Was there always a summary limiter?

Back in the day the summary was much longer; primarily because the search summary was the guide intro.

There was a change several years ago where the search summary was no longer used as the guide intro and it was used for the search results as a way to summarize the guide when someone searches for that device. The intro we have today is different from what it used to be. Most of the time this isn't an issue since it hasn't been visible to the reader once they clicked on the guide for a few years, but this causes problems in the WP app because it treats the search summary as the intro. The other apps are not affected. I think this change was made when Repair 2.0 was announced.

As of late, the search summary was shortened again. Older guides are "grandfathered" until the intro for your guides are modified. Once you change it, it needs to be modified so it meets the new maximum limit. Think of it like this: If you're happy with the current guide intro, it's not going to affect you. However, making changes will require you to make that change plus shortening the search summary.

I get that it's annoying when you just wanted to make one change and now need to make two, but things never stay the same forever. At some point you're going to need to revise multiple parts of a guide to adjust for the new standard. I've been down this road with the HP UPD install guide and that's why I waited to edit it since it's not a guide I would prioritize for editing,