A couple of comments:
1. Having dealt with a couple of large scale application design (many of them were database integrated), I can tell you that the solution to any performance issue is not always throw more hardware at it or provide more bandwidth. Sometimes you are working within the limitation of the programming language or tools that are available. I suspect that this may be part of the problem with RC, and it's not going to get resolved easily by the RC staff. The forum developers may need to completely rewrite vBulletin to handle the load. In addition, vBulletin may need to be rewritten to integrate with other databases (Oracle, MS SQL Server) and use the full feature of those databases. All the RC programmers can do is try to tweak as much performance out of the current software as possible, but there may be a limit. Also - my understanding is the RC has greatly modified the base vBulletin code. So upgrading to the next version of vBulletin may not be as simple as just click on an installer. (Trust me - we are dealing with this very issue at work right now, and are working on trying to get back to baseline with minimal customization, but the process is not simple)
2. If it's the MARS site that you are complaining is slow, then we should address it as a club. A while back, I proposed that MARS look at running its own forum like RC. Some board members were in favor, but one wasn't. I decided not to pursue it because there wasn't buy in from a key person. BTW - you can't say that MARS has only 110 users online at any given time, so the MARS forum shouldn't have any problem. The MARS forum IS a part of RC. You have to look at the whole picture.
3. This site is free. Some of us pay for the optional "premium membership" - but it is essentially a free site. Who cares if the RC is making money off from sponsor. That's their choice. If their website performance gets so bad that people leave, sponsors may leave as well. But that's a business decision by RC. We have the rights to leave RC and use other forums or open up our own forum.
4. RC is run by a lot of volunteers. (Yes - the head guy may be making money, but a lot of the mods probably are not.) It's easy for us to ***** and complain. But how many people are willing to put time into fixing the problem. When I was the webmaster of MARS, I heard several people ***** and complain about the content. When I asked for input - it was dead quiet. Same thing with the MARS newsletter. It was only a very few people who contributed. Contribution to article was solicited, but only a handful every contributed. But when it died due to lack of contribution, people *****ed and complain.
I often disagree with Beerguy. But in this case, I think he has made some very valid point.
Minh
