# Why Searches Every 120s? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 19, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568 "2016-02-19T18:01:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/1 "2016-02-19T18:01:41Z")
Help me understand: I fail to see the need to restrict consecutive searches by a 120s dead space? I mean, what’s the difference? In theory, anyone at anytime can hit the search feature. So, I don’t quite get the difference WHO the search is performed for? Couldn’t it be first come, first served? What’s the login behind this… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/2 "2016-02-19T18:06:27Z")
More frequent searches might( and in the past did) overload the server. There was a time it was 5 minutes between searches. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/3 "2016-02-19T18:08:00Z")
The hamsters can only run so fast, you see. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/4 "2016-02-19T18:19:27Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/5 "2016-02-19T19:01:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > More frequent searches might( and in the past did) overload the server. There was a time it was 5 minutes between searches. Yep, this exactly. Since we still have occasional reports of board performance issues, we’re probably not going to change the search restrictions any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![heartsplayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@heartsplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heartsplayer)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/6 "2016-02-20T13:01:27Z")
I was wondering this as well - occasionally I have been unable to make a search, due to being told that I have to wait 2 minutes between searches. In the future (I know that nothing will happen soon, but I mean medium to long term) will there be the option of changing it to 30 seconds, or 60 seconds? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/7 "2016-02-20T13:24:53Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Couldn’t it be first come, first served? I think this is the relevant question. Why not determine what the maximum number of searches per minute that can be performed without degrading performance, then queue all search requests and perform them at that optimum rate? Can anyone show that it would be a longer delay than the current 120 seconds? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/8 "2016-02-20T14:08:48Z")
Because there are malicious hackers who will try to crash websites just for the fun of it. One way they do it is to make many search requests. They could queue up a million search requests, then leave the server to work through the list, and meantime genuine users are denied the search. The two-minute gap between searches is a good way to prevent this. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/9 "2016-02-20T16:11:40Z")
You could also use google to search the boards – that way you can even do two searchs at the same time: a google search, and using the board’s search itself. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-searches-every-120s/746568/10 "2016-02-20T17:10:03Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You could also use google to search the boards – that way you can even do two searchs at the same time: a google search, and using the board’s search itself. This post gave me the best laugh I’ve had in a while. Thanks.