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 have a corner restaurant that can handle 50 ppl daily. Service is always good and prompt and waitress shows right when needed one day due to a busier restaurant changing service or maybe just a food critic raves about the location, and this is a national food critic. So instead of 50 the restaurant need to handle 500.
Just the logistics of trying to serve that many ppl is server load, and will remain until the restaurant can improve functionality or increase the building or staff.