Thread: TFI - The Way Forward

Hi Guys !!

Let's just roll the clock back a little bit. Where were we some 18-19 months back ? We were a small e-mail group with about 150 members. We then decided to take the plunge and had our own website with a forum running on phpbb.

Then before we realised we reached a membership count of 1000 and started a quick march towards 2000. PHPBB became unsustainable and we decided to shift to vbulletin. The member count now has crossed 2500.

To be VERY HONEST - we had not anticipated so much response when we started this forum. And honestly speaking, the forum's infrastructure has not been able to keep up with the demands of the members. We also were hacked in between only to be rescued by Countrock !! Since then all of you must have noticed that the forum has become extremely slow and we have not been able to give you members a smooth browsing experience.

Over the weekend we have migrated to a new server. I am not going to reveal much technical or other details here - but we do think that we are now hosted on a server that can easily keep up with the traffic and load this forum attracts.

But what stopped us from doing this from Day One ? There is a one word answer to it - RESOURCES

Till date, the admins and mods have been pumping in resources (money, time and efforts) into TFI. I am not going to reveal who has done what but the contributions have been immense. But all said and done, there is a restriction to how much can be done and contributed by an individual.

I must categorically state here that none of the mods or admins have entertained any commercial interests from external entities. We have also stayed advertisement free even though there is a large potential to make money out of advertisements.

There is no doubt that TFI will and can grow from here. A lot many improvements can be done to the forum. And we would be extremely disappointed if we are not able incorporate those into the forum due to lack of resources.

We therefore want to ask each one of you a few questions:-

1. Are you committed to the growth of TFI ?
2. Can we look forward to some resource inputs from the members in the following form ?
   
   • Technical Inputs
   • Design
   • and finally .. Financial Contributions / Money

We have a lot of good things planned for the forum. But honestly speaking- the mods and admins can do only so much. We need your support in any possible form. We will grow only if YOU want the forum to grow.

Please let us know your thoughts and if you are ready to contribute to the growth of TFI.

Thanks,

The TFI Admin & Mod Team

1. Request accept my appreciation (and thanks) of all the mods for committing their personal resources into this.
2. Can we look forward to some resource inputs from the members in the following form ?

• Technical Inputs
  
• Design
• and finally .. Financial Contributions / Money

Regarding money, how much will be welcomed by you all?
Is there a minimum amount you have in mind - that will be considered a worthwhile contribution?

I reckon it's high time we started supporting TFI financially. Let there be no limits on the donations , maximum or minimum.

Whatever amount one wishes to put in for TFI's cause, based on his/her comfort should be put up to sustain and evolve TFI in a more participative way. Contributions, small or big, when done collectively will go a long way.

The Mods/Admins can either start up a Paypal account or just list one of their bank account numbers where members can send in their donations or any such measure.

Cheers.

certainly,am in for this.

thanks mods n admins for taking out there precious time efforts and resources just for all of us.

Originally Posted by gurjinder

The Mods/Admins can either start up a Paypal account or just list one of their bank account numbers where members can send in their donations or any such measure.

Cheers.

Agree. Just publish a way to contribute financially and I am sure donations will start flowing.
Also, I am sure you would have thought about this but just curious. What about hosting google ads?

First of all Hats Off !! to the admins and mods

Count me in for this effort , any help including monetory / techinical inputs

Ajit

-Technical Inputs: Check. IT guy = Technically ok
-Design: Check. Have always liked designing GUI
-Financial Contributions / Money: Check.

Mods/Admin, i would really like to get involved in discussions/meetings regarding the future development for the forum.

Take my hands too TFI.

Technical / Design / Money , I can help TFI as much as I can.

I would First of all Thank the Mods and the Admins and not to forget to thank the Founder of TFI...great forum for the Fiatain to come together and
I is indeed a great Forum for the Fiatains to come together and have group descussions and the meets,
We can see that the registration is growing spontaneously,

My suggestion. if we could start up with the Registration fees and be the Registered members of TFI, should also be given the sticker saying Registered Member of TFI.
What say

Can also approach the Fiat-India for their courtesy involvement.

Fully agree with you amogh. Do put up the modalities. This is a forum of Fiat enthusiasts and we can certainly show other "big" forums how things are done objectively.