it adds when reduced 2 querys.. one for the shout and
one for the swear list, that's all.
But when it's opened there's a frameset inside an Iframe, so
it does not add more querys to you're database, but it
adds 3 requests to your web server.
[edit]err.. for the working demo... maybe you can have a look here :
www.vbressources.com/forums but you have to register (not on the head, not on the head !!!

), and it is a french forum

.[/edit]
[edit_bis]and for the comparison with the great hack from twt-comish : i think this shoutbox, is more like a chatbox...[/edit_bis]