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Would it be safe to limit use to "select" statements for non-is_developer folks, so the curious could still explore the database?

My thoughts exactly. I'd even consider making sql-selecting available to any registered user (not just is_sysop or is_developer).

Or to anybody, with an SQL server that's open to the internet for reading.

Because of load reasons, we probably shouldn't do that with the live SQL server though. I would expect that, once we have regularly updated database dumps for download (hint!), somebody will set up such a server somewhere (and lots of other interesting things will happen).

Axel