As mentioned in
this thread, the current server can get overwhelmed during very busy times and the response can be slow, although usually not several minutes. I have a new server almost ready to go that should eliminate this problem.
Traffic on the site has grown about 50% since the spring and we've had several single day records for distinct visitors. The average visitors per day has been 2000-4000. A few weeks ago over 20,000 separate people visited on one day and the server collapsed under the pressure. Again, the new server will have more than enough capacity to deal with heavy traffic. Stay tuned.