I think this is the right Category since The search-bar is a tool available to the users.

Here is a problem/annoyance that have been bothering me for years!

Why Can you only search with 6 tags?

If you try to use more (which I often need when i want to search for something/ the more the merrier) than 6 Ill get the ;

"Error: You can only search up to 6 tags at once"

So I guess an Admin knows the answer & I'd like to hear it.
& Hope it changes since it would make our lives so much more convenient.
Does it strain the server, is it a codeing problem, is simply not updated, Is nobody else annoyed by this, is there a valid reason for it, or what???

It can strain the server IIRC, and the limit gets boosted to 8 once you are privileged+

Siral_Exan said:
It can strain the server IIRC, and the limit gets boosted to 8 once you are privileged+

& How can I become privileged+ then?

Sandile_Zymphia said:
& How can I become privileged+ then?

But, seriously, quality tagging, rating, wiki entries and edits, and positive behavior in the comments & forums are all ways to get privileged... eventually. To get around using tags to search, you can use your blacklist to exclude results you do not want to see.

Siral_Exan said:
By being the Superstar in every Mario game ever...

But, seriously, quality tagging, rating, wiki entries and edits, and positive behavior in the comments & forums are all ways to get privileged... eventually. To get around using tags to search, you can use your blacklist to exclude results you do not want to see.

Ok thx for the Help.
I guess Ill up my game from casually good & helpful to Professionally good & helpful then & work for the title ;)

If it really is some innate performance problem, I don't know what can be done. But 6 tags did always seem low to me, too. And the Privileged+ carrot-on-a-stick isn't very encouraging. That's a lot of time and effort for an extra two tags per search.

It's an attempt to keep the search times reasonable would be my guess. It long predates my time here. I don't think the priv+ being 8 is meant to be an incentive, just a tool to help out if you make it there.

Generally I think that if you are routinely hitting this limit you should approach your search from another more specific angle.

KiraNoot said:
It's an attempt to keep the search times reasonable would be my guess. It long predates my time here. I don't think the priv+ being 8 is meant to be an incentive, just a tool to help out if you make it there.

Generally I think that if you are routinely hitting this limit you should approach your search from another more specific angle.

Oh, um.

As I recall, basically it was really server intensive, and caused problems. This was in the same era, though, that user pages were kinda broken and it took a minute or two to view any given profile. There were a lot of weird quirks back then...

Ah, here we go.

forum #3007 from 7 years ago has the following quotes to a question about 'are there limits?'

• Fox2k9: Maximum tags for a normal user is 4 tags. You can ask the Administration to give you an special account that allows you 8 or more.

TonyLemur: I'm pretty sure it's a limit of 2 for normal users and unlimited for privileged accounts (although searching with more than 4 tags is basically pointless anyway, 4 tags takes about a minute and 5 would take much longer).
Fox2k9: Lol, 4 tags take 5 seconds when i search :D
Aurali: the wiki is outdated, I can do up to 4 before it stops.

This was a very long time ago, of course, back before Char took over, I believe. It also appears to be a time when tags like "mare" and 'vixen' were a thing.

It was also before the release of Ouroboros1.0-- back when, according to this other thing, arcturus's code was the primary thing going on--I don't know how much Ouroboros actually changed stuff though.

For that matter, I don't know how much stuff has changed over the last couple years and if the code/servers/etc/etc could handle 'more' now, but the limits were because of server stress. :)

Another thread on the matter was forum #154777.

Sandile_Zymphia said:
& How can I become privileged+ then?

From what I've seen over the years you generally get such a tag by by getting about 20,000+ tag edits, a few hundred wiki edits, a few hundred uploads, a hundred or so note edits, and lots and lots of constructive posts in the forums. Essentially it's devoting enough time to the website that it becomes a job that you don't get paid for.

Unless you're someone like akw_kovu who has a privileged account for no discernible reason, or you're one of the few, the proud, the brave honourary batmen from the 2010 batweek, such as sonikku for example.

Siral answered it, but was pretty vague about qualifications, I figured I'd specify based on what I've personally seen over the years.

If you know a non-english language and can translate a ton of stuff first before anyone else gets to it that's another good way, too. That's not mentioning being an artist and becoming a contributor that way, of course.

AnotherDay said:
From what I've seen over the years you generally get such a tag by by getting about 20,000+ tag edits, a few hundred wiki edits, a few hundred uploads, a hundred or so note edits, and lots and lots of constructive posts in the forums. Essentially it's devoting enough time to the website that it becomes a job that you don't get paid for.

Unless you're someone like akw_kovu who has a privileged account for no discernible reason, or you're one of the few, the proud, the brave honourary batmen from the 2010 batweek, such as sonikku for example.

Siral answered it, but was pretty vague about qualifications, I figured I'd specify based on what I've personally seen over the years.

If you know a non-english language and can translate a ton of stuff first before anyone else gets to it that's another good way, too. That's not mentioning being an artist and becoming a contributor that way, of course.

The trick is not not aim for it. Just be generally helpful for the sake of being helpful. Maybe you'll get noticed, maybe you won't, so don't rely on that. Get used to being a standard member, as that's what most people stay as.

Furrin_Gok said:
The trick is not not aim for it. Just be generally helpful for the sake of being helpful. Maybe you'll get noticed, maybe you won't, so don't rely on that. Get used to being a standard member, as that's what most people stay as.

I dunno. Only considering Privileged from after the old administration (Post Mellis and Co.), everyone I've seen that has 20,000+ tag edits and qualifies for the other bits on my little list is at least Privileged. Contributor is easier to get if you have and are able to ply skills to the site, such as contribute art or translations.

But yeah, it's not a "don't aim for it, it's a crapshoot" sorta thing, there's definitely some unofficial metric in place. What I listed is a pretty safe bet that you'll get at least Privileged. I mean, what I listed is no small feat and is really a lot of effort, so I'd say it's pretty safe that if you achieve that you'll be recognized with an upgraded account.