Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Well the thing I noticed first was that at the time of this review your forum loaded quite slowly. It took more than 5 seconds to load the forum's home page which is pretty slow. I then checked how long it would take to load another page and it took a little over 6 seconds.
Another thing I noticed was the C4Ds you have on the bars that include a section's name. If you don't know what a C4D is it's those objects you have here:
Anyways, about those. They are a little odd and don't really fit your forum's style. However, they are not bothersome and don't scare me away from your site which is a good thing. Your forum has more of a dark style, and the light blue in the C4D to the left doesn't fit. Purple doesn't fit that well either.
This design also distracts me. It makes me look at those images before I look at what content has been posted.
(Scored 15/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
What is A.T.S. ? You use that, and ATS in a lot of places, and I have no idea what it stands for. I recommend you change it from the abbreviation to the full phrase or name.
Ah! I realized what it is. Admin Training School. I am going to keep my first comment because I think you should still change it even though I figured out what it means. You don't want new members being confused by it. The only reason I found out what it stood for was because your page's title (shown in the browser's window).
In your Chill Zone I recommend putting your General area above everything else. On my upcoming forum pretty much everything is alphabetical except for the first forum (info, feedback, etc.) but I kept the general forum above the 'A' lettered forums because it is the most used on many forums.
Sure, maybe putting your Q&A first would encourage users to post there, but in the end more users will post in general wherever your Q&A is placed.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Threads: 3,311, Posts: 9,939, Members: 6,748
On vBulletin, Posts is Threads AND Replies, but almost 10,000 in all is amazing. You also have quite a few members. Great overall statistics!
However, your examiner's room has 0 posts, 0 threads. Your site is pretty much all 'ATS' based. Your examiners room should be a little more filled. One, it will let your users know that the staff is all talking and act as one. Two, it will actually encourage your staff to talk to each other and get to know eachother.
Your Applications Department is a little too small. I am under the impression that if your board is about Admin Training then this section should be full with requests. Yes, you have great overall stats, but it doesn't look like they are all about your site's main topic. This is not very encouraging! Get some more posts in those sections and your board will succeed.
Your board is an admin training school, not an entertainment board (which currently has thousands of posts).
(Scored 16/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Hardest one to look at.
I see no stray topics, which is a great thing. And I definitely don't see any 'naughty' topics flying around.
Maybe you have a staff board somewhere, but your ATS Examiners board is empty, which makes me feel that all or some of your staff aren't in contact.
(Scored 20/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
Gameroom should be 'Game Room'.
Referal Competition 1 should be 'Referral Competition 1'. (It was a thread posted, and it looked legit so it should at least be spelled correctly).
Other than that spelling is perfect!
(Scored 19/20)
Total Score - 89 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Demo account worked great! Shoutbox worked great as well. Yes, I tested it.
I just think your site needs to load a little bit faster. It was slow, and would discourage me from sticking around.
You may need to look into better hosting. If you are on offshore (like the hosting you offer)..Then there is no real need to be on offshore as your site is totally legit and I don't see any warez or pornography there out in the open.
What was most liked about the website/forums:
Extremely original in my opinion. I have never seen anything like this. Of course, I pretty much know all of the things you have teach as I have ran many sites. However, this looks like a great option for people who don't know how to admin and use all the features of their forum software.
Your site is a great idea and I wish you luck with it.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The thing I most disliked was that you used 'Chill Zone'. That's a section in my upcoming forum lol. I don't really dislike it, but it makes me feel that my forum won't be as original.
About your forum again though...
I just disliked how your 'ATS' boards were much less active than the rest of your board.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
I only do exchanges nowadays, and don't join anymore forums on my own for personal use. Sorry! Also, I don't have time to join all the sites I review.
After you have read your review, please click the following link and rate our service to help us make it better for you.... [
Click Here]
.
