Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
On first impressions, your page reminds me of Anime, perfect for your type of forum. However, on close inspection, I can see many things that I do not like. For starters, the dull red text against the light and dark red stripes is not very pleasing on the eyes. I feel like I am straining them on some parts of the forum, just to read the text. Maybe taking out the dullness by either lightening the text up or darkening it, I am not really sure which would work better, but maybe you could try darker and lighter text to see which is better. Your logo, well, to put it plainly, does not match your theme. The light blue against the dark red does not look right at all. Just under that, the Ad's. They may help you support your hosting financially, but at least try make them blend in to the forum. Right now the Ad's stand out more than anything, a white box against a dark background. Also, your background image is on repeat. With some simple CSS edits, you could make the background image scroll with the user, making it more pleasant. When I look at some of the forum names/links, some are a light red and some are a darker red. I think this is because I have visited them, maybe changing it so the visited ones are the same would make it better.
One thing I always do not like when I look at a forum is a shoutbox. Looking at yours, you probably have 30 odd at the moment, that is 30 posts down the drain. Many Admins think they will bring activity to your forum, when really all they do is steal it from your forum. Also looking down the bottom, I saw your affiliates box. I like how you have the scrolling affiliates on 1 side, and your picture and code on the other side, it looks very neat.
(13 /20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
Looking at your layout in general, I would say it is a bit muddled up. For starters you have the usual site section. But however, you have a forum labelled "HELP!!!!". I think you should merge that with Suggestions, and maybe call it "Help and Suggestions", just to make it easier. Next up, it is good to see you have your 2 core subjects up the top. Now, after this, is Web Development. I think this should be merged with hosting, as I would class hosting as Web Development, seeing as you develop softwares, communities, websites, content etc. on it. Now, in this category you have "Tips and Tricks" and "Tutorials". I think merging them together would be much more beneficial, and then just labeling them "Tips, Tricks and Tutorials". Here is a bad part. You have your hosting requests and support as the 5th category. I think this should be the 2nd category, as you want to show people you offer hosting as soon as they load the page. Now, after this is the Market Place. Looking at this, you have a jobs section in there? Really, it is not necessary, maybe if you renamed Market Place to Admin's Corner or something like that, it would suit that category much better. Now in the next category, I think if you moved Monetization Strategies to Web Development, and then merging the last 2 categories together. I still think that if you removed the unnecessary forums, which are completely up to you as to which ones are unnecessary, it would make the page shorter and more user friendly.
(8 /20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Lets break down your stats:
Days since opening: roughly 125
Posts per day: about 28
Members per day: about .8
Posts per member: about 36
Now, I am a bit 50/50 about these stats. 28 posts per day can be good and bad in some situations, depending on what topic your forum is about. Seeing as you target anime, your forum might lack activity. There are so many anime forums out there, you could not count them. Instead of signing up at yours, I could go sign up at one with millions of posts. That is probably the harder thing about integrating your hosting with anime specific discussion. 36 posts per member, I would say this is a rather good stat, as it does reflect that you have more members that will at least hang around than you have members that sign up, dont post, or only post a few times. Now, many people look at their members per day stat and think it is bad. Me personally, I think anything around 1 is good. Yours is at .8, so it is a bit under par, but I have no doubt that you being open for just over 4 months proves that is a good stat.
(18 /20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
OK, lets break down the staff stats:
Admins: 4
Moderators: 2
Total: 6
Staff:Member ratio: roughly 1:15
Staff
😛ost ratio: roughly 1:570
Now for starters, your staff:member ratio is way to high. A good ratio to have would be 1:40 to 1:60, yours is way below the minimum. This could really intimidate the members, at east removing 2 members of staff, preferably both Moderators and making 2 Admins Moderators, would make it much less intimidating. However, if you feel they have all contributed very well to the forum, then maybe remove only 1. Your staff
😛ost ratio, however seems fairly good, though aiming for a bit higher would be better.
(14 /20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
I can spot a few errors you have made:
"
Can't find your way around? Don't understand what is what? Post your doubts here, and they will be resolved"
Should be:
"
Can't find your way around, or don't understand what is wrong? Post any doubts you may have here, and they will be resolved."
"
Have Bright Ideas for DBZ Host? Well, put them down here and we will surely try to implement them"
Should be:
"
Do you have a bright idea for DBZ Host? Well tell us what it is, and we will try to implement it."
"
You have come to heart of this forum. Just be brisk and active otherwise you could get burned amidst the discussions. "
Should be:
"
You have come to the heart of the forum, be brick and active, otherwise you could get burnt amidst the discussion"
It is generally the wording of your sentences, and using the correct tense.
(16 /20)
Total Score - 69 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The statistics
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The dull text, overstaffing, and the layout
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
Change the theme, it is a must.
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