Yes, fair point. I wasn't really aware of what the archives did -- I'm used to another conferencing system where archival means copying the message base of a forum in toto. So I assumed the same was true here, and we all know how assumptions over time mature into full-blown cock-ups. I know better now!
However, only the Wannabe forum seems to be archiving stuff on a regular basis and there's no real visual prompt to send people checking the archives for their questions. Perhaps a fiddle here? And not all forums have moderators (a good thing); perhaps the ability to move stuff to archive might be made more generally available.
R