Just came across this article (figuratively speaking of course) about storing .net's #%^*$ lovely viewstate string on the server instead of sending it down the line on every page hit. Check it out, rather elegant.
I agree viewstates are a pain in the butt and unfortunately they can't be disabled for web user controls either
I'll give this a try, though I'm not sure it will be a good idea with the number of pageviews we get
