Or even better if they didn't treat tables like confetti. I haven't analysed the wordpress schema closely but on first blush it looks like a hacky premature opt

Or even better if they didn't treat tables like confetti. I haven't analysed the wordpress schema closely but on first blush it looks like a hacky premature optimisation to solve a problem, either one of performance, or data isolation, or to avoid unravelling use of magic numbers. Realistically, content within the same "universe" should co-mingle in the same table. Multiple "universes" of content should be isolated into their own database/schema, which $wpdb should pre-select upon connection. "SELECT * FROM options WHERE prefix = ? AND option_id = 241"