If you're having problems connecting to BookTalk.org I'd sure like to know. Please make a post here and describe what is happening. Is it every time? Are pages simply slow to load? We want to know of any problems you're experiencing so they can be addressed.

Thank you!

Well I've already sent you my details, but here goes anyway. BookTalk is about the only web site I cannot connect to with standard methods from home. I receive this error message: "The connection has timed out. The server at booktalk.org is taking too long to respond." This happens with Firefox, Chrome, and M$ Internet Explorer. I have cable internet access through Spectrum in Cincinnati OH. This has been going on for several months.

I am able to connect from work, but that could be a career-killing habit.

I have been able to connect from home using the Opera browser which has a built in free VPN. However I notice that tends to log me out frequently as I move around the site. I recently found that Tor works better at keeping me logged in. Although both methods actually slow response times (Tor more than Opera) due to all the fancy network stuff going on, they do allow me to connect to Booktalk. I don't know why a VPN or Tor would improve connectivity to this site, that makes no sense to me. Perhaps something strange is happening locally and those techniques get around the problem.

I believe KindaSkolarly has a similar situation. Anyone else? We need to determine how widespread this is...

On Edit:
1. I attempted to get help from Spectrum, but not successful.
2. This web site indicates Booktalk is down:
http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/booktalk.org.html
3. This web site indicates Booktalk is OK:
https://down.com/?q=booktalk.org

I really appreciate this detailed explanation. As soon as David gets back from his vacation I will have him look deeply into this issue. We need to resolve it quickly. Thank you very much for sharing.

I have to use a proxy server, can't go straight to the site. I believe I'm signed in from Germany at the moment. Danke schön, Deutschland.

Timing out is an issue. If I read too long or type too long on a post, the page might not refresh. That can cause the post to be lost. And if I don't sign in again in order to sign out, I remain logged on. Curious situation.

Wow, I definitely don't like the sound of this. I'll have David look into it just as soon as he is back in town. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will get it resolved.

BookTalk.org will go down very soon. It shouldn't be down more than 12 to 24 hours. After it comes back up please let me know if your connection problems have gotten better. We're starting on the Cloudflare service. It might take a day or two to start speeding up. I'm not sure.

We're now using the Cloudflare service so I really would appreciate any feedback you can offer on how you're connecting to BookTalk.org. Any problems? Is the page load speed OK?

Testing in Chrome

Firefox users were not able to create new threads or reply to existing threads for the past 24 hours. But that issue has been resolved. Please give me feedback if you are having connectivity issues everyone.

Logged in from home with standard browser, no VPN or Tor. Will check further later...

Please do. Thanks LanDroid.

Seems downright snappy now!
There's a strange progress bar that takes about 2 seconds to load, but everything looks visible right away.

I'm so glad things have sped up for you! That progress bar is optional. I have it on right now but if it ever gets annoying we can disable it.

I typed a longish reply to the ‘Hint- We need a debate about religion’ forum. It wouldn’t upload and I think it might have been because I included emojis....or not? However, I then went on to post a couple of short, succinct comments which posted easily. So it was probably God wot intervened.

Penelope, you may have made some sort of error when attempting to post your message. Next time you have such a problem a screenshot or simply a copy and paste of the exact error message will help us get to the bottom of it. I'm not sure what happened when you say, "It wouldn’t upload..." Was there an error message?

I do know how frustrating it can be to lose a long post so I am really sorry that happened to you.