Gerard mentioned the PROBLEM in the 2nd sentence.  I read it clearly....

>we all experience in the really bad response times we are suffering. It is so bad that people are asked what kind of updates they are running because it makes a difference in the lag times there are.

The response times are typically attributed to SPARQL queries from what I have seen, as well as applying multiple edits with scripts or mass operations. Although I recall there is a light queue mechanism inherent in the Blazegraph architecture that contributes to this, and I am fine with slower writes.

What most users are not comfortable with is the slower reads in different areas of Wikidata.
We need to identify those slow read areas or figure out a way to get consensus on what parts of Wikidata reading affect our users the most.

So let's be constructive here:
Gerard - did you have specific areas that affect your daily work, and what from of work is that (reading/writing , which areas) ?