Hi Everyone,
The speed issues are not related to the new forum software and design - they are server related.
Our web host is jerking us around. We are on a shared web host and although we have enough 'available' space and memory, the server is having troubles actually allocating memory for server processes. That likely means the webhost has oversold their server resources hoping no one would actually need them.
WE ARE SETTING UP A NEW DEDICATED SERVER AND WILL BE MOVING THIS SITE OVER AS SOON AS IT IS READY (less than a week)!
Sorry it's taken a while to figure things out, I know the site is painful to use - and that's when it even loads at all!
Mike