Dave et al, Firstly, please don't see this as a criticism - I hope it is taken in the constructive manner it is intended. I agree with the people who think that there is far to much whinging on the lists. I was searching FreeBMD over the weekend (Saturday morning in the UK). For about an hour it was fine, I didn't get a single search rejected because the server was busy. However, I am searching for a particular marriage. I entered both the bride and the groom's surnames and a fairly limited year range (about 5 years). I tried a few times with this type of search and every time the site whirred away for a few minutes before informing me that the server was overloaded. Is this what you mean by a search that was 'too complex and failed to complete'? I could, however, just put in the groom's surname and a much larger year range. This returned the results almost immediately. I thought I was helping to reduce the load by specifying more information and thus narrowing my search. Could you explain, please? Thanks, and keep up the great work everybody. Sarah

Hi, Sarah Middleton wrote: > > Dave et al, > > Firstly, please don't see this as a criticism - I hope it is taken in the > constructive manner it is intended. I agree with the people who think that > there is far to much whinging on the lists. > > I was searching FreeBMD over the weekend (Saturday morning in the UK). For > about an hour it was fine, I didn't get a single search rejected because the > server was busy. However, I am searching for a particular marriage. I > entered both the bride and the groom's surnames and a fairly limited year > range (about 5 years). I tried a few times with this type of search and > every time the site whirred away for a few minutes before informing me that > the server was overloaded. Is this what you mean by a search that was 'too > complex and failed to complete'? Yes, it is. If you don't get a quickish answer telling you we're too busy (with a number next to it), then the query you have run is taking too long and we have to blat it. > I could, however, just put in the groom's > surname and a much larger year range. This returned the results almost > immediately. I thought I was helping to reduce the load by specifying more > information and thus narrowing my search. Could you explain, please? This is because of the indexing. Where we have a field or selection of fields indexed, it is faster to search on those fields than on fields that are not indexed. When you search for someone married to someone else, the result is a slow query ... Once we get the new indexes in place, we should be able to work out the best/worse searches and give advice. Cheers Graham > > Thanks, and keep up the great work everybody. > > Sarah > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp