Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Well, being as I'm an addict gamer. Playing RuneScape, COD, Unreal Tournament, Command & Conquer etc. I should think that this review should be right up both our alleys! Upon entering your forum, my first thought is: “This is definitely a gaming forum!”, fantastic choice of skin for the theme of the board and the colours on it are perfect. The banner, being supplied with the skin I guess, looks very good, however I do have one qualm with it – The 'Computer Gaming' text choice, I think the text should be flat and match the background of the image a bit better, like the word below it for example. 'Heaven' fits in nicely, the above word just looks as though it's just been plastered on.
Scrolling down the forum and it seems you have picked up on the right line for how to structure your board, forums are given good names & solid descriptions that really tell us what we will find in that particular section. The are a few things I will point out in the next part of this review (Site Layout) about the structure of your forum but I will give a small hint here – The last 3 categories on the index have only one forum each, I would either add more forums in two of these or delete 2 categories and move the contained forums elsewhere.
Other than the above, your forum is doing 'a-ok' so far!
(Scored 17/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
Moving onto the layout of your forum, we shall cover the first part of my suggestions bulleted:
- I would recommend moving Entertainment into the 'General Discussion' category.
- Maybe add a forum or two in the 'Advertising' category such as 'Affiliates & Link Exchanges' or something? Or possibly rename it to a more appropriate title to contain another forum called 'Forum Discussion'?
- Add a feedback & support forum? Or something similar to gain user suggestions/criticism.
- Lastly, I would recommend hiding the recycle bin of your forum, add it into your staff area for example? Just keeps things a little neater.
The skin may look very interesting and work well for a gaming themed forum, but I am really struggling to see how the 'on/off' buttons are in with the design and feel of the board? The paw print to show new or old posts seems a little weird, maybe changing these to a console controller or something in tied with gaming? This may not be possible if you are on a free SMF host, however.
Other than that, there isn't much for me to report on I'm afraid, which is great!
(Scored 15/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
35 members and 635 posts isn't that brilliant, you will need to raise activity from members and get more posting done. For being fairly new, the member count is really good, so you are drawing guests in and converting, you just need to sort out the old post count:member ratio. Have you and your staff post a lot more, create more topics, bring up content about news on others sites. Fire up debates on games to get members involved and lastly; take up post exchanges from our Exchange Central section & request our post packages.
This should improve over time but you have a lot to catch up on the members registering, now that you have them in your grasp you need to give them a reason to come back and continue posting.
(Scored 11/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Well, 2 Administrators and 1 Moderator, nice handful of staff you have on the size of forum you own. There is one noticeable problem, as I'm sure you are aware of – your other Administrator 'Hellan' only has 2 posts. This needs to be changed by either getting her activity on the rise to par with yourself or have her removed.
Your Moderator is doing a fantastic job with activity, welcoming new members, and keeping discussions going. With the other Admin taking on a more active role, the posting should improve along with member interaction.
(Scored 15/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
Grammar is good and spelling is very good, this is a great start to your forum and will help a lot with future members, drawing guests in etc. Forum descriptions have no errors, welcoming messages have good spelling and Announcements are all fine. Good job! I also like the humour you have, while keeping a professional style, such as in this announcement:
http://computergamingheaven.co.cc/index ... 276#msg276.
(Scored 20/20)
Total Score – 78 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
I really enjoyed reviewing your forum, I think it has great potential but you are just lacking those last finishing touches to really get things going:
- Rules? Or any announcement along the lines.
- Sort some forums and categories out.
- The staff must be active.
- The post:member ratio needs improvement.
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The theme is gaming, the style fits in nicely, the team is very professional. You seem to have a clear goal of how you wish to shape your community and you have got the good forum creation badge under your belt. Plus, those smilies are definitely the sex!
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
Probably the lack of posting and one Admin having 2 posts, doesn't look that good to a guest, easily improved though.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
Bring the activity up and get the suggestions implemented (if possible or agreed with) and then you'll be on the right path.
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