Very slow past few days

In Southern California, if that matters. Seems like an ad or something is slowing it down. Hit a link on the main page and it just waits and waits, and if I hit escape, then it goes to the other page. Like an ad on another server is bogging it down.

Ah! I closed the banner ad for the new Talk Fender site, and the problem is gone.

Seems to be a problem you experienced. When you dismissed the TalkFender notice you refreshed your browser cookies and this is what fixed your problem. It was not something that others experienced. However, if they've got problems with their browser cookies dismissing the "notice" will help them clear up the issue.

So, you see, it's not the "notice" that causes your issue, it's something on your end that has corrupted your cookies -- the other 80,000 visitors don't share that issue with you. But deleting the notice does clear up the issue for you.

You would have also gotten the same result from Logging Out and then coming back and logging in again.

Glad your issue is fixed, though.

I just opened the browser again, and now the "build challenge" banner was holding it up. The "dismiss" button doesn't fully form, but it says "dismiss" in a box, and when I click that to close the banner, everything is fine.

Never had this occur before. I've deleted all my cookies and history as well.

Hum, we've never had one single other member report the issue. Something unique to your set up. Try a different browser and see how that reacts.

I tried IE (cleared all cookies) and I don't get the Talk Fender or Build banners, and it works as fine as IE works.

My main browser is Opera, which is faster and has more features. Oh well, as long as I know I can dismiss the banners, no problem.