I am going to add more memory to the server and see if that helps.
But I think a better long-term fix would be to move it to the company that built the forum software. They have a hosting platform made for the software, and it's managed, so they take care of all the pesky details, like making the thing run properly.
Thanks, whatever you did seems to have worked, it's fine now compared to sluggish yesterday.
All the work to keep the site up and runni g is very appreciated