1ShotGG
Review by Kino
Design Quality
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So I'm focusing more on your forum since that is what you requested in the topic. Your design is very nice. I like the banner you have at the top of your site with the moving background. Very creative, plain, and simple. You get your point across very quickly and I think users appreciate that without being overwhelmed. One thing I did notice was that when I cut my browser in half by moving it to the left of my screen your banner disappeared. Kind of a shame because it's so nice.
Your forum theme is slick and very modern. I love all of the forum icons you have and actually I really like that the avatars of the users who posted last pop up on the right side. I think that's very original and creative. It adds a unique feature to your forum that others might not have.
The last thing I wanted to mention was the bottom where the "Board Information" is stored. I really like this. I think some people may be turned off at how big that section is, but I love it. I think having it so big is great. That is the one section where you can show off your forum statistics. Why not make it big then? I am very impressed with this section.
Overall, again everything is slick and modern. Simplicity is overlooked lately, but you nail it spot on.
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Excellent
Site Statistics
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Let's start with post count, topics, and users. You have a total of 22,208 posts with about 2,436 users. With simple math that comes out to about a little over 9 posts a person. Not a whole lot with 2,400 members. I think this is always important to look at because you can tell where you need to bring your site too. You have a great amount of users but they aren't posting. This is a good time to stop and question some things you are doing. Maybe you need to advertise more or your content isn't stimulating enough "stuff" to talk about.
Looking at the different categories and forums, your biggest section is "The Lounge" with 4,754 posts and second "Introductions & Farewells" with 3,445 posts. Why in the world do you have so many posts in the Intro section? You're a gaming forum and your two huge areas of discussion have nothing to do with gaming. I think it's important to look at that you are missing significant content in the gaming area. Your gaming section has a total of 4,067 posts. That doesn't even surpass your lounge section. Remember, sometimes as the owner of the site you need to step up and constantly be on the lookout for news, trailers, gameplay, etc. to post on your forum to engage your community.
It's very important to build your content upon what your whole forum is based - gaming and streaming. I would recommend regaining your focus in that area because you can only stimulate so much in your lounge area. Not a bad start for being open for over a year.
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Average
Site Structure
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I really like the Sign up and Login area that pops right out. It's important to try and get users to join your site and this is the best way. Advertise it to them as soon as they take a look at your site. I guarantee you a lot of people join by clicking that blue button.
Overall, I mean you structured everything well. I normally critique non-thought out forum descriptions and categories but I think you did a real nice job. Everything looks "filled up" as I like to call it. If the forum looks more filled up it just looks more appealing. I think people really appreciate that. I also like the "Latest posts" section. I think sometimes users want to see what kind of topics are active and by structuring that area like you did, it will help bring people to your site. Nicely done.
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Good
Final Remarks
Overall, I'm quite impressed with your forum. We don't get a lot of nice forums/sites to review often, so when we do I get excited. I really like your forum and it appeals to me personally. Just work on my critique I gave you and it will help you out, I promise. Nice work.
Your Score
