So, basically, you're saying that by not using the RPG, it would prevent the lag?If the RPG is contributing anything to lag it's only doing so when in use, in the early hours of the day there is practically no lag, save the odd hiccup or two.

I keep getting this "cannot connect to FFF" thing on Firefox like everyone else does, I had it for a while before I logged on today.
When we had our last wave of ridiculous lag, I suggested something similar to the above - deleting old threads (post count would decrease but who caaaaares?) and even taking pictures off of the Member Picture Thread and only posting links to Photobucket, but I was informed that both of these would have only miniscule effects on the site's performance.
The lag is definitely worse when the RPG's online and in use (part of the reason why I don't go near it is because it's so unbelievably slow on my end), and every time this lag happens we always come back to the RPG and the Shoutbox. We established ages ago that both of them are the 2 major causes of the lag, the RPG slightly moreso than the SB. Unless LG manages to miraculously find a new option that we've yet to have heard of, the only thing I can see is one of two extremes: getting rid of the shoutbox or the RPG.
About the Photobucket thing, the reason why pictures don't take up space is because they're "being hosted from Photobucket and only being shown here, so it's their bandwith and not ours", or something to that effect. Not sure on the technicalities but if this is true then it's fair to say that the same should be true for the SB and RPG. We know that hosting the SB from another site is possible and works (we've done this before, along with the Chatrooms, waaaay back in the day), and since both the RPG and SB come from Inferno technologies, would I be right in saying it shouldn't be too difficult to host the RPG from another site? We wouldn't be taking up our own bandwith and no one loses out on aspects of the site.
Turning off the RPG is out of the question in my eyes (that is, if our main concern is activity) - how many people join on the basis that we have the RPG? Those people stay on the forums and become active members, we can see it everywhere. Turning off the SB is equally unwanted because it's a massive seat of social interaction on the site, great for advertising threads, convenient and such.
So, if it's physically possible, and the technicalities of hosting them from other sites are the same as posting pictures, I think this is our next best bet.