The current site search setup.

So you have to sign on to use my onsite search, these days.

One of my loyal readers complained that they have problems signing on to my site, and that things were easier back when you could search without the need to be logged on.

It's like this: I'm on a shared server, which honestly is dirt cheap (and very good, thanks dreamhost!). A shared server means there's a couple hundred (or perhaps thousand) other sites on the same server, which means that resources (mainly CPU) are restricted.

And, I'm told, my site gobbled up about 20 % of the CPU of this server. Which honestly is LOTS. I've done a couple things to help get that down to a more reasonable number (mainly making the /eclectic/ tree static, but a few other things as well).

However, I currently have 13000 unique visitors a day (yes, you read that right). According to one ranking site I'm # 34000 for USAians. I also have simply loads of content.

Opening up the search to world+dog, with my traffic and site size, would require me to move to a dedicated server. Cos on this server, enabling anonymous search means 10+ minutes of response time for searches, which means that the search would be utterly useless.

Now, dedicated servers aren't all that expensive, but given my traffic and site size, it'd really be serious dosh - to be paid every month. As soon as somebody offers to pay said serious dosh for at least three years in advance (without any strings attached), I'll move the site to a dedicated server, and open up the search again.

Until then, log in to use my onsite search. And be prepared for an acerbic email back, if you do decide to complain about things. It's nothing personal, it's just that I'm a tad frustrated with the current setup, too.