Cleared cache, history, and everything else, ECF came up quick but as soon as I logged in, molasses! I hope this gets fixed soon, I'll try again later.
Same here. Ran ok (slow load but doable, like several seconds) before logging in, but as soon as I log in the lag time is so long the site isn't usable imo. Life is too short to sit for 30s-1min every time you want to see the next page of posts. I posted here yesterday on page 1 (turned out I became the 1st post on page 2) and when I logged back in tonight I saw there were 5 pages and immediately thought
cr@p, because clicking from one page to the next takes FOREVER and I wanted to read all 5 pages (and did).
I have a few comments:
#1. If FF runs slow as a rule on this site (qualifier coming)
even when the site is functioning perfectly from the server end, then the site is not coded properly b/c FF meets the international HTML standards and should function properly on any properly coded site. This barring third-party add-ons that might interfere with function.
To see if any of my FF add-ons were causing the pitiful performance on this site, I used the K-Meleon browser. K-Meleon is an open-source, basic, Mozilla-based browser with no bells or whistles and no add-ons. When I have trouble with a site in FF, I use K-Meleon and if the site is functioning properly, K-Meleon will work. (You can also start FF without it's add-ons but it's easier and quicker for me to just open K-Meleon.) Well, ECF functioned pretty fast in K-Meleon... until I logged in. Then it hung and had all the same problems FF is having.
#2. Sometimes (more often in the past) sites coded for MS IE... they used to have little graphics that would say something like, "This site is designed to look best using IE" with a link to the download page at MS. MS didn't strictly follow international conventions, but also incorporated proprietary coding/HTML conventions as well, so sites that coded specifically for MSIE and no other browser often didn't function well using an alternate browser. Happily this is rare now, and I'd guess ECF is coded according to international standards (and also to accommodate IE). My point is that when a site is coded to international standards, ANY browser that follows those standards should work fine. While some browser engines are faster than others, that difference should be in milliseconds - not the difference between a few seconds and 30+ seconds.
All to say, I am no webmaster or IT administrator, but if you ask me, this site has one simple problem... too much traffic for the servers it's using. It needs more bandwidth and upgraded management tools (if it's having problems routing traffic). A new host with more bandwidth would likely offer new tools anyway.
To say there was a load balancing problem a few days ago is no comfort and no answer, because ECF has been a horridly awful site to use on the hardware end since I started here in March. So it is very depressing if they think this is a new problem from a few days ago, and fixing whatever went wrong there is going to... what? Return the site to it's usual horrid performance?
I don't know who pays for ECF so I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but a site that isn't functional is a real bummer for people who want to use it.