> using chrome's dev tools I tried loading with the "slow 3g" preset, rendering of useful textual + hyperlink content took under 10 seconds, images slowly came in after that over a longer period.
That is not an achievement.
That is not an achievement.
If it were a plain text document and it was only JS loading and parsing that slowed it down then it would indeed be embarrassing.
My response is to the person asserting that JS is the reason this page is slow. I'm not making a statement that this is the greatest and fastest loading page on earth.