Should I use an inline varchar(max) column or store it in a separate table?

Keep it inline. Under the covers SQL Server already stores the MAX columns in a separate 'allocation unit' since SQL 2005. See Table and Index Organization .

This in effect is exactly the same as keeping the MAX column in its own table, but w/o any disadvantage of explicitly doing so.

Paradoxically, if your data is normally less than 8000 characters, I would store it in a separate table, while if the data is greater than 8000 characters, I would keep it in the same table.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.