not sure where to add this…
This morning my internet server went down for web and sending mail; for some reason I could still receive mail. I took the opportunity to run the OS cleanup routines, repair permissions, fix disk errors. Re-launching DEVONthink took over half and hour! Thinking the database was hosed, I verified, rebuilt, etc. Still, it took DEVONthink forever to reload. Later a light bulb in the noggen went on: I wonder if DEVONthink checks for updates on launch. Sure enough, the Preferences>Update tab had been set to do this. I set it NEVER and all is well again.
So, if you have flakey internet service and DT suddenly takes a looooooooog time to launch, check the Update panel in Preferences.