Search engine feedback requested.

[Xyzzy]

Currently, unregistered users can search the forum. They have to enter in a Captcha image to do so, and are limited to one search every minute. However, this Captcha image is easily defeated via "bot" software and we sometimes get swamped with search requests by malicious people who use multiple IP addresses to bypass the one minute rule.

Personally, we want the forum to be a resource for everyone, and you might be surprised that the bulk of our traffic is from unregistered users. We fully understand that some people want to remain private and not register.

With all that said, what do you all think about requiring registration in order to use the search function?

There are no granular controls, like having only certain forums searchable. It is an all or nothing deal.

Your thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

Right now the problem is manageable but it requires a lot of manual work. The trolls haven't complained, and never will, given their work ethic, but we sense that they are getting frazzled. And trust us, they certainly aren't going to let the gerbils help.

[Mini-Geek]

Maybe just try a different CAPTCHA system and see if they can break it?
Heard about this one recently: http://recaptcha.net/
And, like how GIMPS puts spare CPU cycles to good use, this puts spare CAPTCHA readings to good use, helping computers do OCR on books to digitize them.

Also/instead of my above suggestion, maybe you can make it put a temporary, automatic lock on anonymous searching when a flood of searches is detected, even from different IPs.

[paulunderwood]

With all that said, what do you all think about requiring registration in order to use the search function?

Let those bots try it on then. Why bother the trolls with this?