I agree with your assessment of *.MSG over message databases.
 
I converted to "TOBBSSPSTTOBD" (The *OTHER* BBS Software Package, Similar To 
This One, But Different) and used *.msg for a month. When I felt comfortable, 
I switched to a database type message base and within a few days, had lost 
all my messages a number of times. Back to *.MSG and nary a problem.
I know the reasons people like database files, but I have had too many 
problems myself, and have heard of too many people losing messages and having 
to reconstruct their bases for me to embrace that technology.
Mark
--- Maximus 3.01
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