diff --git a/database.sql b/database.sql
index 98aa1620ef..4ad484e192 100644
--- a/database.sql
+++ b/database.sql
@@ -1380,57 +1380,6 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `storage` (
 	 PRIMARY KEY(`id`)
 ) DEFAULT COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci COMMENT='Data stored by Database storage backend';
 
---
--- TABLE thread
---
-CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `thread` (
-	`iid` int unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT 'sequential ID',
-	`uri-id` int unsigned COMMENT 'Id of the item-uri table entry that contains the item uri',
-	`uid` mediumint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT 'User id',
-	`contact-id` int unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT '',
-	`owner-id` int unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT 'Item owner',
-	`author-id` int unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT 'Item author',
-	`created` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0001-01-01 00:00:00' COMMENT '',
-	`edited` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0001-01-01 00:00:00' COMMENT '',
-	`commented` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0001-01-01 00:00:00' COMMENT '',
-	`received` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0001-01-01 00:00:00' COMMENT '',
-	`changed` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0001-01-01 00:00:00' COMMENT '',
-	`wall` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`private` tinyint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT '0=public, 1=private, 2=unlisted',
-	`pubmail` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`moderated` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`visible` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`starred` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`ignored` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`post-type` tinyint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT 'Post type (personal note, bookmark, ...)',
-	`unseen` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '1' COMMENT '',
-	`deleted` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`origin` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`forum_mode` tinyint unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 COMMENT '',
-	`mention` boolean NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' COMMENT '',
-	`network` char(4) NOT NULL DEFAULT '' COMMENT '',
-	`bookmark` boolean COMMENT '',
-	 PRIMARY KEY(`iid`),
-	 INDEX `uid_network_commented` (`uid`,`network`,`commented`),
-	 INDEX `uid_network_received` (`uid`,`network`,`received`),
-	 INDEX `uid_contactid_commented` (`uid`,`contact-id`,`commented`),
-	 INDEX `uid_contactid_received` (`uid`,`contact-id`,`received`),
-	 INDEX `contactid` (`contact-id`),
-	 INDEX `ownerid` (`owner-id`),
-	 INDEX `authorid` (`author-id`),
-	 INDEX `uid_received` (`uid`,`received`),
-	 INDEX `uid_commented` (`uid`,`commented`),
-	 INDEX `uid_wall_received` (`uid`,`wall`,`received`),
-	 INDEX `private_wall_origin_commented` (`private`,`wall`,`origin`,`commented`),
-	 INDEX `uri-id` (`uri-id`),
-	FOREIGN KEY (`iid`) REFERENCES `item` (`id`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE CASCADE,
-	FOREIGN KEY (`uri-id`) REFERENCES `item-uri` (`id`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE CASCADE,
-	FOREIGN KEY (`uid`) REFERENCES `user` (`uid`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE CASCADE,
-	FOREIGN KEY (`contact-id`) REFERENCES `contact` (`id`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE CASCADE,
-	FOREIGN KEY (`owner-id`) REFERENCES `contact` (`id`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE RESTRICT,
-	FOREIGN KEY (`author-id`) REFERENCES `contact` (`id`) ON UPDATE RESTRICT ON DELETE RESTRICT
-) DEFAULT COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci COMMENT='Thread related data';
-
 --
 -- TABLE tokens
 --
diff --git a/src/Database/DBStructure.php b/src/Database/DBStructure.php
index b9e53be045..6ad6bb527a 100644
--- a/src/Database/DBStructure.php
+++ b/src/Database/DBStructure.php
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class DBStructure
 
 		$old_tables = ['fserver', 'gcign', 'gcontact', 'gcontact-relation', 'gfollower' ,'glink', 'item-delivery-data',
 			'item-activity', 'item-content', 'item_id', 'participation', 'poll', 'poll_result', 'queue', 'retriever_rule',
-			'sign', 'spam', 'term', 'user-item'];
+			'sign', 'spam', 'term', 'thread', 'user-item'];
 
 		$tables = DBA::selectToArray(['INFORMATION_SCHEMA' => 'TABLES'], ['TABLE_NAME'],
 			['TABLE_SCHEMA' => DBA::databaseName(), 'TABLE_TYPE' => 'BASE TABLE']);
diff --git a/src/Model/Item.php b/src/Model/Item.php
index 8eeb77d32b..cd484e6789 100644
--- a/src/Model/Item.php
+++ b/src/Model/Item.php
@@ -322,7 +322,6 @@ class Item
 		Post::update($item_fields, ['id' => $item['id']]);
 
 		Post\Category::storeTextByURIId($item['uri-id'], $item['uid'], '');
-		self::deleteThread($item['id'], $item['parent-uri-id']);
 
 		if (!Post::exists(["`uri-id` = ? AND `uid` != 0 AND NOT `deleted`", $item['uri-id']])) {
 			self::markForDeletion(['uri-id' => $item['uri-id'], 'uid' => 0, 'deleted' => false], $priority);
@@ -900,7 +899,6 @@ class Item
 			// If its a post that originated here then tag the thread as "mention"
 			if ($item['origin'] && $item['uid']) {
 				DBA::update('post-thread-user', ['mention' => true], ['uri-id' => $item['parent-uri-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-				DBA::update('thread', ['mention' => true], ['iid' => $parent_id]);
 				Logger::info('tagged thread as mention', ['parent' => $parent_id, 'parent-uri-id' => $item['parent-uri-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
 			}
 
@@ -1073,12 +1071,6 @@ class Item
 			Post::update(['changed' => DateTimeFormat::utcNow()], ['id' => $parent_id]);
 		}
 
-		if ($item['gravity'] === GRAVITY_PARENT) {
-			self::addThread($current_post);
-		} else {
-			self::updateThread($parent_id);
-		}
-
 		// In that function we check if this is a forum post. Additionally we delete the item under certain circumstances
 		if (self::tagDeliver($item['uid'], $current_post)) {
 			// Get the user information for the logging
@@ -2423,75 +2415,6 @@ class Item
 		return true;
 	}
 
-	private static function addThread($itemid, $onlyshadow = false)
-	{
-		$fields = ['uid', 'created', 'edited', 'commented', 'received', 'changed', 'wall', 'private', 'pubmail',
-			'moderated', 'visible', 'starred', 'contact-id', 'post-type', 'uri-id',
-			'deleted', 'origin', 'forum_mode', 'mention', 'network', 'author-id', 'owner-id'];
-		$condition = ["`id` = ? AND (`parent` = ? OR `parent` = 0)", $itemid, $itemid];
-		$item = Post::selectFirst($fields, $condition);
-
-		if (!DBA::isResult($item)) {
-			return;
-		}
-
-		$item['iid'] = $itemid;
-
-		if (!$onlyshadow) {
-			$result = DBA::replace('thread', $item);
-
-			Logger::info('Add thread', ['item' => $itemid, 'result' => $result]);
-		}
-	}
-
-	private static function updateThread($itemid, $setmention = false)
-	{
-		$fields = ['uid', 'guid', 'created', 'edited', 'commented', 'received', 'changed', 'post-type',
-			'wall', 'private', 'pubmail', 'moderated', 'visible', 'starred', 'contact-id', 'uri-id',
-			'deleted', 'origin', 'forum_mode', 'network', 'author-id', 'owner-id'];
-
-		$item = Post::selectFirst($fields, ['id' => $itemid, 'gravity' => GRAVITY_PARENT]);
-		if (!DBA::isResult($item)) {
-			return;
-		}
-
-		if ($setmention) {
-			$item["mention"] = 1;
-		}
-
-		$fields = [];
-
-		foreach ($item as $field => $data) {
-			if (!in_array($field, ["guid"])) {
-				$fields[$field] = $data;
-			}
-		}
-
-		$result = DBA::update('thread', $fields, ['iid' => $itemid]);
-
-		Logger::info('Update thread', ['item' => $itemid, 'guid' => $item["guid"], 'result' => $result]);
-	}
-
-	private static function deleteThread($itemid, $uri_id)
-	{
-		$item = DBA::selectFirst('thread', ['uid'], ['iid' => $itemid]);
-		if (!DBA::isResult($item)) {
-			Logger::info('No thread found', ['id' => $itemid]);
-			return;
-		}
-
-		$result = DBA::delete('thread', ['iid' => $itemid], ['cascade' => false]);
-
-		Logger::info('Deleted thread', ['item' => $itemid, 'result' => $result]);
-
-		$condition = ["`uri-id` = ? AND NOT `deleted` AND NOT (`uid` IN (?, 0))", $uri_id, $item["uid"]];
-		if (!Post::exists($condition)) {
-			DBA::delete('item', ['uri-id' => $uri_id, 'uid' => 0]);
-			Post\User::delete(['uri-id' => $uri_id, 'uid' => 0]);
-			Logger::debug('Deleted shadow item', ['id' => $itemid, 'uri-id' => $uri_id]);
-		}
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * Fetch the SQL condition for the given user id
 	 *
diff --git a/src/Model/Post.php b/src/Model/Post.php
index d4aa9f1eea..29cbb26952 100644
--- a/src/Model/Post.php
+++ b/src/Model/Post.php
@@ -477,18 +477,6 @@ class Post
 			$affected = max($affected, DBA::affectedRows());
 		}
 
-		$update_fields = DBStructure::getFieldsForTable('thread', $fields);
-		if (!empty($update_fields)) {
-			$rows = DBA::selectToArray('post-view', ['id'], $thread_condition);
-			$ids = array_column($rows, 'id');
-			if (!DBA::update('thread', $update_fields, ['iid' => $ids])) {
-				DBA::rollback();
-				Logger::notice('Updating thread failed', ['fields' => $update_fields, 'condition' => $thread_condition]);
-				return false;
-			}
-			$affected = max($affected, DBA::affectedRows());
-		}
-
 		$update_fields = [];
 		foreach (Item::USED_FIELDLIST as $field) {
 			if (array_key_exists($field, $fields)) {
diff --git a/src/Worker/ExpirePosts.php b/src/Worker/ExpirePosts.php
index 010aef696a..61343566d6 100644
--- a/src/Worker/ExpirePosts.php
+++ b/src/Worker/ExpirePosts.php
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ use Friendica\Core\Logger;
 use Friendica\Core\Worker;
 use Friendica\Database\DBA;
 use Friendica\DI;
+use Friendica\Model\Item;
 
 class ExpirePosts
 {
@@ -47,21 +48,18 @@ class ExpirePosts
 		if (!empty($expire_days)) {
 			do {
 				Logger::notice('Start deleting expired threads', ['expiry_days' => $expire_days]);
-				/// @todo replace that query later
 				$ret = DBA::e("DELETE FROM `item-uri` WHERE `id` IN
-					(SELECT `uri-id` FROM `thread`
-					INNER JOIN `contact` ON `id` = `contact-id` AND NOT `notify_new_posts`
-					WHERE `thread`.`received` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL ? DAY
-						AND NOT `thread`.`mention` AND NOT `thread`.`starred`
-						AND NOT `thread`.`wall` AND NOT `thread`.`origin`
-						AND `thread`.`uid` != 0 AND NOT `iid` IN (SELECT `parent` FROM `item`
-							WHERE (`item`.`starred` OR (`item`.`resource-id` != '')
-								OR (`item`.`event-id` != '') OR (`item`.`attach` != '')
-								OR `item`.`wall` OR `item`.`origin`
-								OR `item`.`uri-id` IN (SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-category`
-									WHERE `post-category`.`uri-id` = `item`.`uri-id`))
-								AND `item`.`parent` = `thread`.`iid`))
-					ORDER BY `id` LIMIT ?", $expire_days, $limit);
+					(SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-thread` WHERE `received` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL ? DAY
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-thread-user` WHERE (`mention` OR `starred` OR `wall` OR `pinned`) AND `uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`)
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-user` WHERE `origin` AND `uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`)
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-category` WHERE `uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`)
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `uri-id` FROM `post-media` WHERE `uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`)
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `parent-uri-id` FROM `item` INNER JOIN `contact` ON `contact`.`id` = `contact-id` AND `notify_new_posts`
+							WHERE `parent-uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`)
+						AND NOT `uri-id` IN (SELECT `parent-uri-id` FROM `item`
+							WHERE (`origin` OR `starred` OR `resource-id` != 0 OR `event-id` != 0 OR `wall` OR `attach` != '' OR `post-type` = ?)
+								AND `parent-uri-id` = `post-thread`.`uri-id`))
+					ORDER BY `id` LIMIT ?", $expire_days, Item::PT_PERSONAL_NOTE, $limit);
 
 				$rows = DBA::affectedRows();
 				Logger::notice('Deleted expired threads', ['result' => $ret, 'rows' => $rows]);
diff --git a/static/dbstructure.config.php b/static/dbstructure.config.php
index 370479b99a..1a120969d1 100644
--- a/static/dbstructure.config.php
+++ b/static/dbstructure.config.php
@@ -1429,53 +1429,6 @@ return [
 			"PRIMARY" => ["id"]
 		]
 	],
-	"thread" => [
-		"comment" => "Thread related data",
-		"fields" => [
-			"iid" => ["type" => "int unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "primary" => "1", "foreign" => ["item" => "id"],
-				"comment" => "sequential ID"],
-			"uri-id" => ["type" => "int unsigned", "foreign" => ["item-uri" => "id"], "comment" => "Id of the item-uri table entry that contains the item uri"],
-			"uid" => ["type" => "mediumint unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "foreign" => ["user" => "uid"], "comment" => "User id"],
-			"contact-id" => ["type" => "int unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "foreign" => ["contact" => "id"], "comment" => ""],
-			"owner-id" => ["type" => "int unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "foreign" => ["contact" => "id", "on delete" => "restrict"], "comment" => "Item owner"],
-			"author-id" => ["type" => "int unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "foreign" => ["contact" => "id", "on delete" => "restrict"], "comment" => "Item author"],
-			"created" => ["type" => "datetime", "not null" => "1", "default" => DBA::NULL_DATETIME, "comment" => ""],
-			"edited" => ["type" => "datetime", "not null" => "1", "default" => DBA::NULL_DATETIME, "comment" => ""],
-			"commented" => ["type" => "datetime", "not null" => "1", "default" => DBA::NULL_DATETIME, "comment" => ""],
-			"received" => ["type" => "datetime", "not null" => "1", "default" => DBA::NULL_DATETIME, "comment" => ""],
-			"changed" => ["type" => "datetime", "not null" => "1", "default" => DBA::NULL_DATETIME, "comment" => ""],
-			"wall" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"private" => ["type" => "tinyint unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => "0=public, 1=private, 2=unlisted"],
-			"pubmail" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"moderated" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"visible" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"starred" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"ignored" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"post-type" => ["type" => "tinyint unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => "Post type (personal note, bookmark, ...)"],
-			"unseen" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "1", "comment" => ""],
-			"deleted" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"origin" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"forum_mode" => ["type" => "tinyint unsigned", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"mention" => ["type" => "boolean", "not null" => "1", "default" => "0", "comment" => ""],
-			"network" => ["type" => "char(4)", "not null" => "1", "default" => "", "comment" => ""],
-			"bookmark" => ["type" => "boolean", "comment" => ""],
-		],
-		"indexes" => [
-			"PRIMARY" => ["iid"],
-			"uid_network_commented" => ["uid", "network", "commented"],
-			"uid_network_received" => ["uid", "network", "received"],
-			"uid_contactid_commented" => ["uid", "contact-id", "commented"],
-			"uid_contactid_received" => ["uid", "contact-id", "received"],
-			"contactid" => ["contact-id"],
-			"ownerid" => ["owner-id"],
-			"authorid" => ["author-id"],
-			"uid_received" => ["uid", "received"],
-			"uid_commented" => ["uid", "commented"],
-			"uid_wall_received" => ["uid", "wall", "received"],
-			"private_wall_origin_commented" => ["private", "wall", "origin", "commented"],
-			"uri-id" => ["uri-id"],
-		]
-	],
 	"tokens" => [
 		"comment" => "OAuth usage",
 		"fields" => [