Cmt Sports Forum
Full Review by Red Herring
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (7 out of 20)
What have we here for me to review today, hm? A sports forum, you say? Namely, "Cmt Sports Forum". Excellent! I know absolutely nothing about sports whatsoever! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! No, really! The only Football term I'm truly familiar with is a "touchdown." At least, I believe I'm familiar with it. It's what you do when you throw the ball down and perform this strange awkward mating ritual, right? And if the male succeeds, his team carries him off to create superhuman children? ...Poor jokes aside, my knowledge when it comes to Football, or indeed, sports in general, is very lacking.
However, while my knowledge in Sports may be pitifully low, I do trust in my experiences with administration and websites themselves. I've been in that "game" for over eight years. So while my understanding of the actual subject might be minimal, I am confident that I can still gauge the quality of what this website attempts to offer it, and provide the "Cmt Sports Forum" with the review and critique it deserves.
Now, that's enough of my rambling nonsense. I'm up to bat and it's time to swing.
So then. Let's start with aesthetics. First though, I shall register. That way, I can achieve the full "Cmt Sports Forum" experience. Strange though. There's no register button to be found. Ah well. I, being the knowledgeable webmaster that I am, know the direct link to registration for a phpBB forum! So let's do that!
Well then! That's certainly coming up in the "Statistics & Activity" section! This is going to make things slightly more challenging for me, but I suppose that's alright. I do enjoy a good challenge. Nevertheless, I'll hold off on my thoughts on that for the moment.
So let's get back on track with aesthetics. I've wasted enough paragraphs on my expositional nonsense. As always, I will begin with the header and work my way down. Now then. Cmt Sports Forum contains a header that greets me with a pleasantly deep blue background with a light and subtle football leather texture, topped off
(or should I say, bottomed off) with a subtle dark gradient. It's not the most brilliant header around, but I find myself generally pleased...with some extra points being scored thanks to the texture. My disappointment comes in the form of the logo itself, which is certainly by no means bad...but one I find myself generally bored and unimpressed by. It consists of bold silver font reading "Cmt Sports Forum" with "Your Sports Community" subtext and accompanied by several sports balls lined up next to one another for its icons. Again, it's not a logo that I would say is inherently bad, but I do feel it's quite boring. It lacks much in the way of style and feels quite rough. The font doesn't seem to really suit this forum and the icons are quite uninspiring. The slight bit of innovation found in the header goes completely to waste when this logo is the only thing within it. Unfortunate.
Now, this would be the point I'd mention navigation elements and their style, but there are none to be found. None. Whatsoever. I'll touch on this more in "Site Layout", but for now, let's continue to the index.
The index consists of pretty standard phpBB forum design. It actually appears it's though it's the exact same design used in the phpBB default template, only with different colors...and it probably is. Category headers are your standard phpBB curved design with a blue background that encircle the entire forum category. Forum design consists of basketball forum icons with a standard table separator line in between forums and a white background. While I don't have anything overly negative to say about such an index design, it feels quite lacking in terms of innovation as well as being rather dated. Much like with the header, I find myself generally bored and disappointed in the lack of innovation here.
This would be the point where I would critique the footer, but there is no footer, which isn't really much of a negative aspect...so let's go ahead and wrap this section up. Technically speaking, the design here really isn't that bad, it's just incredibly boring. There's no style. It's as though it made an attempt to be unique but didn't put a whole lot of effort into doing so. The color blend consists of blue, white and silver, which is not a bad combination by any means and it blends together well. However, the general design just feels so barren that it simply doesn't work very well.
It's not bad, but it is very disappointing. I'll leave it on that note and move on to the next section.
Site Layout – (9 out of 20)
This is going to be a rather unusual section for my review, in the fact that it's the first review I've wrote for Forum Promotion where the negativity lies not in forum layout, but rather in the functionality itself. I did mention that I wanted to tackle the lack of navigation elements in the previous section and I intend to make good on my word.
Before we get to anything negative, however, let's take a look at what I find to be generally positive: namely, the forum index. The index consists of three categories: 1.) a general hub forum for announcements, feedback and introductions 2.) the main content category, all focused on a variety of different sports 3.) a general off-topic section, an essential staple forum any forum. It's certainly not a very long index, but what it does have, it does right. The main content section covers all major sports as well as containing a miscellaneous section for lesser known/discussed sports, while the off topic section has a forum for general chat and an entertainment section for media. The off-topic section may be a bit minimal, but it covers the two most discussed subjects when it comes to general chat, so all is gravy. All categories have a pretty varied number of forums, but the index is so short that it doesn't feel unbalanced in any way. Minimal, but I generally approve of things here.
But now we move on to what I disapprove of...that being navigation. Now, I cannot ascertain for certain as to whether or not the navigation elements are available for a registered user, as I cannot register myself. I'm simply going by what I see here. Even if they are available as a registered user, I still have some complaints. For instance, why is there a lack of sub-forum listing on the index? It really strikes a sour chord with me when forums fail to list all sub-forums on their index and especially when they do not list them at all. A sub-forum list may not always be the most beautiful element to look at
(although they can be), but their helpful functionality is simply too good to sacrifice, even at a little cost to the aesthetics.
Secondly, there is another aspect that might be present as a registered user, but it's one that shouldn't be absent for guests. Breadcrumb navigation. It's not a major complaint, but one I felt I should still bring up. When I was exploring Cmt Sports Forum for my review, the lack of breadcrumb navigation is something that came to my notice; there is no breadcrumb navigation while you're in a forum's thread list. Again, this really isn't a big deal...normally, when I'm done looking inside a forum, I simply click the banner to return to the index, but I do still frequently make use of breadcrumbs. To return to a home forum from a sub-forum for instance. It's simply a nice convenience. What's strange is that breadcrumb navigation
is available when you're in a thread, just not within the forum itself. How peculiar.
Lastly, I would like to mention the complete lack of navigation elements in the header. Again, I cannot be certain as to whether or not they're available for registered users
(I would certainly hope so), I find it perplexing as to why at least some are unavailable to guests as well. At least a "home" or "forum" button would be nice. Those that aren't as experienced with the use of forums will likely find themselves confused without such conveniences. And if navigation elements are not available even to registered users, then there's quite a serious issue there.
That about wraps this section up. In the "Cmt Sports Forum", there is nothing wrong with the forum layout itself, but the functionality is dubious at best and abysmal at worst. It's unfortunate that the score must be marred because of it. Ah well. Moving on.
Statistics and Activity – (6 out of 20)
Ah, yes. Statistics. Statistics and activity. Always a nice breather section to write on. Sports is a very popular genre, but one that isn't generally covered as much in the internet community. I could not say for certain how easy it would be to build a community around. Now, I find myself rather curious. How long has registration for Cmt Sports Forum been disabled for? Is it a change that occurred only recently, or have registrations been disabled for quite some time now? Depending on how long registrations have been disabled, I might actually find myself slightly impressed.
Now, let's take a look at the statistics, shall we? Cmt Sports Forum was founded on March 1st, 2013. So it has been open for a total of nine months and two days. Since its debut, it has acquired a grand total of 174 members, 908 threads, and 6687 total posts. Generally speaking, these are pretty standard statistics for a forum that manages to stay alive long enough to garner a stable community, although perhaps being a bit lower than average. However, at least 3656 of those posts belong to staff members, with 2240 of those posts belonging to two administrators. The dedication is certainly admirable, but the overall community statistics are not.
Furthermore, the activity itself seems to be all but dead by now. It appears as though there might have been 10 or 15 posts within the past ten days. This is the first forum I've reviewed where I can say with certainty that it is officially on life support and terminally ill. If something is not done to breathe some life back into it, it will definitely be completely dead within the near future.
Naturally, disabling registration is quite detrimental to alleviating such a woe. With that in mind, I must ask, has the owner himself already given up on this forum? Is it merely a temporary measure? Being a newcomer, I certainly could not say for myself. But Cmt Sports Forum will not survive in its current state and is in desperate need of some tender loving care.
Content – (8 out of 20)
Well, it was inevitable. We come to the one section that I found myself dreading. Content. Why would I be dreading such a section, one might ask? Well, as I've mentioned in my little introduction way up above, I know next-to-nothing about sports. It's fortunate that reviews are primarily about the website in general rather than the content it offers, or I'd pretty much be useless here! Nonetheless, while I may not be able to offer much in the way of suggestion regarding the subject matter, I should still be able to gauge the quality of the content offered and offer my critique.
So let's jump right
into that! I explored most of what Cmt Sports Forum had to offer me. Well, what it had to offer me as a guest, anyway. My general impressions on content fall as this: If you want simple discussion on a wide variety of sports, well then I suppose Cmt Sports has got you covered. There are discussion categories available for each and every major sport there is, at least, ones that America find to be popular. If you're an enthusiast on multiple sports and wish to discuss them, you should be fairly satisfied with what Cmt Sports Forum has to offer.
If you want anything more than that, however, you're going to generally be somewhat disappointed. While I feel that Cmt Sports Forum has great coverage in the form of discussion, I feel it's somewhat lacking in the content it offers its users. It actually does have shades of this, as there are some community events about. There are even some news posts and general information, but it seems as though it could still do much better.
For instance, it would be quite nice if there were a forum managed by staff members that posted the results from different games; such as scores, the victorious team, notable game highlights...things like that would be quite an excellent addition. Another staff-managed forum with general news regarding the sports world would also make for a pleasant addition. I cannot be entirely certain how much this would burden the staff, but all the same, these are things I would like to see if I were a sports enthusiast. Having a sports community where I can discuss general sports with my peers, as well as keep up with games and notable events would be delightful.
Again, I am pleased by the effort made to include events and some outlets of news tidbits. I just feel that things could still do much better.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (15 out of 20)
Much like with the "Site Layout" section, this is going to be the very first forum I've reviewed that breaks a trend. However, the way that Cmt Sports Forum broke the trend with "Site Layout" was fairly negative, with navigational functionality being the negative that drove down my score of it. On the flip side, my impressions with Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism are almost purely positive; a change of pace that I find to be most refreshing.
What do I find so positive in regards to this section? Well, this is indeed the very first forum I've reviewed thus far with forum descriptions that strive to do just a little bit more than simply describe the minimal functions of each forum. Let's take a look at one as an example.
Baseball:
"Have you ever pitched a perfect game? Most likely, you have not, but still, enjoy discussing the sport everyone craves. This is America's past time at its finest."
See that? That's how you write a proper forum description, people. Enough of that "This is where you discuss X" nonsense. Most of your users should more or less pick that up from the forum's title. Now, it's not a particularly witty description, but it doesn't need to be. The description
compliments the forum's title rather than stating the obvious. That's all I ever want from a forum description, but few ever seem to get it right these days. I cannot say just how ecstatic I am to see a forum that finally breaks the habit.
In regards to staff professionalism, I find myself generally quite pleased with the state of affairs. While I feel that Cmt Sports Forum may be a bit overstaffed, all staff members present seem to be generally quite professional and respect the English language. Furthermore, the dedication of some of the staff members is quite excellent. As I've mentioned in "Satistics & Activity", at least half of Cmt Sports Forum's posts belong to its staff. While this may not be desirable for the overall statistics factor, it's a very admirable trait on the staff's end.
I am very pleased with this section. This may very well be the first time I've ever given any section a 15/20, so congratulations Cmt Sports Forum. Thank you for doing something that's so simple, but always manages to be so neglected.
Let's conclude this review, shall we?
Total Score - (45 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
My final score may look a little intimidating and negative, but in reality, Cmt Sports Forum really isn't bad. The real issue lies in the fact that it simply doesn't excel in any category and flaws can be found in just about everything. Furthermore, I find myself disappointed in how this forum seems to have mostly given up on itself by now. Registration is disabled and it seems to almost be taking its last few breaths before fading into a peaceful but unfortunate death. Saddening. I may not be a sports enthusiast myself, but there are some really good elements to be found here: a good sense of staff dedication, forum descriptions that actually make an effort, minimal but still excellent forum layout. There are elements that are all truly brilliant, but they're minor ones marred by several flaws with the major and primary elements.
I still feel that there's potential here, but it's potential that sadly seems to be going to waste. I really hope to see a genuine effort to restore this forum in the future, but alas, the course it's heading will only make it fade into obscurity. Nonetheless, best regards Cmt Sports Forum. Whatever path you walk, whatever road you travel, I wish you the very best of luck.
Strengths:
- - Minimal, But Thorough Forum Index
- Pleasant Forum Descriptions
Weaknesses:
- - Closed Registration
- Dull and Boring Design
- Lack of Navigational Elements
- Could Offer Better Content
- Does Not Excel In Anything
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