intermediateMongoDB Schema Design — Embedding vs. Referencing

Why is an unbounded embedded array a real design risk in MongoDB specifically?

MongoDB caps a single document at 16MB to keep documents fitting comfortably in memory and network buffers. An array that grows without bound — every comment ever posted, every log entry — eventually threatens that ceiling, and MongoDB doesn't gracefully truncate; it rejects the write outright once the limit is hit.

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Why is an unbounded embedded array a real design risk in MongoDB specifically?

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