Delete features and Append issue

[TonyAlmeida]

I have a layer that is created by a python script that is used in portal and map service. It is in a SDE database and the script deletes all the features and then appends  the new features that are created by the script. The issues that I am having is that the more and more I run the script it seems as the feature class/layer gets slower. For example if I try to preview the feature class in ArcCatalog it takes a long time to display the feature class, longer than it should. The same goes for the map service,  this feature class in a Map Service. The a query from this map service takes a long time. What is the issue? Is there a better way to delete features and append features?

[TonyAlmeida]

We do run a compression every night but I will have to look deeper into the database to see if there is an issues with the compression.  I figured that if I did a delete features on the entire feature class it would delete everything, which is  what I want. I have ran the delete features on the feature class and have verified in ArcCatolog that all the features were deleted.

So if it's versioned and I run the delete features, then append it doesn't delete the old records?