Controlling the Flood

[Black Six]

BZPower has long made use a feature called 'flood control' to lower the stress on our server. There are currently two types of flood control in use:

• Search flood control
• Post flood control

Search flood control is the more important one - it slows down how long you have to wait in between searches. When you do a search on BZPower, it has to look at nearly every entry in the database to see if there's a match. If you can do a lot of searches back-to-back, it results in a lot of queries searching for a lot of stuff. If multiple people are doing that at the same time it could in theory bog down the server and make it slower for everyone.

 

Post flood control controls how long you wait in between making new posts. Making a post means you need to write all the information, who you are, when you're posting, where you're posting, your actual post, etc... to the database. This takes some time since writing to the database takes longer than reading from it (but not as long as searching). If there was no delay between posts and many members were active at the same time, there could be errors if two posts tried to be written at the exact same time.

 

With all that in mind, let us know what you think about the current settings for flood control on BZPower and what you think makes sense given our current level of activity.

[Portalfig]

I think the current setting for posts are fine. I can't see how that could even be in the way unless you are spamming.

 

As for searches, I voted to reduce it to 10 seconds, but I don't know if that is a good idea or not. I just tend to search the wrong things first whenever I am searching, and then the next 20 seconds feel ridiculously long. Might be better for it to stay at 20 though, I don't know. *shrug*

[Makuta Luroka]

I think things work well in their current configuration.

[-Windrider-]

Search flood control could stand to be shorter, I think, especially for us typo-prone. : P I don't think post control is as restrictive. I've only run into it when posting contest polls.

Edited July 11, 2014 by -Windrider-

[Sumiki]

Fifteen and ten.
 
I've only gotten one flood-control warning since these forums went live. Obviously you need a little bit, but nothing as restrictive as the current setting.

[The Swimming Beard]

I really see no reason for search flood control. The post version seems fine like it is.

[fishers64]

Dr. Hyperspace here frequently runs into both. Post control gets me when I try to post a new topic immediately after posting in a topic. I don't search as often, but I run into situations where I want to do multiple searches and I trip over the flood control several times.

 

10 and zero. Speaking in my own blurred reflexes only.  

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I chose the current settings for both because A) I can wait 30 seconds inbetween posts and B) I rarely use the search option, but I have no problem with its current setting. 

[Axilus Prime]

30 seconds is fine for post flood control.

 

Searches, however, I don't think should have flood control. It doesn't seem like a feature that would be used to the point of server strain, and usually when I use it, I need to use it two or three times in succession to find the page I'm looking for, and the flood control gets annoying.

[25K Now!]

Zero seconds for post flood control. Sometimes I have several topics open, and it's annoying having to wait between posting all the replies I've written up. Search also needs zero seconds. Because I need to search a lot. For BZPRPG Profiles.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Gold Experience

[Makaru]

30 seconds for both because I am an enemy of the people and freedom.

[shadow pridak money gang]

Did one person really vote sixty for both who is responsible for this

 

-Tyler

[AdaptingChaos]

I feel that the flood controlling timers are good right now, although with the amount of active members currently, it could be lowered. However, if BZP does end up becoming more popular, they might need to raise them is my opinion. This is just so that there isnt a lot of server down times in the future.

[~Shockwave~]

When I search I generally do quite a few in quick succession to try to nail down something specific. I don't do it often but When I do I run into flood control a lot.

 

I'm not even sure I knew we had post flood control. 

[Ballom Nom Nom]

I'm fine with the current settings. Even if you make a typo in a search, 20 seconds is hardly a wait. And for posts, I can barely remember encountering flood control. That one's a rare occurrence.

 

~B~

[Wazdakka]

Gonna be honest here. I couldn't stop thinking of Halo when I read "Controlling the Flood."

 

30 and 0. Waiting to search is just a pain, and I only search very rarely, making it even more bothersome if I need to research thanks to some misspelling or whatnot.

[Makaru]

Gonna be honest here. I couldn't stop thinking of Halo when I read "Controlling the Flood."

 

Not gonna lie, Black Six is a big nerd and that is almost definitely what he was thinking too.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Makaru

[Aanchir]

I have no idea what I'd answer, honestly. I only ever get flood control warnings on rare occasions, and when I do I'm generally more than content to wait. However, if I had to wait longer than I do now it's entirely possible that I'd encounter the warnings more often, which would be frustrating. Generally I don't even pay attention to how much time passes between my posts (I'd imagine it's longer than for a lot of people since my posts tend to be so long, but shorter than others since I post somewhat frequently), so I can't really even offer a ballpark estimate of what I could or couldn't tolerate.

[Heir of the Chronicler]

I voted for no flood control, but if you didn't want to take it that far, I would opt for 10 secs across the board. I do a lot of tab browsing, so flood control has always hindered me, but I understand it's there for a reason.

 

- Heir

[Kopekemaster]

I don't bump into these too often, and, when I do, it's usually the post flood control, since I don't search things much.

I'd recommend decreasing the time limit, anyway. Usually when it happens search-wise for me is if I'm searching for something, but misspell it, then fix it and try again, and am stopped by a "Wait 30 seconds" dialogue.

Post-wise, I sometimes have several pages open, with some posts partially written, so I come into the post flood control sometimes.

 

But yeah. I guess I'd like having the times decreased, since I understand why they're there.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Kopekemaster

[Eyru]

I think the current settings are fine. The search settings can be annoying, but it's only 30 seconds. As for the posting controls: I don't think anyone really needs to be posting more than once every 30 seconds. I know I don't.

[25K Now!]

I think the current settings are fine. The search settings can be annoying, but it's only 30 seconds. As for the posting controls: I don't think anyone really needs to be posting more than once every 30 seconds. I know I don't.

But Eyru, think of my legendary rapid-fire posting! How could you forget me?

 

I mean, I can sort of handle the posting flood, but it really puts a dent in my RPing from time to time.

[Rooster Nui]

The current setting of a thirty second wait for posting on a forum is alright, but for searching it should be lowered to ten or none at all. Having to wait twenty seconds just to search again is a bit weird in my opinion.

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

Post flood control is fine, but I think search flood control should be lower.

[Lewa0111 Nuva]

The main place I have encountered an issue with post flood control is in Library topics. Since I often write chapters in advance on a Word document and copy-paste them on BZP when I am ready, if I ever want to post more than one chapter the flood control gets in my way. Worse still, sometimes the flood control kicks out the most recent chapter I posted from the reply box. I think having the same flood settings for posting and searching (20 seconds) should be enough to cut down on spam. I'm honestly not sure why they are different in the first place.

 

Lewa0111 Nuva

[Linsanity]

30 and 10

[Voltex]

I would like for there to be no flood control anywhere. I always run into issues with flood control on posting

[The Swimming Beard]

30 seconds for both because I am an enemy of the people and freedom.

 

why is there no dislike button

[Makaru]

I asked Black Six to not put it in because DAILY people would hurt my feeling.

[Makuta Luroka]

30 seconds for both because I am an enemy of the people and freedom.

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