I have been out of pocket for a few days. When I have accessed the forums, performance has been excellent and so it appears, to my surprise, that moving the forum to Dreamhost PS has, at least for now, taken care of the problem.
If the current situation is an indication, it may end up being less costly than I had feared. The cost slides based on usage. The first week was free and the memory allowance was maxed out by Dreamhost. That week just ended. Here's a graph that gives us an idea of how memory use is going:

So, a couple of things: Do let us know if you see any decline in performance in the forum this week. Don't be too quick to post it...if you experience a problem, give it time to make sure it's not isolated.
I don't mind picking up the tab for the PS thing as long as the Wisely Family Full Employment situation persists and the bill is the $25 or so beyond my usual costs, which is what's happening now. In fact, the Google ads revenue will easily cover that amount plus my other costs associated with having a presence on the web for C&F and RHP and some other projects. There's also enough left over to pay for my haircuts, which are clearly a business expense.
Later, y'all.
Dale