Picture this: The first nine thumbnails load obediently like well-behaved schoolchildren, and then at the tenth — suddenly, nothing. As if someone had drawn an invisible line and said: "This far and no further, my friend." No rule, no pattern. Just digital roulette.
Naturally, I did what any reasonable person would do: I contacted my hosting provider. The answer came promptly and was as precise as a shot into outer space: "Performance Issues."
But don't worry! For just 5 euros more per month, I could get more RAM and CPU. For just 5 euros! A bargain! Almost free! How generous of them to offer me this exclusive opportunity to see my own images.
I inquired further: "Are the HTTP/2 streams perhaps limited? Are the server settings correct?"
The answer came with the speed of a vacationing snail. It didn't come at all.
I imagine a support employee reading it and thinking: "Oh dear, he knows too much. Let's ignore him until he pays for the upgrade."
In a fit of digital rebellion, I ordered a CDN for another 5 euros per month. Content Delivery Network. Sounds important. It is. I configured it myself, with the determination of someone who refuses to pay for fixing a problem they didn't cause.
Suddenly everything ran smoothly. My images appeared so quickly, as if they had always been there and were just waiting for the right moment to show themselves. No more errors, no refused streams, no performance issues.
Is it paranoia if I suspect that my hosting provider deliberately turned down the performance dial? That someone is sitting there thinking: "Let's make him squirm a bit, then he'll reach for his wallet"?
I've experienced relationships in my life that were based on better communication than this one. My first girlfriend expressed more clearly what she wanted than this hosting provider. And we were 15.
But you know what? I regret nothing. My website flies now. It floats. It glides through the internet like a swan across a mountain lake.
I've also made other optimizations: webp instead of jpg, virtual scrolling, various caching strategies. All those things you do when you're once in the optimization tunnel.
And my hosting provider? They're still silent about my technical questions. Perhaps they need more RAM to respond. For just 5 euros more, we could find out.
Even if I now pay 10 euros more.