Skuzzy, I know NOTHING about SMF, but I wonder.... Is it possible to change the defaults on search to select only the forum you choose search from? One of the things that aggravates me is that EVERY time I search it goes back to "All forums", which most of the time I remember to switch to the forum I want to search, but often forget. And would it be possible to make the default something like 365 days? These alone might make a huge difference, and since most folks probably don't go to advanced search anyway... I would think that a significant amount of the load generated by a search could be mitigated by these to changes alone.
Does the BBS support specifying the priority of the search thread (assuming it's multithreaded) so that you can minimize the impact - or is the DB that's getting bogged? If so, does the BBS support searching in a different DB(which might alleviate stress on the boards, assuming you could refresh the search DB periodically perhaps in the wee hours from the main board's DB?)
All thoughts, which I'm sure you might have already had. And of course, I way understand living with a less than optimal solution because you have bigger fish to fry - that's the story of my (work) life.
<S>
