Hi Don,
I don't agree with binning the archive. If you do a search on a particular topic then this archive can also be "data mined". The archive came into being when there was a change in the forum format (and storage capacity) and there were many howls from the contributers to bring it back.
I agree that topics such as Will's do need to be recovered but then why did he post it under off topic in the first place ?
Regards
Ken Hume