Site is slower today - database maintenance

Hey everyone,

We're doing database maintenance today, so the site will be noticeably slower than usual for the next few hours. Pages may take longer to load and stories may take longer to generate.

Your account and stories are safe - nothing is lost or affected.

If a story seems stuck, please wait a bit longer instead of resubmitting.

We expect things to be back to normal by around 1 PM UTC (9 AM ET / 3 PM CET) and will update here when it's done.

Thanks for your patience!