Should I do this to speed up the board?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-21 04:18pm

The search function is responsible for many of our performance problems.

If I neuter the search-word database so that it will only search through, say, the most recent 100,000 posts. It would almost certainly speed up the board, and it would cut down on the total database size by almost 200MB.

The old posts would still be there, they just wouldn't show up in a search.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-03-21 04:23pm

I'm going to say no. You can get around speed issues by waiting a little bit. If old posts are totally inaccessible, there's no recourse.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-03-21 04:23pm

Yes, why I do use the search function I will gladly give it up (to the extent you mentioned) for a faster reply time on the board.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-21 04:24pm

Durandal wrote:I'm going to say no. You can get around speed issues by waiting a little bit. If old posts are totally inaccessible, there's no recourse.

They're not inaccessible. They just don't show up when you do a word search, that's all. They still show up in the forum view, and they still show up when you do a search by author, just not when you do a keyword search.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-03-21 04:30pm

Ok nuke the keyword search

Kelly Antilles · Post by **Kelly Antilles** » 2003-03-21 04:32pm

I don't have a problem since I don't use it. 100,000 posts should be plenty for people to search through.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-03-21 04:46pm

Would a refinement of the search algorithms help in this case?

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2003-03-21 04:52pm

Why aren't you doing it already!

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-03-21 04:57pm

It would be neat if you could have an option to search only recent threads, or ancient ones. Don't know if that is possible.

Out of curiosity, how far back does 100K posts take us?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-21 05:01pm

Warspite wrote:Would a refinement of the search algorithms help in this case?

I don't know if there's anything wrong with the algorithms, but you're talking about a search-word database with more than 12 million rows. Databases with that many rows are normally reserved for larger applications which get to use dedicated database servers with loads of RAM and CPU power.

Nova Andromeda · Post by **Nova Andromeda** » 2003-03-21 05:07pm

--If you need to then so be it. However, it will limit ones ability not to cover topics already done previously. I think the impact would be minimal anyhow.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-03-21 05:07pm

Darth Wong wrote:(...)
I don't know if there's anything wrong with the algorithms, but you're talking about a search-word database with more than 12 million rows. Databases with that many rows are normally reserved for larger applications which get to use dedicated database servers with loads of RAM and CPU power.

Wow. That many?
I was thinking more on the lines of a better search engine, but that's ok.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-03-21 05:09pm

There's a keyword search function?

LOL!

Shadow WarChief · Post by **Shadow WarChief** » 2003-03-21 05:29pm

Keep the search function. It makes all the really old posts easily accessable.

irishmick79 · Post by **irishmick79** » 2003-03-21 05:31pm

I say yes, ditch the keyword search. It's more of a novelty, anyways. No way should it come at the expense of board performance.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-03-21 05:33pm

Nuke it until you get on a better server.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-21 05:33pm

So far, the vast majority seems to be voting yes. Moreover, we just had another fucking outage.

So, sometime tonight after midnight (New York time, aka EST), I will nuke the search-wordmatch entries corresponding to the first quarter-million posts made on this board. That should remove around 8 million lines from the keyword database.

However, I will back up those entries to an SQL dumpfile first, in case I ever get a more powerful server.

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2003-03-21 05:36pm

I say yes, kill it, temporarily at least.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-03-21 05:37pm

I've only used it a couple times. I normally only visit the boards and read the new topics since I logged in, or sometimes replies to my posts.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-03-21 06:46pm

Who reads those old threads anyway? I say nuke'em!

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2003-03-21 06:51pm

Mike, I don't use the search function on your board. On a Linux board, such a feature is invaluable, and not using it reaps much in the way of angst and snide remarks. I see no similar use for one here.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-03-21 06:52pm

I guess so. Half the time I cant even read, let alone post.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2003-03-21 08:08pm

Darth Wong wrote:The search function is responsible for many of our performance problems.

If I neuter the search-word database so that it will only search through, say, the most recent 100,000 posts. It would almost certainly speed up the board, and it would cut down on the total database size by almost 200MB.

The old posts would still be there, they just wouldn't show up in a search.

I have no objections to that.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-03-21 10:36pm

I only used it once, and I don't see any use in searching really old posts. Get rid of it until you can get on a faster server.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-03-22 12:25am

If it'll speed the board up go for it.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Should I do this to speed up the board?

Should I neuter the search function in order to speed up the board?

Should I do this to speed up the board?

Re: Should I do this to speed up the board?