This week I'm working on the data warehousing capabilities of my application. Now most people here who have built more than a couple of applications can tell you how useful it is to include a datestamp on records or requests as they come in. The advantages are numerous.
So much so that I'm now fighting the temptation to include a datestamp on every table. Won't that bloat my database?
I suppose what I'm looking for is guidance on making a per table decision to include or exclude the datestamp. Because if space were free I'd put one on every darn table! But space isn't free and my app is likely to generate a factor of five to ten times the amount of metadata per data and so datestamps would put me in danger of doubling that again, or trebling it. That's fine up to a point but will impact load times.