I don't speak for USCHO, but it could be a couple of things:

1). A web server can only support so many simultaneous connections.
2). Community message boards can gobble lots of CPU resources. CPU resources
can be limited by the capabilities of your server, or the policies of your
virtual hosting provider (most sites are hosted virtually -- their domain
points to a computer that hosts several other sites), or both.

It seems to only be a problem on weekend nights. A site that's seeing spikes
on one or two days has to decide whether it's worth it to jump from a
high-end virtual hosting package to a low-end dedicated host (or if they're
already on a dedicated server, spring for an upgrade). This can be a very
significant cost increase, and you have to decide if accommodating the
Friday/Saturday traffic is worth paying for the upgrade every other day of
the week.

Hope this helps,

-Mark

> So far this year, the USCHO website has been almost worthless.  At leas
> thalf of the time on Friday or Saturday nights, I am unable to even get to
> the site; this isn't just me, since I talk to a couple of people who
aren't
> on the list, and they have trouble connecting, too.  When I do get
through,
> it is usually hours, if not the next day, before they get scores posted.
> Does anyone here know what is going on?
>
> J. Michael Neal
>