> As such, what is the downside to the .dump {relevant-tables} approach?
My assumption (without casting a vote for or against) is that the OP wants something like `.dump --except <table-name>` so that it will continue working "as is" if new tables (that they **do** want dumping) are added. Currently (as I understand it), if they add a table, they'll have to remember to add it to the "dump list". Of course, with their proposed enhancement, if they add a new FTS table, they'd have to remember to add _it_ to the exclusion list.