Why is there a post size limit

We think of modern devices as having so much space that there should be no problem with having posts of unlimited size, but when it comes to databases that is not the case. Each post takes a lot of resources and has a cost involved in storing it while making it available to load on the site/app.

We are independent and don't have ads

Everything here was built from scratch. Not only that we host and run everything ourselves without ads or making money from user content. As a result, we have costs that other platforms hide by selling ad spaces or usage data about users.

The single largest expense is the database that stores all of the posts, comments, chats, and more. Without post limits, the amount of resources required can easily balloon and be incredibly expensive to maintain.

Database?

So this is getting a little bit into the weeds so to speak, but there are 3 main ways to store content in use: on disk, in a file, in RAM. Databases are like normal files and RAM smashed together but way more complex. They are not only ran on disk, but also are loaded into RAM and RAM is costly.

Databases are designed to be instant, but that means they are also designed to be almost always stored in RAM when in use. They are designed to be fast when loading content and searching. As a result, Databases are limited a lot more compared to standard storage.

Almost all large services keep post content in database tables. This is complex as every time a post is loaded or info about it is fetched, all necessary details are loaded into RAM. So the longer the text is, the more time it takes and the larger the servers need to be (and similarly more expensive).

There is a lot of computation that happens to the text in this database. It goes into our content checkers, it gets tossed into and scanned by language detection systems, and it gets pulled apart and broken into many smaller chunks for faster search. Databases are complex and expensive for storage but make things work fast.

What is a SQL Database by Baraa. Image from article, click to view if you want to know more about SQL.

So why do PRO users get to post larger text?

As they purchased PRO they are helping to cover the cost of just keeping the lights on. Without them, we would not be online. Even PRO users have limits to the size of a post, but we allow them to upload .txt or .md files for larger posts that do not get stored in our database. Consequently, content inside the .txt or .md files can't be searched for on site as its contents are not in the database.

But then why are posts stored in a database?

Good question! The reason services store stuff like this in massive database servers is they need fast lockups, search, and so much more. A database allows for indexing, caching, and search. But they also let thousands of people read and write data at the exact same time without breaking. This is expensive, and every extra word costs more.