Is there a reason why many forums lock topics at the 500post mark?

[dpatel304]

I have noticed that a lot of the forums I go to lock topics at the 500post mark. I was wondering if there was a reason for this. I realize those topics can become cluttered and unorganized, but is there any other technical reason?

[Staxed]

really long threads can cause some server load issues for less than perfect servers (which is all of them...)

[WetWired]

Interesting. We have a thread with over 44k posts (http://zelaron.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27916), and it doesn't seem to cause any problems, except for threaded users, and that's just because it was started pre-vB3 and half the posts are parented to the same root post.

[dpatel304]

yea. I have seen topics go over the 500 mark, but it doesnt seem common. And, for some reason, about 5-6 sites that I know of (probably a lot more) all choose 500 as the limit. Any more responses would be appreciated. Thanks for your help so far guys.

[Reeve of shinra]

I wish I could find the post but a few people confirmed that hang ups on threads with over a certain amount of posts. I think the limit was like 2k replies depending on the server.

There deffinitely is a hit on performance but 500 should be no where near it unless your on a shared server.

[dpatel304]

thanks for the response. I think i'll limit my threads to 500 just to be safe.