Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Not really a fan of your forum's style. The lines are distracting and I don't really like looking at it. Also, the icons/images that show if a forum is old or has new posts do not match and look very amateur.
I am talking about these:
I also saw that you added Tony Hawk to your banner since I last viewed your forum. Looks nice! The banner looks fine and is not cluttered or anything.
The text (all your forum content) is almost too small and I am very distracted by the diagonal lines. I would lower the opacity on those lines...Lowering the opacity means like making them less visible.
(Scored 16.5/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
You have a Help forum at the top. Your help/support forum should be on the bottom as in many cases not many people actually need help. And when they do they will still see/find it if it's at the bottom.
I would definitely suggest adding a Suggestions/Feedback thread though to your first category. These are very useful and will help you to improve your site.
Definitely move Computer Gaming up to your main category (Gaming Discussion). There is no need for it to be in a different category/section. You could also put Coding & Software in your General Discussion section. It would fit in nicely. There is no need for a whole new category for those two forums that could easily fit in elsewhere.
(Scored 17/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Our forum has made a total of 11,668 forum posts
Pretty good, however, your site has been open for almost a year now. I would have thought you would have some more posts in that amount of time.
The only concern I have about your stats is that even though you may have a huge database of threads and posts, how many new threads and posts are being made on a daily or even weekly basis?
I also noticed that your announcements area has more threads than all of your actual gaming discussions other than the Nintendo one. That is something that is NOT good at all.
You need to get some more activity in the places that your site is actually about (Gaming). To encourage users to post there you should give a prize away when each of your gaming sections reaches like 500 threads, or 2,000 replies or something. Believe me, it will help!
It is a turn off to see that there are less than 100 threads in most of your gaming sections.
(Scored 15/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Hardest one to rate/comment on. I see no stray posts, and you don't have a visible trash bin so I can't see how many threads you have moved or removed or anything.
Looks pretty cleaned up so that is a good thing!
(Scored 20/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
Only mistake is made by your forum software. Subforums really should be Sub-Forums or sub-forums.
However, that is not your fault and is not really a huge mistake. Subforums is acceptable because that phrase/wording is used by many.
(Scored 20/20)
Total Score - 88.5 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Didn't like the statistics.
Also, definitely (!) change the skin. It is distracting and the text (all your content) is really small.
You also need to change some icons. The icons displaying whether a forum is newer or older looks terrible and unprofessional.
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The banner is nice, and I like the navigation bar. I like how the buttons get highlighted when you scroll over them.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
Get your gaming discussion boards more active. It is really bad to see that your other sections have way more posts than the places which your forum revolves around.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
I don't join sites anymore.
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PS. Good luck with your site!
-sshare
