I would like to bump this thread to support an upgrade in the (hopefully) in the near future. I believe there is enough support from members that asking for donations would be a viable option if money was an issue.
Early EST is where this site is the fastest, and by mid-morning the site slows to a crawl. When I first came here around 4 months ago, the site loaded with in 5-10 secs, now it's close to 30 secs or above during the evening hours. I often find myself changing tabs until the forums have loaded.
Thanks to the Arduino staff for giving us a great site to come and learn for free. That is something that you don't see everyday.