Time in between searches.

Greetings All !

When you do a search, you have to wait 180 seconds to do another one. If your search yields no results, then you have 3 minutes of waiting before you can search again. Even if your search yields results you may already want to do another one straight way. There's a lot of time spent waiting for the search function to reactivate.

I'd like to request that this time period be reduced somewhat.
I've added a poll to see what people think.

Would be much obliged to an official answer from an admin if this is feasible.

Salute !

I agree. The main problem with this is that if you search for someone's posts, then try to search for something else, you've got to wait 180 seconds. Which is annoying, in my humble opinion.

It is indeed a long forced pause, but there are probably good reasons for it. Maybe something to do with some sort of "flooding" of bandwidth or something? I voted yes btw.

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Originally Posted by Bijo

It is indeed a long forced pause, but there are probably good reasons for it. Maybe something to do with some sort of "flooding" of bandwidth or something? I voted yes btw.

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I do recall the search function bringing down the forum several times a year or two back. Several restrictions were imposed at the time to prevent that from happening again. This may be one of them.

I believe it was causing a problem a few month back which is why I seem to remember the flood being increased further. I'd prefer it as it is now than to go back to "there seems to be a problem with the database" three or four times a day again. You can also use google to search within the forums.

Is the problem with automated search engines or bots doing this, using the search function? I'd like to see the imposed delay reduce significantly or eliminated all together, this is one area where twcenter tends to shine. One can search as often as they want, one just needs to enter the characters from the graphic it displays each time to prevent bots from abusing the system.

A reduction in time would be nice - yet I read somewhere that, like others have said, that a limit of ninety seconds was imposed awhile ago to prevent database overloads and keep it running smoothly at an optimum speed. I'm not sure why it was doubled, yet it seems that they have done this for the same reason. So I voted "No" - to me a fast database with long search times is better than a slow database with quicker search times.

BTW, I have just tested it and it seems that non-registered users can't search.

WOW... thanks for the very quick replies and thanks for voting, for an indicator of what others feel. I know the reasons why this pause was installed.

As Whacker has stated, it is possible to have both a fast system and one that prevents abuse.

Well, at least some amount of time reduced. As Omanes said, 90 seconds is a minimum, so something like 120 seconds would already be an improvement.

Hello,

It was indeed increased to prevent crashes of the database. Searchbots can't search. But the searchbot can be used nicely. The Google forum search works because bots crawl this board. Results are often faster and more complete when using that search.

We can decrease the searchflood in steps and see how it works now.

Hi Tosa, that's great. Thank you.

I'd recommend also adding visual reference key to the search that should reduce search bots, and at the same time will enable us to search freely.

Thanks a bunch. Hope this does'nt cause any trouble or a lot of work.

Salute !

Hello Sinan,

Bots can't search in this configuration, what's the key going to do then?

Point taken. In this configuration it does'nt have any additional anti-bot purpose.

Hello Sinan,

It's good to make sure points aren't misunderstood.

The google search is something to consider too. The normal search can't find CA. Google will spit out over 300 hits in 0.04 seconds. If only we could have such a complete and fast search but with tigher integration with the forums :(

There are some forums which have a "search using google" function I think.

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Originally Posted by FactionHeir

There are some forums which have a "search using google" function I think.

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You can search within the forums using google here.

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Originally Posted by FactionHeir

There are some forums which have a "search using google" function I think.

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What I ment was advanced searchfunctions like date, which forum and so on. That's a bit harder to do.

Hmm.

Am I right in assuming that the google search box up the top is just a normal google search with the site:totalwar.org switch?

Yes Sapi. Google has new products?

Not as far as I know.

I was thinking about whether it would be possible to run a forum search using specific site: tags for each forum, but I'm not sure if that would work with the php-based nature of vbulliten.

After testing it just then, it didn't seem to ~:(

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Originally Posted by sapi

Hmm.

Am I right in assuming that the google search box up the top is just a normal google search with the site:totalwar.org switch?

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It doesn't work, I have tried that like crazy back when I was a Junior Member...the search results are rather odd and inconclusive.

BTW, reduction to 111 seconds sounds like a good time to me :2thumbsup:

Thread titles seem to work perfectly; content in specific posts less so.

I think that's because there's a time delay between a new post being made and the google bot adding it to the database

The 180 second delay is too long. I had to search 4 times before I found what I wanted... that's 12 minutes!

What exactly are people using the search feature for anyway?

I've never found the need....

You know...when someone ask a popular or often-asked topic you might hear whiner says "use the search function, you lazy camel!" and when that person use it but find nothing, he/she will try to re-word the search and then say "oh dear, 180 seconds of my very precious life?"

The irony! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ~;p ~;p ~:rolleyes: ~:rolleyes: :rolleyes5:

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Originally Posted by Tran

It doesn't work, I have tried that like crazy back when I was a Junior Member...the search results are rather odd and inconclusive.

BTW, reduction to 111 seconds sounds like a good time to me :2thumbsup:

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There are radiobuttons just below the Google search box here (search WWW, Forums or Site).

30 seconds were cut off this week, we'll see how it does when another 30 are removed.

I'm noticing severe lag already. I logged out earlier on encountering the same old problem we had before the search flood was increased. Basically I can access the index, and forums, but on trying to access a thread nothing happens until it times out. I can log out though, which is what I end up having to do.

That's been happening to me a fair bit too

Me too, but it has occurred before the switch to less time between searches

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Originally Posted by sapi

What exactly are people using the search feature for anyway?

I've never found the need....

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Finding the answer to modding questions mostly.

As to the lag, I'm not noticing it much, but I have found the Org to always be a bit slow.