I wouldn't call it slow, but it is perceptibly slower. I was wondering one thing: would it be acceptable to you to change the configuration from "
https://bitcointalk.org" to "" (empty string)? This way those who aren't that security concerned could use "
http://bitcointalk.org" to browse this site. The way it works right now is: one can get into the forum via HTTP, but then any use of the internal forum links make it switch to HTTPS.
Obviously this has security implications, it trades off the better local cache hit ratio for less security.
I'm fine with less security, but many other readers may be surprised and unhappy with it.
What do you think?