131mirafiori forum

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??

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

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

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.

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.

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!  :)

Sorry guys, this is unacceptable performance but the website hosts (GoDaddy.com (http://www.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...  :-\

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

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!  ;D ).  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 (http://www.lanciagammaforum.com)).

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.

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.

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  ::) ::)

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.

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.   ;)

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.

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.

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 ;D.Eugene

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!   ;) :D

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  >:( ;D

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

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

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.

Was only trying to help.Eugene

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

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

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. 

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

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