Re: the process...

What you are trying to accomplish is commendable but also a Herculean
effort given the number of messages within the group and the fact that
responses almost always contain every previous response. Frankly the
archive search functionality works pretty well if you know how to take
advantage of its features like required words, excluded words and
exact phrase match etc. Again the main issue is the repeated text in
responses.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Regards,
Mike