site problem

[sid131]

the past few days i am finding it difficult to get on the forum its either very very very slow or this error keeps coming up

Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.

i can get onto any of the other forums & sites i visit with no problems, whats up??

[theredx19]

Sid it could just be some structural rust on the servers main frame 

[david]

Same problem Nick, its taken ages to get through !  gave up trying earlier as error message kept coming up

[Sean]

I've had the problem since I became a member.  I'm betting that it's a cheap hosting plan on old servers running obsolete software.  I maintain a photography blog and own several domains I know how expensive hosting can be, especially for fast servers.  I also know how much of a pain the arse it can be to move to a new hosting account.

[alan.acs]

I'm having the same problem nick, getting pi**ed of with it.
its spoiling the best site of all.
I have a really fast PC and that  doesn't seem to make any difference.

[kev131]

Hi Guys - Same problem here...and for our administrator, Theo.

I don't wish to speak on Theo's behalf but I know that he has raised this issue with the providers but they are not too bothered - It's a shared server and it seems that the delays can be caused by high volume usage. Not much comfort to us though - Thanks for the compliment about the site Alan! 

[Thotos]

Sorry guys, this is unacceptable performance but the website hosts (GoDaddy.com) do not accept there's a problem with the server we are hosted on:

"Our database administrators monitor the servers to balance the database load across the servers. Shared servers will experience some performance issues due to the nature of sharing the server with other customers. "

I have made some changes to try and improve performance but doesn't seem to have helped much. I may have to reduce the size of the forum database which will mean deleting old messages and/or photos. It is something I am loathed to do and will be difficult to decide what to delete. Last time I had to delete some of the older photos to free some space and increase performance a lot of people complained 

Sorry for the poor performance lately but I am trying to improve things... 

[sid131]

It is the best site Theo so if a membership fee was introduced would it help to get a better server & be able to save all the old posts pics etc? because i like to look back sometimes at the older posts & pics.
www.ae86irl.com had the same problems this year & moved to a new server based in carlow i think? & its been mega fast since & no lost stuff either,
this is a very unique site & i for one need my daily fix or 10 times daily !!
131 disease has no known cure but 131mirafiori.com helps

[Thotos]

As with most things 'money talks' and more money could mean a dedicated server and much better performance. But as our disclaimer says This forum is available free and is part of a non-profit website run by volunteers for the benefit of owners and enthusiasts of the various models of the Fiat 131. I am as reluctant to start asking for money as I am to start deleting things. Introducing a fee would drive away at least some of our members and that would definitely take something away from the website. It's the sum of our members that makes this website what it is (excuse the pun if indeed it is one!   ).  The website and forum has worked well and there's no reason why it shouldn't be working now. It may never be blindingly fast on a shared server but it should work as it has done in the past. I need to somehow convince GoDaddy that we are on an overloaded server so they reduce the load or give us a different shared server. Other similar website forums I have hosted on GoDaddy servers do not have this problem (see www.lanciagammaforum.com).

[Sean]

Dedicated servers cost some bucks.  I use adsense to raise revenue on my blog so that I can afford a great hosting account.  I would recommend looking into it.  It is super simple to ad the script to the php templates.  The ads would pop up with every page, can be placed anywhere in the pages, and can be redesigned with css so they aren't intrusive.  The trick is though, you only get paid if people click, so every time we log on to this site we would have to go out of our way to click on an ad.  I hit ctrl+click/ open in a new window and then just close the window.  Easy and you just made the site about 10 cents.  Several dozen of those a day each day of the week and boom you've covered the difference.  One other option that could be offered is a paypal donations tab (also easy to script) where we could donate a couple of dollars because we all feel generous sometimes.  What do you think?

I know I'm new here, but if you were to need some help planting some java script into the php templates I'm willing to help by either instructing the admins how to do it or I can do it so long as you trust me enough with some temporary passwords to get everything tested and up and running.  Should only take a couple of hours to get it all done.

[alan.acs]

I would be up for a pay-pal type donation which could be on a voluntary basis.
By the way what sort of money would it take to improve the servers.

[eugene]

This problem has only started within the last few days.Before that,it was ok.I put the problem down to the lab top here in Ukraine.It worked ok on every other site except this one.I kept my mouth shut on this one this time,as i thought the problem was with me and my lab top.This site is a great site and my sincere thanks goes to Theo in having the vision to set it up and also to Kevin and Simon in there encouragement to make Theo go and do it .Eugene

[theredx19]

This problem has only started within the last few days.Before that,it was ok.I put the problem down to the lab top here in Ukraine.It worked ok on every other site except this one.I kept my mouth shut on this one this time,as i thought the problem was with me and my lab top.This site is a great site and my sincere thanks goes to Theo in having the vision to set it up and also to Kevin and Simon in there encouragement to make Theo go and do it .Eugene

Now let us all point our fingers eastward then 

[Thotos]

As Eugene said, it used to work fine so it should work fine again. It's just a case of our hosts adding too many new people to the shared server and overloading it. There won't be advertising on this site and no requests for money; it's a free site and it will stay that way.

[Sean]

Fair enough.  I won't be able to give as much as I take from this site, but I'm glad you're here.  Thought I'd offer what I can give, scripting.