Wasn’t this supposed to be a temporary measure to decrease demand on the server while Jerry fixed something else? And that was how many years ago? Seriously, I go to other boards that are busier than this, don’t have intrusive ads, and are FREE, and I can search to my heart’s content.
And it’s not like I want to bang away at the search like the Cookie Monster or something. I might want to search a couple times a week. The problem is that EVERY GODDAMN TIME I try to search, I get a Database Error and have to wait 5 minutes to try again. Every. Time.
Shouldn’t at least the paying members have their search privileges uncapped? Or dropped down to a 30 or 60 second delay, at least, if it’s a legitimate technical issue?
How about a simple page with Google search for those not inclined to type long search strings? Then you can have all the search you want without burdening the server.
Understood. But how about at least decreasing the delay to something less frustrating, say one minute? That would be more tolerable. As it stands, if you make typo, think of a better search term, etc., the wait to do your repeat search is a HUGE frustration.
The delay was put in because when there’s not that delay it affects other functionality on the board. If there was no delay in place you’d be complaining about not being able to read and write to the board as you would prefer. It’s a tradeoff.
So why not two and a half minutes? That would cut it in half, and we could at least see how things go from there.
Because otherwise the whole, “do a search before you start said topic” isn’t going to do much good when a person can’t fucking search in the first place.
But wasn’t it put in place when the boards were on a different and infinitely crappier server, and a different and crappier version of VBulletin? Do we actually know whether or not the "new’ machine can handle a different load? As far as I am aware, we haven’t even tried it, so sticking to the whole “it affects the board functionality” argument seems a little weak to me.
Let’s try it for a week or two, and if it fubars the board, then we go back to 5 minutes and people will at least feel like there’s a reason for it. If it works, and the boards keep ticking along at something resembling the current pace, then the membership wins, and no one loses. It seems worth it to me.
I’ve also noticed that I’m searching for some posters, and even though they’ve been here since say, 2002, their search only goes back to 2007. What the HELL is up with that?
I have to agree that clinging to “anything else will affect how the board functions” when nothing else has been tried really doesn’t wash. We don’t know how a 2.5 minute timeout would affect board function. Or a 1 minute timeout. It’s not been tried. How can it possibly be stated, unequivocally, that something is necessary when there’s never been a trial of any alternative?
Jerry reviewed the settings when we migrated to the new server and when he updated the software. As far as I know there are no current plans for changes.
The search function limits out at 750 results. If you want older threads, you need to ask it to count up, intstead of backwards, which will give you the first 750 from that person. This of course leaves the middle unavailable. Those can be gotten to by trying other tricks, like limiting the search to a given sub-forum, such as GD. For prolific posters, there will be little you can do to see the entirety of their work.
We know you’re busy, but we would all super appreciate it if you would at least attempt to change the search delay to a smaller interval. Google search is nice and all, but I can’t tell Google search to show me threads with the search terms in the title only, and only from Cafe Society, or whatever.
