Deleted old articles so now have to update sitemap?

[born2run]

So, it takes 2-3 days of spidering to create sitemaps for my site.

I've recently deleted thousands of old useless articles from my site. Which means the sitemaps are outdated.

Would I have to update them again? :-( Can I just do away with sitemaps?

[engine]

You do not need a site map if your site architecture, menus and internal links are easily spidered. Site maps help with discovery of your content.

[support.google.com...]

[htmlbasictutor]

As engine said, you don't need an XML Sitemap if your site architecture is well done.

Do you have an HTML site map (notice the different spelling)? This type of site map helps users and bots get around your site. Update this one and dump the XML Sitemap (IMHO).