14-post thread: 5 seconds
'd' on 130-post thread: 21 seconds
'd' on MOAB: 28 seconds

Second time:
14-post thread: 3 seconds
'd' on 130131-post thread: 9 seconds
'd' on MOAB: 50 seconds

Third time:
14-post thread: 3 minutes 35 seconds
...forget the rest

I think time to load isn't a good indication of server load. A lot of the time a thread takes to load is because it takes a while for electrons to vibrate on down the wire until they get to you. The query for the thread isn't any more complicated for a bazillion-post thread than it is for a 3-post thread. The search itself takes longer, but I still don't know that the time = more of a load on the server. The server does need work, and we do post a lot of ephemeral, throw-away, silly stuff. I just think if the amount were causing problems, Max would ask for people to conserve bytes.