[twobjshelbys]

If multiple forums share the same database engine (although they may have separate databases) then it could very well be a "coding error" in the database, but the database engine that the forums most likely use MySQL as the actual data base engine and it's been stable for years. I would doubt that the forum owner would sign on to a "beta" of MySQL that could be buggy. There is probably a shim between the forum software and the actual data base engine that COULD be buggy, but in any case the issues that cause the instability are most likely written into the database (Garbage In Garbage Out). But if there is an identifiable piece of software that was updated at the time this all started, fixing it might not fix the damage done to the database itself.

In many cases it takes a full rebuild of the database, ie, an object oriented copy that mimics "post" activity and in the process rebuilds the tables. It's a function that is probably not provided by the software vendor and would be very expensive to create. On the other hand it IS possible that a different forum software vendor might have a utility that would convert the vbulletin database to their database format. So switching software might be the only way to actually fix the problem by converting it to a new databasae.

Whatever, you need a really basic and very technical understanding of what is broken and simply dumping a huge database file and server onto the laps of a new "owner" isn't going to give that without some expense...