Apologies for not responding sooner, we were discussing what is causing the lag and possible solutions before weighing in with partial information or lack of solutions. I've also been hit with some mental stuff the last month or so, which I know isn't an excuse; I will try to do better and hope to have a handle on it soon.

Keith is looking at whether avatar previews are causing it, they may be on a different server that wouldn't be part of the lag. If they are contributing, we can turn them off!

Part of what is going on is the API, the code that translates requests between legacy Subeta and New Subeta. APIs are pretty common on websites; any time, for instance, you use your Google email address or your Facebook account on another site without having to create a username or account on that other site, that's using an API that communicates between Google/Facebook/erc and the other site. Legacy Subeta and New Subeta have an API because that way Keith can work more directly with the wardrobe and some user account services, rather than wading through all the legacy code on, well, legacy Subeta to make a change. However, it comes with the downside that right now the API is pulling extra resources and taking a bit more time on top of Lumi traffic.

Keith has restarted the servers and is setting a timer so that they restart faster, and we hope that should help a lot. Jessi is going to have an announcement when they can get to it EDIT: I am likely to put it up just a bit sooner. There will also be a front page update about an adjustment to the number of days needed for the Melody achievement for this month, so watch that space!

Thank you, all, for sticking with us. I hope your December is going well!

Cloudflare is a content delivery network, or CDN; CDNs are basically a group of geographically connected servers that can prioritize sending cached information according to the user's IP location. So basically Subeta is sending some information to Cloudflare and Cloudflare is figuring out, okay, your IP address (MarchOnOff) is closest to x Cloudflare server and uses that info along with their server capacity to forward it to you. Where Cloudflare is sending it from likely jumps around a bit due to their server capacity and traffic affecting what data center or server they're using at any given time.

The pro of using Cloudflare is that it reduces hosting needs and cost overall and can make things faster for users, being able to redirect the information more efficiently. It can also protect against denial-of-service or distributed-denial-of-service attacks.

The con of it is that unfortunately it isn't perfect and Subeta is in a category all its own when it comes to user data and number plus type of requests. The wardrobe is in a category all its own in terms of sheer number of items and dynamic nature of it, as is New Subeta. Many of the options Keith looks into for management or streamlining end up boggled by the sheer scale of it, and can't easily handle all the features.

There is a lot of overall server load this time of year, people doing quests for Lumi and so forth. Understandable so, this is my favorite time of year as well!

Whoops, you're right! I'll post on that one sooner next time.

Thank you. <3

There will be an update shortly on extensions and accommodations! Just trying to get as much info together for the front page post to be able to put it all out at the same time.

Y'all are super important to me, and part of what's helped me get through things in general! Let's just say a post I put together for people in the Chit-Chat forums was a valuable resource for me recently, and thinking of the example I'd set for others if I gave into despair is a very direct reason to wake up every day. Thank you all for being part of this community, and enjoying the site at its highest and its low points as well.