Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
I like your theme, but I do have a couple issues with it. Firstly, is there a way for you to move your shoutbox to the bottom of the forum? I feel that the shoutbox should not appear before the forum itself. I'm going out on a limb here, but you might actually get more activity if the shoutbox is on the bottom. People might dive for the shoutbox immediately if it's at the top. If it's at the bottom, though, people might find posts they like before they see the shoutbox. Also, I'm not a fan of the new/old post images. They just don't look very good to me. You should get some new icons for your forum. Other than that, though, the theme is pretty good.
Your forum looks relatively inactive at a glance. You have few posts and members, and most of your forums are pretty close to empty. You should do some post exchanges to make your forum look more active. Your forum isn't as inactive as it looks, but members judge forums by what they see. Prospective members can't really calculate how many posts you get per day; they'll go by what they see on your statistics page.
I wasn't overly excited by your forum at a glance, but it didn't look terrible, either.
(Score: 12/20)
Site Layout
Your layout is concise, but I think it could be organized a bit better. I think that your top forum should be changed to a category for the "official" forums (e.g. news, suggestions, and introductions). All other forums should be moved to another category entitled something related to discussion; that includes your "World News" forum. It looks odd in a category by itself. Also, you could reorganize your forum layout in addition to your category layout. Some of your forums seem a bit specific for a general discussion forum. With a general discussion forum, you want to keep the main forums on the index pretty broad (you can get a bit more focused in sub-forums). "Gadget and Web Talk" and "Programming" could be combined to form a technology forum. You may also consider changing "World News" into a debate forum and putting it under "General Discussion." Even if you're not going to put it under the general discussion forum, I would recommend changing it to a debate forum.
(Scored 16/20)
Statistics and Activity
According to my calculations, you currently receive less than twenty posts per day, and you have about fifteen posts for each of your twenty-two members. Considering your forum is still new, these statistics aren't discouraging, but they could still use improvement. You should start by doing some post exchanges to boost your statistics. This will make people who view your forum more likely to join. After doing that, you should focus on advertising. Register on some general discussion forums and post around with your forum in your signature. Some of the members of the other forums may be inclined to join. Focus also on creating more content on your forum. If you have more content, users will post more because there will be more for them to discuss.
(Scored 9/20)
Staff Moderation
Although most of your staff members have been posting quite actively, one of your staff members has zero posts, and he joined the day that the forum opened. You should encourage all your staff members (even the ones who are active) to step up their posting. This way, your forum will have more content. Also, you shouldn't hire any more staff members. At your activity level, one administrator and three global moderators should be more than enough. Also, not all of your staff members are welcoming new members. In the beginning, it's
vital that new members feel welcome. Make sure that all of your staff members welcome new members. In fewer words, encourage your staff members to post more and welcome members.
(Scored 13/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
Your descriptions are pretty good. They're short and sweet. They provide succinct but detailed instructions for using each forum. However, there are some minor grammatical errors. You are missing a capital letter in the "Gadget and Web Talk" forum at the beginning of the third sentence. Also, the second dot should be removed from the end of the "Gaming Lounge" forum. The description of "Sports" should be rewritten. It's a bit bland. Also, "General Chat" doesn't need the ellipsis (...) at the end of its description. Ellipses are used when words are omitted in a quote. Also, you need a full stop at the end of the "Programming Discussion" description. The "Student Area" description should be revised to say, "If you're a struggling student, an angry student, or just a student in general, then come in here" or something of that nature. Other than that, your descriptions are good!
(Scored 18/20)
Total Score - 68/100
Final Remarks
Don't let the slightly low score discourage you. The things for which I deducted points are mostly small things that can be easily fixed. Your forum seems to be on the right track. You just need to start thinking about advertising.
Strong Points
Your forum has good descriptions.
Things to Improve
You really need to improve your activity.
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