Jeffro, thanks for writing about this subject, something I've been thinking a lot about in the last few days as I work to redesign my site. I'm glad to hear in the comments that you've decided to abandon the idea of an archiver page, I think that's a good decision.

I think as writers and the site's developers, were use our own site much differently than our audience. I've had the default calendar widget on my sidebar for years, but I believe that I'm now ready to abandon it, as Google Analytics has proven to me that only I use it. If you design for your audience, you'll do better at serving their needs. Maybe keep the archive page live, but not linked anywhere, for your own needs.