Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20) The theme is modern and not too in your face some may say basic but I like it. I found it appealing and most welcoming.
I do love the little face next to the site name but It's too small for a site banner. It does look like your restricted for space due to your tab menu, I would suggest tweaking the layout a bit so the banner was above the tabs so it could be bigger. I really do like a site that goes that extra mile by adding little things such as a favicon.
I do think the share icons are wasted at the bottom of the page and you should look for a better position for them, I further like the choice to switch themes but maybe off this as a feature for premium members?
(Scored 17/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20) I will be honest with you, I don't like side panels on forums, I find it squashes a forum, the content on them isn't major and most could go on a front page (portal). I found the welcome message a bit too big, do you really need all that content in it. For me a welcome message should be a few sentences.
While I like your theme, it does not tell me how many posts/threads are in each forum, unless I browse over them, so guest will not realise that. I found you site easy to navigate round and the tab menu at the top was very useful and something most sites lack.
The forum has the natural order of forums, I did find your board index rather long, look at making use of the sub-forum feature for less active forums. Your forums descriptions were all to the point, some I felt lack a bit of depth, such as “Site news and updates will be posted here.” may look at jazzing it up a little.
(Scored 16/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20) You opened according to you on the 17/4, so you have been open a total of 20 days and you have a total post count of 4,427, which is very impressive. Your post per day count is 221.35, if you can keep that going you are going to have a very successful forum.
Your site is very active and it shows my the member count and level of post, good work
(Scored 19/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)This is the section that lets you down, for a forum of your size and age, you should be able to manage with 1 admin and 2 moderators maximum, I counted 3 admins and 3 moderators.
Why do you need 3 admins, most forums double you size only need 1, also it wasn't clear to me what the forum groups were as you have admins, mods, assistants and chat mods, so it gave me the impression you have even more staff, what are the assistants role, I gather they are just moderators?
Look at having two staff groups 1 for the admins and 1 for all your moderators, also if you 100% can't find a valid reason for have 3 admins for 64 members, look at letting them go. However all your staff are active member and looked to be doing their job well. To new members you will come across as having to many staff and that will put some users off
(Scored 10/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)All descriptions had no errors and the only mistakes I found were in some staff member posts, we all make mistakes but look at reminding your staff to double check for errors before posting.
The overall professionalism of the site is excellent the only thing that lets you down is the staffing issue.
(Scored 16/20)
Total Score - (78 of 100)
Final Remarks:
I really like your site and you have got off to a great start, take on board my comments about the logo, side panel and staff issues and you will be on the right track
What was most liked about the website/forums:The theme, activity of the forum
What was disliked most about the website/forums:The side panel and over staffing
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?Take on board my comments.
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