[twobjshelbys]

The first thing the delay does is prevent double posts. Lots of times people write a post and then click the post button . The network and server here are less than robust and somtimes a post might take a minute. Then they get impatient and hit the button again (since there is no feedback that the post is in progress) and the result would be a double post if the timer weren't operating.

The other thing is it slows down the spammers.

Both are more or less relics of the days when servers were really slow. Same for the restrictions on search.