What is the purpose of the time delay with searches?

[Dawn Rhymer]

Sometimes when I'm frustrated by something, understanding the purpose helps me to accept it and move on. With a job I once had, I had to remind myself when I encountered what seemed to me to be a pointless rule someone had most likely paid for it with his life.

So...why is there a mandatory 30 second delay between searches? I encounter this frequently because I may use a word which comes up empty and I want to tweak it to try again. But then I have to wait 8 seconds or 2 seconds or 15 seconds until I search again.

Something else I encountered had a delay, but it only happened once. Right now I cannot seem to remember what it was.

I'm sorry if this comes across as, "Wah, wah, wah." I'm sure it does. I just want to understand, and after my many-eth time of asking myself, "I wonder why it does that?" I thought I would ask.

(I might have meant, "Wha, wha, wha." I'm not sure which is correct.)

Gratefully,

[suzukimom]

There is a delay on posting too - which makes sense to avoid spammers....

[Amy Jo Hines]

I would think it helps with server loads as well. Most forums I've been on have the delays, actually AO is more forgiving in that aspect than other forums are. It is frustrating when a search comes up empty though.

[Dawn Rhymer]

...actually AO is more forgiving in that aspect than other forums are...

Ahhh...perspective. I don't belong to too many other forums. Thank you, AO.

In a book I was reading this past week, I came across the following quote:

The cause of our stress depends largely upon our perception of events in our lives.