Limit search during high load?
 

Ok I got this idea when seeing another website that is running VBulletin.

Basically it works like this, during a high load they turn off Forum searches for normal registered members. But if your a "Premium Member" you can still search.

How do I do something like this on my site. Limit the capabilities of the normal user during high load, and allow "Premium Members" to have these abilities no matter what. Basically insentive for someone to become a Premium Member
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DeviantART.com does such, although they're not powered by vBulletin.

A "premium member" would fall under a "premium user group." Therefore, create a new user group for these kind of members. In the user group interface you can select an option for them able to use searching. This is enabled by default, so you'll want to edit those user groups who shouldn't be able to search and toggle the searching option to off.

I understand that I can limit searches for user groups, but thats not exactly what I want. I want all my users to have the ability to search, but only during normal load. If the load is high I want only a specified user group to be able to search.

This would be a pretty handy feature - it's something I'll take a look into :)

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=76456