I made this suggestion some time ago, but didn't get much support, since it seems people here are firmly opposed to any kind of HTML static page in their VB.

However, I think this is an EXCELLENT idea for those like me who will NEVER prune their board and keep all their post years after years.

I support 100% this idea for the archives. Se we might keep 50000 / 70000 posts in the live database and the rest in html (shtml/htm/php) static pages.

I might add

- There should be a rebuild all feature for the static archives
-Archived posts should be REMOVED from the search index also (so it will not slow it down), but maybe, we could have a specific archive seach engine that will contain ONLY all the archive subjects fields to search ?
-The archive should reflect the categories of our forums: one folder per category so we can easily link it from the live categories.

Another solution might be to switch to an oracle database that might be able to handle almost unlimited number of posts without slowdowns. (John said that VB would support oracle and sybase....).

Benj

[Edited by Benj on 09-13-2000 at 08:06 AM]