I’ve heard of this concept multiple times throughout my time on the internet, but I never understood what causes a “server load”. Now that I’m in one of the biggest instances on Lemmy, this is one of the significant issues that we face. So what is a “server load”, why does it slow down websites instead of stopping them? Does the load on a server increase by the amount of information in it, the browsing of information, or both? Does upvoting and downvoting cause a load too? Does saving posts and comments to your profile also cause a server load?
You are the server and you have a wheelbarrow as your resources. When there is nothing in the barrow you can run around fast with it. The more you load in the barrow, the slower you are able to move with it. It’s possible to overload the wheelbarrow which will make you crash and stop.