Your NF500 wish list

[Paul]

Please tell us what you would like from NF500.

This site is only a baby, and so far we've been focusing on reporting all the new Fiat 500 related news we can get our hands on, and of course we now offer the forum, thanks to requests made via our contact form.

But really we'd love to know what you'd like to see here, what we're doing right, and what we're doing wrong. We don't promise to put all your ideas into action, but we do aim to please!


So this is your chance to make NF500 a little more "your own", by suggesting what you'd like to see here.

Thank you!

[Jazzy Jase]

I would like to see one website dedicated to enthusiasts of the new 500. At the moment there are a fair few around, but none of them are very busy and it seems that the same few people are members of most of them.

I'd really like to see one of those website's echo the success of MINI2, but I realise that's going to be no easy task and the most important thing will be getting the members. I guess only time will tell if the 500 will become popular enough. After all, it's just a single car from a large manufacturer. MINI was a whole new brand!

I would be happy if NF500 became THE website for the Fiat 500. I have my own website: www.nuova500.co.uk and I really wanted that to take off, but I've realised it's not an easy task for one person to keep up-to date with all the latest news and NF500 always has more recent information on it.

So, what I would like to see from NF500 in the short term are a more powerful forum, an FAQ section and technical data. It's also going to be really important to get Fiat UK's involvement (and one large community is more likely to get that over several small websites).

I'm also offering my services to you as I'm willing to help out in any way possible.

[Paul]

The forum I personally wanted to keep quite basic in terms of "extras" and let the conversation take the lead, see how it flows. You can do most things with this software, it's very expandable, but it's true it's not the classic/typical forum layout.

It would truly be incredible if NF500 became anything like MINI2, as that grew so fast so quickly with the new MINI itself (again the site started several months before the launch of the car).

One thing that helped there was MINIs attitude was incredibly positive and encouraging. Fiat UK have been good, but nowhere near shown the level of enthusiasm as BMW/MINI did in the early days of the MINI. Hopefully they will warm to the idea as UK launch grows closer and they see we have every intention of sticking around and doing the best we can to cover Fiat 500 news and events. The idea for NF500 was simple really, very much like MINI2 (which also started off with a very basic forum software and two forum categories), which is to try and provide an easy to use central point for independent news and views. A place for owners and could be/would be owners to gather and share information.

We'll see.

[KevinB]

You have spoken to the Public Relations man at Fiat (Peter Newton), but have the PRESS relations people been helpful/useful/encouraging at all?

My wish list for NF500 is for you to continue to do what you are doing at the moment:
Giving us 500-related news before I can find it by doing a Google(News) Search. (As you may have noticed I also like to hear about the Ford version of the 500 - to become the new Ford Ka.)

The UK magazines should be full of 500 stuff as we approach launch date and that will bring a few more punters along to the site.

Crikey, I have just looked at MINI2 for the first time.
Wow: it's massive! Aren't you clever.
Don't forget to come back from Frankfurt with news of the baby Fiat and baby Ford.

[pumadog]

Paul, I think you're doing a great job with this site. One can see that you're experienced with stuff like this. Problem with the forum users is: Allmost all things '500' until now have happened in Italy and France, where people tend to keep conversations in their own language, don't browse and participate in the english-speaking web. So it will take some time until the international userbase takes off. IAA and the german launch in oct could be a good start for that...

[Paul]

Now it's been settling in a while I'd welcome any further feedback, or if views have changed from above as well. I can sense an update in the not too distant future!

Thanks again.

[KevinB]

I say keep on doing what you are doing and wait for interest to increase as the 500 gets launched in more countries.

I've had a go at the Fiat's UK Customer Services / marketing/ public relations people by email, phone and snail-mail in my quest to find information about the UK 500 launch (what we get, when, how much £££ etc)
BUT I GOT NOWHERE.

***My only suggestion is that now the NF500 site has been going a while
***can you have a go at getting recognition from the Fiat PRESS relations department
***ready for the UK launch? ***

If not we need a FIAT insider (in the Poland factory,or the Italian HQ, or UK offices to feed us info (anonymously if necessary) in exchange for money or sexual favours or Basil Brush jokes or tins of baked beans or whatever they can't get

[Paul]

I've been speaking to the press people since very early days, and with the experience of MINI2 and a press card/union membership I hope they'll be kind to us as BMW were with MINI2 back in the early days! Either way we'll keep sticking at it!

[KPKalle]

The ability to upload custom avatars

[Scrogg]

Originally Posted by KPKalle

The ability to upload custom avatars

Seconded My Gnome follows me everywhere!