Long story short, one of the things that seems to be kicking the database in the nuts is the search function. The Captain did a quick reindex of it last week, which helped get things moving.
I've changed some of the parameters to (a) lessen the load til we figure this out and (b) fix that long-standing problem where you couldn't search for common terms like 'meathead' or 'rooster' or 'tonebender' or 'Pam Grier's knickers'-- which seems like a counterproductive restriction on this forum
This meant I had to pull the search function offline for a bit today. Sorry about that. It should be back up and running now.
So...
*Good news is you can now search for things you might actually want to search for.
*Bad news is there's a limit on how quickly you can run searches one after another ... at least for now til I figure out a way round the load issues. (You'll have to wait a few seconds between searches is all, hopefully no big deal -- if you find it really intrusive, drop me a PM would you?)
I'll be updating the forum software too some time in the next week, once I've finished testing it to make sure it won't introduce more problems than it solves ... this will mean pulling it offline for an hour or so. I'll give you plenty of warning and try to make sure it doesn't coincide with Jon posting a link to a bunch of Buzzarounds on downstroke for $100 each
![hihi :hihi:](./images/smilies/icon_hihi.gif)
EDIT: Might need to think about a mailbox size limit too -- I know I'm guilty of having 3 years worth of PMs sitting in there. it might be a good idea to restrict that somewhat so the poor old database doesn't have to keep track of all that stuff too. So, now might be a good time to go through your PMs and delete the dross and download and archive the stuff you want to keep. Don't worry, won't do anything without plenty of warning and the sayso from the Captain.
We'll have these tubes unclogged in no time. Join the movement!
[center]
![Image](http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7748/allbranwm0.jpg)