site problem

[Thotos]

Thank you very much for your offer to help Sean and sorry if my post sounded unappreciative; it certainly wasn't meant to be and I very much appreciate your offer for help and a bit of scripting.    But I believe this website and its forum should remain independent and free and both those attributes would be lost if we start advertising and/or asking for money.

[sid131]

Fair enough Theo but the www.ae86irl.com is also free & they moved because of the problems thats going on here, i only suggested a fee or as others said donations just to help if possible.

[eugene]

Heres an idea.Could Fiat be approached and asked for some sponsership for this site,after all,it is this site that is preserving there excellent cars of the past .For Fiat,there is nothing like sponsering yourself .Eugene

[Thotos]

Unfortunately Fiat don't think of the 131 as highly as we do. It's an old model as far as they are concerned which no longer makes them any money. We contacted Fiat UK for 3ma08 sponsorship in Scotland and we couldn't even get a reply from them. In the end after endless emails and phone calls and eventual contact with the MD of Fiat UK we received a reply saying "our Marketing department will look into this and will contact you if there's anything we can do". And after that we heard nothing, nada!    This year, while eventually we managed to get good service from Fiat in Italy and arrange the factory visit etc, it was not easy at all and nothing would have happened if Michelle (effe131) had not contacted them - Italians only deal with Italians!    I used to call them or email them and they replied to Michele!  The only part of Fiat that was of any help to us was Fiat in Ireland who agreed to sponsor us for 3ma07 and donated some goodies which we used for prizes.  So if you can contact Fiat Ireland and convince them to give us a few hundred Euros per year for a nice dedicated server then I'd go for that!   

[Thotos]

Latest reply from the website's hosts below. So there you have it officially, there are no problems.  You are all imagining all the problems which do not exist 

[eugene]

It all depends on who you meet in Fiat or for that matter in any company,but a personal touch is better than an e-mail.If Fiat were to sponser this site,there would have to be something in it for Fiat to cough up the MONEY,so i propose to put this to Fiat,allow them to put a small photo of each of there new cars at the top or bottom of the 131 web page with links to there various new models.Of course you would always have control of this site,but in order to get money,you will need some kind of carrot.
It is best to approach to someone who knows someone else,ie a Fiat dealership who would take your case further up the line.Cold calling to someone at the top(MD)who you don't know,can result in you being told to get lost.Eugene

[theredx19]

Dont worry Eugene there is probably very few people in Fiat Ireland who I would not be friendly with and with know them outside of the company but with the downturn in the trade there is very little advertising or sponsorship out there.... But as regards the problem with the server here is a little vid that shows the technical issues with changing servers  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKsSOEto3B0

[Thotos]

Could Fiat be approached and asked for some sponsership for this site

allow them to put a small photo of each of there new cars at the top or bottom of the 131 web page with links to there various new models

Eugene, first you suggested sponsorship but then you changed it to advertising; those are two totally different concepts. We certainly don't won't to go down the advertising route.

[eugene]

Was only trying to help.Eugene

[djape1977]

change server guys! any way you know, just do it.
about fiat not beeing interested in 131...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYG2tFIaSwI

maybe you could contact abarth division

[mirafioriman]

Seems to be working much better again now. Perhaps your contact with them got it mysteriously sorted Theo

[Thotos]

Yes, it seems much better now; fingers crossed it stays like this    While I tried several changes and tweaks to improve performance I am sure it's nothing I've done    Our hosts GoDaddy must have done something to improve matters but they are not admitting to it because that would mean them admitting to the fact that they had a problem and that's something they always denied. 

[alan.acs]

Thanks Theo site seems to be back to normal and still the best site.

[sid131]

Yes i agree with Alan still the best site even better than the celica site? & thats saying something!
working fine now.