[eluser]Dam1an[/eluser]
[quote author="TheFuzzy0ne" date="1242150011"]Won't the database be normalized if I store the thread and post counts in another table? I've read about normalization hundreds of times, but I just don't get it.[/quote]
In short... No
The idea of Database normalisation, is that changing something somewhere, means thats change propergates through everywhere.
If you store the post count, and make a change such as delete a post, the value of post_count is now incorrect
Make sense?