RAZD writes:
I think one set of threads you can get rid of would be the proposed new threads when they are promoted -- the promotion post says "moved to ___" but in reality it is just copied.
Are you sure?
I'm really asking, because I don't know.
It's quite possible you're correct, it is the basic answer.
However, it certainly is possible to code the display-and-database software in such a way that it looks like this, and the data is not "copied" in any way. Simply using different pointers for different portions of the data in different locations. (One section only points to the beginning data, where another section points to all the data). It would appear copied to the user... but in reality it is not.
There would still be the additional "data" to hold the extra pointers... but this is negligible when compared to storing the "data" for copying the text.