a new Data Base???

[Deltaten]

With this latest server/data base issue causing trouble, a few questions and idea come to mind.

Seems most of the trouble stems from the HUGE DB we lug around... posts all the way back to the beginning (?) Many have voiced concern over a permanent loss of precious data and posts; which *is* a viable worry. There is also the issue of having to have our own server farm just to store/access it all and the relevant costs.

Back in the day, when the posts and responses went long, a "snip" was in order.
What if we were to do that now???
Before some get all in a snit over the loss; lemme propse a fix for that. Possibly out of date on my hardware nomenclature and proceedures; so chime in with current standards please......

What if admin would separate all the posts older than *.date and stow it all on a bank of IBM style tape drives or current data retrieval system?? Access only to contributors or some such thing?? I have no idea how this is all accomplished now; just that I vaguely recall SWMBO mentioning the size and numbers of units needed to service the 'files. Gotta be a better, more efficient, cheaper way

We have stickies out the wazzoo and Ted's famous FAQ series of searches. Compact them and keep the pertinent, then archive the rest to alternate storage.
We all have seen the never-ending repeats of noob questions along with the perennial "Do a search!" Most common problems or fixes are already in the queue already and we all know thge search function is problematic for non-geek types Peeling off the massive data base would free up resources and psiibly end all the errors and headaches.

Just something ta chew on. I know we have hardware/softwaare gurus and sys admins here. Some fella has to have said.."I can design a [better] system.." and make it so!

Paul