grammatical number - Proper form of "user request"

The context is an Internet platform to which http requests are sent. In a sentence like this:

The system behaves differently when users' requests increase.

what is the correct usage of user request terminology?
I have the following doubts:

• I think the article is not needed: is it? (when users' requests vs when the users' requests)


• Is saxon genitive mandatory, optional or must it not be used at all? I am more comfortable with user request expression but often I found the user's request expression.


• plural: are user requests and users requests both valid? If so are they interchangeable or are there some differences?

Answer

1) The definite article is not necessary in these kinds of contexts. In documentation of this sort, you'll see both "a user makes a request" and "the user makes a request," since you're speaking of a hypothetical user. Of course, if you defined a narrower subset of users and were speaking about them, you'd need the direct article: "Users can log in and after they've done so, the users can view their account."

2) It's optional, and to my ear, sounds worse. I prefer "user requests," which puts the focus a little more on the request than on the user (and the system performs differently because of the requests, not because of the users). It's a subtle distinction, though.

3) "Users requests" is not a form that you would ordinarily see, but it's grammatically valid. Users requests would be the plural of users request. A users request would be a single request that is made by a group of users (for instance, a group of users vote on which request they want to make), or more likely, it might be a request for multiple users - i.e. not a request made by the users, but a request made by someone who wanted users.

Remember that attributive nouns, like the adjectives they resemble, or function as, are not pluralized, unlike some other languages.

One user request => two user requests NOT two users requests
One mouse trap => two mouse traps NOT two mice traps

Also note that some attributive nouns are always plural.

One sales manager => two sales managers
One singles bar => two singles bars

What determines whether an attribute noun should be plural or singular? Unfortunately, it seems there's no clear answer. This article is insightful: "Why isn’t it a gumsballs machine?"