First Impressions:
I love the colour scheme of the forum. The logo is over-sized and should be smaller. The music is a little early 2000's but I like that it doesn't automatically play.
Average
Design Quality:
Again, the colour scheme is awesome. The theme is great. The only thing, as far as design goes, that I have a gripe with would be the header. The logo is over-sized and the girl in it doesn't make sense to me. I don't see the relation between her and the theme of the site. I also find the blinking text to be a turn off and would recommend you make it a still picture instead. I really like the moon images you're using for your forum icons. It's a clever and unique idea. I also like that you're online statistics are centered. I don't run into many forums that have it centered and it makes your forum stand out a little bit more.
Excellent
Site Structure:
I really love the structure of the forum. It's aesthetically pleasing. I like that everything is centered, although the words are a little too dark to read. I would change the description texts it to white, or something close to white. The brighter red should be used instead of the darker red because it's also difficult to read. You should consider changing it to prevent your users from having to strain their eyes. But I do like the actual descriptions of each section. It makes it very easy to navigate through the forums. I also like that you don't have many pages listed and all of the links to your other pages are in the header. Overall, the simplicity of the structure is very nice.
Excellent
Originality:
This forum is definitely unique in its nature. Everything, including the name, is unique. I have been using forums for twenty years and haven't come across a forum quite like Nightly Frights. Horror related forums are few and far between and I love coming across a forum that I haven't seen before. I like your approach to the niche. The forum is very focused on the theme. I think it's great that your usergroups are all related to horror. I also enjoy the fact that the forum sections are named appropriately for the theme of the forum. The images, colours, categories, etc. are all relative to the theme. You should consider renaming your registered users and changing the online statistics as well. For example, instead of:
Our users have posted a total of 1423 messages
We have 34 registered users
The newest registered user is Rick Ace
You should try something along the lines of:
Our zombies have posted a total of 1423 threats
We have 34 confirmed zombies
The newest confirmed zombie is Rick Ace
It would definitely help set your forum even more apart from the competition.
Excellent
Activity Level:
At first glance, the forum looks like there are members there but they're not very active. I don't like seeing that the last post made in a section was made longer than a couple of days ago(at the longest), so seeing that you have a section where the last post was made in July of the previous year is a complete turn off. I would visit each section daily and make at least one post. If you have staff members, have them do the same thing. Make it look like your forum is active, not like there's only the occasional posts from a few members. For the length of time the forum has been alive, the amount of posts are quite low. But a deeper look at the content posted shows that it's a pretty high quality forum and quality goes further than quantity. Sometimes less is more and this is one of those times.
Average
The thing I liked the best: I've always been a fan of this forum so I really enjoyed reviewing it. The number one thing I've always liked about this forum was that it really stays true to its theme.
The thing I liked the least: There's not much that I don't like about this forum. I guess my least favourite thing about the forum is the blinking logo, which honestly is not that big of a deal.
Overall Mark:
You're doing a fantastic job with Nightly Frights, Grimalkin. I really like the overall look and feel of the forum. The content is great. The interaction between everyone is great. I've been a member of Nightly Frights for several months now and I've noticed that the community is very inviting. As a new member, this is very relaxing. I think you're heading in the right direction with your forum. Good luck!
