I agree that using lots of varchar(8000) for field definitions is generally bad. But I have some configuration or other special purpose tables where varchars may get very long, but I can't limit them to, say 1000, because that might be too small. Also some data import tools create tables with varchar(8000) fields (DTS?). I don't see anything bad in that if you know what you are doing. The only bad thing that can happen: if cumulative size of the row is too big, it won't be saved in the database. So you have to reduce the data or use blobs. If you have some constraint violation you also can't save data in the table. How is that different? Size limit is also a constraint. "Data would be truncated" also doesn't let you save the row. Not much different for me. The important thing is that you are aware of this limitation and know where it might prevent you from saving data just as any other constraint or limitation.