I give up and end the search by hitting the “x” on my browser.

But what is going on with the servers? If the browser is hung (that’s what I see as a user), is the search still going on, or does it stop the moment I stop it on my end?

And if I don’t break out of it, it never seems to come back on its own, so it would seem the connection is lost. I doubt the server is cranking away with a search for 5 minutes, but maybe it is.

So let’s say, for example, I do a search and wait for 30 seconds or so… The window hangs, so I kill the search and try again. I get a message saying “wait 90 seconds between searches.” I guess when 90 seconds is up, almost always jumping the gun, and get a second message saying “wait 15 seconds” and then “wait 3 seconds” until it finally permits the search to go through again. Then, it hangs again, and I give up.

When I do a search, where does that info get stored (specifically the time the search was generated), and when each successive search is attempted, is the server hit again to tell me I have tried again too fast? Does that put any load on the server at all?

Perhaps the best way to address this problem is to just direct people to use the google search function. Instead of wasting time and server resources, just remove the SDMB search function all together, and have the search button direct users to google, with the correct syntax already there (or something like that).

If the servers are no longer the property of the SDMB and Jerry doesn’t have to maintain them (or does he?), and performance issues aren’t exactly his problem (or are they?), perhaps removing the search time limit should be revisited if you want to keep the SDMB search feature for the users.

Just a thought.