Basic Review - FPS24/7 - First Person Shooter fan forum

[OUTL4W]

Site URL: http://fps247.com
Date Opened: 2007(cod247.com) then switched in 2015(fps247.com)
Review Type: basic review
Extra Notes:
first impressions and design quality are the areas I would like covered. You may want to read the forum guide to understand some design options.

At later date though will want an advanced review along with the responsive review as well. Still tightening up the forums a bit but would like fresh eyes for current review.
thanks...

 

[Deleted member 17779]

Your Review is In Progress!​

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Thank you for requesting feedback. I have tagged your thread, and will finish an official basic review within at most 48 hours. In the meantime, you will receive informal feedback from other reviewers and members at Forum Promotion. Once your official basic review is completed, you will be free to ask questions and receive feedback so long as your website remains open. You will also be able to request a re-review 7 days after this Basic Review is completed.

 

[Deleted member 17779]

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Basic Review of FPS24/7
http://fps247.com
Review by Grimalkin​

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First Impressions:
When I first went to your site, it took me to the portal rather than accessing your forum directly. While there is nothing wrong with being taken to the portal first, it looks very busy in a sense that it's almost overwhelming. I don't mind the "Trending Topics" or the "Trending Content" that you have but you could eliminate that since you are showing that when people view your forum. Personally, I don't see a reason to have that in both places but that's just me. I would either leave it in the forum area or leave it in your portal area, however, I wouldn't have it in both places. My personal preference is I would have it along with the forum, plus, I would move those things to the very top so that it's front and center when people look at your forum for the first time. You want people to see how active your forum is.

Average

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Design Quality:
The design of the forum is pretty good for a forum that revolves around first person shooter games. The "theme" you are using does help give off the same vibe as your forum niche` and I'm a big advocate of that. I think the "theme" or the graphics on your forum should match the niche`. Also, I do like the fact that you can change things around when it comes to the "theme". The only thing I would do differently, is make that a little more prominent. I almost didn't find it when I went over your forum. It's good that it's at the top but the icon is a little small. You could make it a little bit bigger, without it being an eye sore.

Good

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Thing you liked best about forum: The "theme" matched the niche` on the forum.
Thing you liked least about forum: You need to arrange some of the things in your portal to make it not quite so overwhelming.

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Overall Mark:

You do have a good forum but there is still room for improvement. I would like to see your forum continue to grow and do well from here on out but that all depends on the work that you put into it. I wish you the best of luck in the future!​

 

[OUTL4W]

thanks...tips taken and implemented...deduct fp$

you did also read the forum guide that is stickied to the portal page (1st article) correct? for other design options as changing from dark to light theme, closing sidebar if too overwhelming and such?

 

[Deleted member 17779]

thanks...tips taken and implemented...deduct fp$

you did also read the forum guide that is stickied to the portal page (1st article) correct? for other design options as changing from dark to light theme, closing sidebar if too overwhelming and such?

I did read your forum guide, yes. However, there were some thing in your forum guide that were "empty" and did not provide any information on certain things (the theme being one of them).

 

[OUTL4W]

thanks...tips taken and implemented...deduct fp$

you did also read the forum guide that is stickied to the portal page (1st article) correct? for other design options as changing from dark to light theme, closing sidebar if too overwhelming and such?

I did read your forum guide, yes. However, there were some thing in your forum guide that were "empty" and did not provide any information on certain things (the theme being one of them).

Awwww.....I see now....said the blind man. Those images are only visible when logged in...that's why they're blank....I rectify that for next review (in 7 days of course)

My bad

 

[Gio]

Cash has been Deducted!​

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Thank you for using the Forum Promotion review service. We have deducted 100 FP$ from your account in exchange for conducting a Basic Review. You can request another review in 7 days.

Request a package today!​

 

[Deleted member 17779]

thanks...tips taken and implemented...deduct fp$

you did also read the forum guide that is stickied to the portal page (1st article) correct? for other design options as changing from dark to light theme, closing sidebar if too overwhelming and such?

I did read your forum guide, yes. However, there were some thing in your forum guide that were "empty" and did not provide any information on certain things (the theme being one of them).

Awwww.....I see now....said the blind man. Those images are only visible when logged in...that's why they're blank....I rectify that for next review (in 7 days of course)

My bad

I see.

I was doing the review from the perspective of a "guest" who is viewing the forum for the first time, not as a person who is already a member of the forum.

Thank you!

 

[Carlos X]

I've been a member of the site before. My opinion:

Remove:
- That header image, the one sitting behind the logo - the one with the person playing a game. It's not necessary. I don't even know why you even bothered to put it there. The logo was fine as it was. Just slap a nice looking BG from maybe the theme that's going on right now (Modern Warfare Remastered, C'mon. You know this.)
- Tech247 - useless. Unless you have a blog that takes techies over to FPS247. That page does NOTHING.
- I would say Arcade is useless, too. You think it's a marketing strategy to attract "casuals" by providing arcade, with a risk I told you a long time ago about... Besides, Arcade should be for your members, not a marketing strategy, otherwise you'll get many, many zero posters - which is what you don't want.
- Login/Signup box on sidebar - wtf? I never use this on any website that allowed it. I've gotten used to xenForo, and you should WANT people to see why you spent $140. You should want to get people to click that signup/login button. When I discovered xenForo, I clicked it and was like.. "holy. fucking. shit." (Impressed by their use of HTML5.)
- Twitter vs Facebook. Choose one. Remove one. Which one do you want to display YOUR stories? I gave you this hint before, you/scoose ignored it.
- Trending Topics vs Recent Topics. I echo the reviewer's ideas. Choose one, which one do you want to be the focus.
- Column design - I mean the "side by side" thing going on there. Not a fan of it. Except it looks good on games, though.

Sidebar doesn't look good on the left, it looks better on the right. IMHO.

Otherwise you done kind to the site, I'm not a fan of some of the design choices, but overall, it looks good. You already know my feedback from the first time I came onto the site.

One last thing: Go easy on the amount of hacks on your site. Seriously.

 

[OUTL4W]

I see.

I was doing the review from the perspective of a "guest" who is viewing the forum for the first time, not as a person who is already a member of the forum.

Thank you!

...I updated the forum guide so guests can now see the spoiler images.

- That header image, the one sitting behind the logo - the one with the person playing a game. It's not necessary. I don't even know why you even bothered to put it there. The logo was fine as it was. Just slap a nice looking BG from maybe the theme that's going on right now (Modern Warfare Remastered, C'mon. You know this.)

it helps to convey the message about which platforms are covered and changes every time you visit the site or page reload. We are a FPS fan site so I thought I would throw in some noteworthy games into the corners of the banner.

- Tech247 - useless. Unless you have a blog that takes techies over to FPS247. That page does NOTHING.

a lil variety doesn't hurt

- I would say Arcade is useless, too. You think it's a marketing strategy to attract "casuals" by providing arcade, with a risk I told you a long time ago about... Besides, Arcade should be for your members, not a marketing strategy, otherwise you'll get many, many zero posters - which is what you don't want.

the Arcade is ONLY for members with more than 50+ posts, anyone with below 50posts can only view the arcade...if guests click on it they are required to login. If you beat a member's high score ...there is a PC sent to the person you beat...poking fun at them that you beat their high score. Again gives members variety. And is disabled on mobile. The tab doesn't show.

- Login/Signup box on sidebar - wtf? I never use this on any website that allowed it. I've gotten used to xenForo, and you should WANT people to see why you spent $140. You should want to get people to click that signup/login button. When I discovered xenForo, I clicked it and was like.. "holy. fucking. shit." (Impressed by their use of HTML5.)

not everyone uses xenforo as you should know if you browsed the Community Reviews or the Promotional Directory.
Xenforo has a Login / Signup combo...even when clicking this button

will bring up

just find it a lil awkward
- password ? I don't have an account.
- Forgot my password ? I haven't signed up.
Just needless confusion.
and to add not everyone knows to look for that lil handle at top right...(the people who only join xenforo sites are familiar with this menu)

signing up to any forum deserves it's own button regardless of the software behind it.
by providing a distinguished "register" eliminate's all confusion.

- Twitter vs Facebook. Choose one. Remove one. Which one do you want to display YOUR stories? I gave you this hint before, you/scoose ignored it.

sooo...showing the current activity from our social media pages and being able to follow/like/subscribe directly from that page isn't a good thing?...without leaving the page. The social media widgets are de-activated on mobile.

- Trending Topics vs Recent Topics. I echo the reviewer's ideas. Choose one, which one do you want to be the focus.

Trending Topics - shows threads with numerous replies within last 30days
Recent Posts - shows exactly that...recent posts that may haven't had any replies yet.
Recent posts widget wasn't active when the site was under review.

- Column design - I mean the "side by side" thing going on there. Not a fan of it. Except it looks good on games, though.

it helps to reduce the length of the page to reduce scrolling, and besides the forums list would be almost twice as long.

Sidebar doesn't look good on the left, it looks better on the right. IMHO.

and look like every other "cookie cutter" xenforo site 😉...besides if you don't like it then simply hide it in the same way you can hide it here on FP, by clicking the "arrow" within the breadcrumbs.

One last thing: Go easy on the amount of hacks on your site. Seriously.

As admin you should realize it's your job to provide all the tools for your members to utilize the site to its full potential. If that means multiple plugins then so be it. For a gaming site you need more than just a "forums" and "members" tab. Instead of buying forums you should concentrate on implementing plugins for atleast one of your sites so members can showcase their gaming achievements.

only around 45plugins are enabled and still when using https://tools.keycdn.com/speed

portal page: https://tools.keycdn.com/speed?h=57f86223178b2558558b4567
225 requests - 9MB - 4.3 s

forums page:https://tools.keycdn.com/speed?h=57f86276178b252b5a8b4569
104 requests - 2 MB - 2s

of course it does matter how far from the server you are...but we are using a CDN.

 

[Carlos X]

it helps to convey the message about which platforms are covered and changes every time you visit the site or page reload. We are a FPS fan site so I thought I would throw in some noteworthy games into the corners of the banner.

It's not neccessary. It looks ugly. It looks like a newbie created the skin, which you are not.

a lil variety doesn't hurt

You're right, it doesn't.

the Arcade is ONLY for members with more than 50+ posts, anyone with below 50posts can only view the arcade...if guests click on it they are required to login. If you beat a member's high score ...there is a PC sent to the person you beat...poking fun at them that you beat their high score. Again gives members variety. And is disabled on mobile. The tab doesn't show.

I like that. 🙂

and to add not everyone knows to look for that lil handle at top right...(the people who only join xenforo sites are familiar with this menu)

Not really. Many vB3/vB4 sites transfer to xenForo with no confusion, no bullshit... Just plain ol' excitement because xenForo brings something really fresh when a new user comes on. When I showed xenforo for the first time to new users on a vB4 board at the time, the person went like "well worth the money."

sooo...showing the current activity from our social media pages and being able to follow/like/subscribe directly from that page isn't a good thing?...without leaving the page. The social media widgets are de-activated on mobile.

I never said that. I said condense to at least ONE per page. You can add social buttons, which you did in the footer, but you also need to put it in the mainpage (at the top). You removed the stock xenForo like button(s). I told you to keep it, and leave it alone. I would also tell you to add the social buttons for your site, like I did at CODForums. When I say social buttons, I meant the ones that allow you to like the twitter/Google+ account associated with the site. I do this to every single site that I ever launch with xenForo installed. Except for destroyrepeat because of the beautiful buttons on the top right.

Trending Topics - shows threads with numerous replies within last 30days
Recent Posts - shows exactly that...recent posts that may haven't had any replies yet.
Recent posts widget wasn't active when the site was under review.

Well, focus on one thing. I would remove "trending topics" and keep the recent posts.

it helps to reduce the length of the page to reduce scrolling, and besides the forums list would be almost twice as long.

I understand that. Some people like sites with many forums, and some people don't.

and look like every other "cookie cutter" xenforo site 😉...besides if you don't like it then simply hide it in the same way you can hide it here on FP, by clicking the "arrow" within the breadcrumbs.

Call it cookie cutter, your eyes are trained to look on the right side for that kind of information.

As admin you should realize it's your job to provide all the tools for your members to utilize the site to its full potential. If that means multiple plugins then so be it. For a gaming site you need more than just a "forums" and "members" tab. Instead of buying forums you should concentrate on implementing plugins for atleast one of your sites so members can showcase their gaming achievements.

Yeah, but that has consequences. For example, if your site had too many plugins, like DestroyRepeat used to have, you have at least one or two backdoor openings. The biggest example being brivium's plugins - if your site has at least one plugin from them, you're screwed. Brivium already hacked your site without your knowing.

With this in mind, I installed a fresh new board, imported both big board websites... to make a fresh new board. Without the garbage. So, now I know which plugins I installed, and what to do next.

only around 45plugins are enabled and still when using https://tools.keycdn.com/speed

portal page: https://tools.keycdn.com/speed?h=57f86223178b2558558b4567
225 requests - 9MB - 4.3 s

forums page:https://tools.keycdn.com/speed?h=57f86276178b252b5a8b4569
104 requests - 2 MB - 2s

of course it does matter how far from the server you are...but we are using a CDN.

F.Y.I. CDN is bad. When I moved DestroyRepeat to my server, the pages were stuck on CDN pages, so nothing is loaded directly from your server. There are reports that CDN is scraping your site. There's just too many reasons why CDN is bad, but as long as you think it's good for your site and it eases pageloads, good for you. Just keep in mind, there are drawbacks to CDN. It's kind of like tapatalk, but for pages (or pageloads for that matter).