# Get rid of the archives? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596 "2001-11-10T06:46:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/21 "2001-11-13T03:47:07Z")
The bandwidth costs a lot of money, right? If you shorted the bandwidth, it will cost less money, right? Getting rid of the archives will shorten the bandwidth, right? If the bandwidth costs less money, maybe we don’t need to pay to post? What about the Cafe Society? Is that taking up space too? We could always remove that forum (to save space) and let it go to MPSIMS. Just an idea. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/22 "2001-11-13T04:00:19Z")
> [@](#): > > **Getting rid of the archives will shorten the bandwidth, right?** Probably not, at least not very much. The archives are infrequently accessed and thus do not consume much bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/23 "2001-11-13T05:05:47Z")
Removing the Cafe probably wouldn’t decrease the load, it’d just redistribute it a bit. The posts people are making there would be made elsewhere, or at the least, the folks posting there would be posting something _else_ elsewhere. Doing something with old threads (be it deleting or archiving) might decrease the need for storage space, but space is cheap nowadays. It might potentially also improve speed some (or so I understand from various other folks on the board), but even then, it won’t help the monetary situation at all. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/24 "2001-11-13T05:15:33Z")
I would tend to disagree with no one reading old posts. I’ve been around for quite awhile and if I ask something and it gets no response often I come back and as much as a year later bump it up and it will get a lot of response. I guess you could start a new thread but I’ve done that with other people’s threads and not always but more often than not they can show new life. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/25 "2001-11-13T05:22:38Z")
Folks, archives are the least of our problems. We’re getting over a million page views a week . . . nearly all of it on fairly recent pages. It’s not that we have too much stuff, it’s that we’re accessed by, searched through, read and written to by so many people. It’s not such a bad problem to have. 🙂 Once upon a time, when we used other bulletin board software, the volume of posts was problematical. It’s not so much of a deal with the vB, our current board system. Thanks for your suggestions, but I’m afraid they’re not useful solutions for this situation. your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596/26 "2001-11-13T06:52:35Z")
My understanding is that the big need is money for staff, bandwidth, and a bit more processing power. Advertising doesn’t seem to be doing the job. Might we be able to find a real sponsor or some grants? Might even be able to figure out a way to get Uncle Sam to kick in some bucks. It isn’t as far fetched as it might sound on first pass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rid-of-the-archives/92596.md?page=1)