Post Reply - Search Help

Forum software usually has a default setting to prevent searches of less than 4 characters. This is due to the churn it involves, especially when a larger database exists, performing the search through all the material held in the database. For instance, if you perform a search for "and," you are likely to return every post ever made in a forum, and it will consume system resources. If several people do this simultaneously, it can severely reduce forum speed and functionality.

The error that you cut and pasted is a feature known as "flood control." It limits a user from making too many searches in quick succession, which again, can severely affect the forum for other members. It is usually set to 15 or 30 seconds.

In the forums that my brother and I own, we have had many attacks over the past 18+ years, and I mean many. Both the flood prevention feature, and the search character limitation have helped in this regard. We are still sometimes attacked by hackers who use multiple IP addresses as bots focused on driving a denial of service scenario. Usually our ISP sees the activity, and blocks the source at the appropriate level so that the hackers eventually choose another target. However, we have a very proactive ISP that we pay a lot of money for their service.

I have run 3 character searches in this forum before, and they worked. Most forums have the 4 character limitation, and can usually be queried with the addition of an asterisk to the 3 characters you wish to search. i.e. "IBM*"

Anyway, I've rambled a bit, but I hope this helps.

David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com