I don't find a problem with the speed of the site personally, but I can't get my head around the layout at the moment.

I don't think it would be possible to 'go to last unread post' as it is on other sites, because on here you can post a reply to one comment in a thread, which will lead to the new posts being possibly buried in the middle of several different pages (on multiple page threads). I think it should be that all posts in a thread are in chronological order, and if you reply to someone it should go on the end of the thread, with a quote box, rather than directly under the post you've replied to.

I think the site needs a big overhaul. If it was more accessible, I think posts would increase a lot. AE forums has great potential, but it's complicated system makes it frustrating to use.

At least part of the forum layout issue (this is an unofficial web geek talking, not an AE-endorsed comment) is that the AE site is built around the Drupal CMS and is using Drupal's forum system as a result. This makes it easier for the writers/editors to add content and use some of the social features like comments and tags, but to the detriment of the forums.

Previously, AE forums ran separately with an application built specifically for forums (PhpBB if I remember correctly) - the Drupal forum feature is more of an afterthought and is, AFAIK, less flexible. I've used it before and I hate it, to be perfectly honest.

So I don't know if there is even a way to implement the massive changes we're all yearning for, short of moving back to PhpBB or similar. And since AE made the switch away from phpBB, they probably had good reasons for doing so (security?).

IMHO YMMV

True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to get out, you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand. -Henry James

I was hoping I wasn't the only person that was having these same exact issues.  Countless times in the past few weeks I've taken the time to post a detailed response and I click to post and it times out and I lost everything.  I'm to the point I don't want to post comments or sometimes even come to the site, which I love.  Part of the fun of AE is the interaction and ability to voice your view points on fun and serious topics.  I really hate to sound bitchy, but it's been extremely annoying.  

There seems to be a huge lag as well and I'll honestly admit I'm the last person you want to talk to about computers or anything technical.  I too have a brand new computer with high speed internet and it takes just as long at home as it does at work.   

It sounds like I'm ranting and I am, sorry. 

"Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from."

Hi guys - unfortunately, and ironically, the reason the site has been down so much lately (and/or is slow to load at times) is because our community has grown so much. In other words, we're a victim of our own success. It doesn't have to do with needing more bandwidth, it's a side effect of a complicated interaction between the caching system, database queries, and server load (which is why the site tends to to crash almost every time we post an L Word recap - because our traffic and comments go up sharply all at once).

Turns out that the platform we use - Drupal - wasn't really designed to scale to the level we've taken it to; we've spoken with other large websites using Drupal, and they've encountered similar problems. But we've looked and there isn't really anything better out there, either (i.e. we'd just be trading one set of problems for another). So all we can do is keep trying to fix this one.

Please trust me when I say that our tech team has been working overtime for months trying to find a solution - the reason the site went down yesterday morning, for example, is because they were testing new code they thought would help the situation, but ironically made it worse, so they finally had to roll it back.

Anyway, I know this explanation won't make it any less frustrating for you when the site is slow or down, but if it helps at all, the AfterEllen.com staff is just as frustrated as you are - it's really, really hard when you've spent hours writing an article or blog post, only to have the site go down immediately after you post it, so no one can read it - and I want you to at least know we're fully aware of the situation and working on it.

As for the forum comments, they are posted chronological from oldest to newest, but a reply to another person's comment will show up below that comment - i.e. within the chronological order - and thus means sometimes newer comments show up between older ones. Otherwise, you will always find the newest comment at the end of the thread. I agree with those of you who've said we don't have the best forum layout in the world, but as Koma suggested, we had to accept a slightly worse forum in exchange for the ability for you all to comment on blog posts, having private messaging, etc. We do hope to make improvements to the forum eventually, it just isn't as important a priority for us right now as stabilizing the site.

I do have one tip for those of you who get frustrated when you take a long time writing a comment, only to have it disappear when you hit "submit" because you've been timed out or the site goes down: always copy all your text in the comment box and save it (Ctrl + S on a PC) just before you submit it. Then if you get timed out or the site goes down, you can just go back into the thread/article etc. and paste your comment in the comment box and hit submit. I know that may seem obvious, but I'm guessing a lot of you don't do that, and it will save you a lot of frustration.

Thanks to all of your for your patience, and hopefully we'll get the site stabilized soon and can move on to other improvements.