Just a suggestion for those of you with speed issues.
If you aren’t running Firefox you should be.
Open SDMB
Click on GQ (for example)
Click the mouse wheel on each and every thread that I want to read. Each thread opens in a new tab. By the time I have moused over and picked all the threads on page 1 of GQ that I want to read, even at its slowest the board will have loaded at least 1/2 of the ones I have selected.
When I finished center clicking all the threads on that page, either move to page 2 or to the next fora. By the time I have read all the threads that I have opened, that fora will be up.
Almost no lag time. 
The only down side I can see is it might be several minutes before you read a thread, and you might miss a reply during this time. Preview is your friend.
Or those of you who are happy (like me) to bumble along with IE, or are at work and don’t have the choice, follow Rick’s workflow but right-click, then choose “Open in a new window”. OK, it’s new windows rather than new tabs, but it works for me.
Forgive my double post, but I forgot to mention that over in the UK I notice the board being slower in the afternoon - i.e. once all you Yanks have got to work and logged on. Which suggests that the major bottleneck is at the SDMB end.
Still, the content makes the wait worthwhile.
Jerry says he’s going to upgrade the server when he gets back from vacation, which I think is sometime next week.
I just this afternoon renewed my membership so you can all thank me for topping off the server fund. 
That would seem the logical thing to do, but I’ve noticed over the years that, depending on the time of day and day of the week, if I try to open more than two threads at a time in such a manner I get not 6 slowly loading threads but 6 pages of ‘Server Timed Out’ messages, which only make me sad. 
I’m happy to hear there’s an upgrade coming shortly - even “on the cheap”, the recent re-upping of hundreds of members should allow for something decently modern. 
Yes, get some bloody work done, that is what you are paid for, not surfing the net.
Bleeding skiving Yanks. Us unemployed people with nothing better to do need out entertainment.
Don’t forget the slowdown caused by a too-encompassing search. Like someone searching for every post astro has made in the past two years. That’ll take the board down below a crawl to positively paralytic for a minute or two.
Since I’ve been here, things have improved a lot. It’s still not good all the time, but for me, quality definitely trumps speed any day.
Oh great now it’s my fault! <cries>
Regard it as a compliment, astro – you were the only over-10K poster in the thread. I’m sure reading through your collective wit and wisdom would be well worth the search time.
Nice one.
If I may ask though, what kinda upgrade? Hardware, Software or OS?
Possibly all three. I defer to Jerry on such matters, but the tentative plan was to split the load between two servers, one to run the database and the other to handle the front end. We’re a few releases behind on the vB software; Jerry is conservative about such things but last I heard was contemplating an upgrade. He favors FreeBSD as the OS; not sure if that’s a change or not.
given the multiple revenue streams and the sponsorship ffom the evil alternative press empire, it seems obvious that there is skimming going on.
Someone is systematically snatching and eating the hamsters, even as the benevolent adminstrators send in fresh troops
Thanks. That sounds like a pretty good upgrade.
Anything is a good upgrade from the 1989 model Casio microwave they’ve got in the rack now!
It’s interesting how we’re promised this upgrade will happen immediately after the main subscription phase. It almost feels like some sort of election time.
The tech staff has had other concerns at the Reader, including the implementation of a new classified ad system. Why the Reader chose to involve the tech staff on a project that would potentially bring in a large amount of income rather than make the Straight Dope what it could be, gee, there’s no figuring priorities around here.
TubaDiva
Although I changed my mind and re-upped, it gets a little tiresome reading about what a fucking burden we all are. We’re still paying customers so how about a modicum of respect? Good luck working in the fast food industry when the reader does finally pull the plug.
Hear, hear. I’m sick of Tuba’s condescension. You think just for once you could speak to us like we’re not a bunch of snotty-nosed little brats? I’m beginning to regret having re-subscribed. If I wanted to be talked down to and made to feel a burden I’d go visit my mother.
It’s hard to show respect to people who whine all the time.
You’re right, that’s a perfectly reasonable excuse for being surly to paid customers. I’ll remember that next time I’m at work and I have to deal with my idiot boss and our difficult clients. Thanks!