It used to be that one could search again without waiting, if the 1st search resulted in no hits. I see now one has to wait 300 seconds after a search with no results. Was this change on purpose, or is it a new bug?
any info on this?
IIRC it was instituted to help work around some board slowdown issues. I don’t know if the limitation will be lifted once the current server migration and database optimization process is finished.
Do you mean the search delay in general? I am only referring to a delay after performing a search that did not return any results. The delay after a search that returned results has been there forever, but even on the old server there was no forced delay before a new search after one that had no results.
And sometimes just a 300 second delay because no reason at all. About one time in three I get a five minute wait before I’ve searched for anything.
When that happens I turn on the ad blocker, because it just pisses me off.
I’m almost certain that searching was never part of the site slowdown problem, there should never ever have been a slowdown problem, and it’s entirely down to incompatible and poorly implemented server settings.
Are you saying you doubt that a search every 30 seconds qualifies as a DOS attack? Ridiculous.
Also: we have always been at war with the board that is not to be named.
What DOS attack?
What are you talking about?
That’s incorrect. All vBulletin boards with a certain number of posts (over a million, I think, but I don’t recall the exact number) will suffer from the same board lock-ups when searches are run. That’s why the larger boards tend to move over to a third-party search software, and that’s what Jerry’s looking into. Searches were definitely a reason why the site occasionally grinded to a halt.
As for your original question, Revtim, I’ll have to defer to Jerry for the answer for when he gets the opportunity to come back and say something.
Thanks SkipMagic.
History. I’m talkin’ 'bout history. 
GuanoLad said he didn’t believe the search function was the problem. The search timeout was extended to 300 seconds from 30 seconds because a member managed to crash the boards by doing 10 searches in a row, one every 30 seconds.
DOS = Denial of Service. A DOS attack is basically shutting down a website by accessing it too much, sucking all the available bandwidth so nobody else can use it. The usual method is to write a virus that will take over a couple thousand people’s computers and have them all start talking to the server at once. This then crashes the site.
At the straightdope, because of the way the search function worked, a single user acting at 30 seconds intervals knocked the whole thing to pieces on the ground.
Short version: It’s a joke, son.
Well, I still am not convinced. It would then be an SQL problem, and should be solvable that way.
Shouldn’t it be possible to time the required wait for the next search with the cost of the present one? If you search a limited span of time for a subject or person, the load on the system should be relatively small, as should also be the case if you search titles only. Similarly, a negative search can still be costly to complete in terms of system resources, even though the user didn’t get any results.
Does limiting the time frame actually cut down on the work required for a search, or does it add an extra burden? It could go either way depending on how the indices are set up, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a definitive answer.
There’s a difference between a null result and a failed search. I don’t mind waiting if my search returned zero results. I do mind, however, if the search always fails due to a server-side error, and I cannot do another search for 5 minutes.
Contract or not, I am sure that a lot of knowledgeable users at the SDMB would be willing to fix these problems in short order, and for absolutely free. It’s a shame that nothing has been done in months. I do hope that extensive backups are being made for history’s sake, for when this site eventually goes down.
Which is happening to me constantly. This is freaking aggravating.
Luckily I can do even more powerful searches on straightdope with Google.
I tried to do a Google site search with very common terms, and came up with nothing. I assume the board is not being indexed by Google yet, how are you doing it?
You have to add site:straightdope.com to the query.
Huh, that’s what I thought I did, I must of screwed it up somehow. Works now for me, thanks!