Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
Your christmas theme looks very nice, the colours work well and the forum looks inviting, but I do feel the whole thing looks a little flat. You have shadows added, but the image looks very 2D and for this reason it doesn't really stand out. I find the header texts for each section are too small, they aren't very noticable. Maybe increasing the size by 4px would work better. The text on the top menu isn't centered, it looks like it is flying away as it is slightly to the left too. The falling snow gives a nice wintery feel too. The logo is hard to read though, it looks kind of squashed. The actual idea and layout of the logo is good.
The Board is easy to read and the colours you have chosen for the text is good. It is nice to see a TLD, even though having a - between the words is a little bit odd. I would suggest a new Favicon that matches your sites colour scheme. There is a bit of a big gap between the end of the header and the next element on the page.
When I first visit your forum I see an active community which is always nice and inviting.
(Score: 15/20)
Site Layout
The first section, The notice Board, contains what I expect from the information section of a forum. The second section,SUPERFLUOUS HYBRID ZONE, seems like a continuation of the first section. It also contains information about the site. I suggest merging these two sections together as it is easier to have all the information gathered in one place.
The graphics section seems nice and busy, it is obviously a popular section on your forum. I would suggest having the Zetaboards free themes as a sub-board under Graphics Resources as it only contains a few topics. Other than that this section works well.
The gaming section also works well, but I am confused by the last board which is for "Newbie" members. This term is very off putting for me, and why do these members need their own board? This board also contains two sub-boards, yet it only contains 16 topics, I don't feel you need the sub-boards.
In the sports section the Wrestling board seems very popular and the other boards in the section don't have many posts. I feel it would be better to have one board for Wrestling and one called General Sports.
The Hybrid Zone looks good, the Chat board has a large amount of posts and topics, but this is understandable. I suggest you work on getting members that post most in there to post in other places though.
Having a section with re-direct links seems a little odd, would it not be easier to just add the banners to the site? This would look more professional and be easier for members.
(Scored 16/20)
Statistics and Activity
Total Forum Posts: 53,773
Total Members: 500
Date Forum Opened: June 11, 2009
Your forum has been open for 30 months and has recieved a great amount of posts since. With an average of 1790 posts per month I see no issues here, it would be nice to see this increase as you do have a large amount of members they would only need to make around 3 posts each. I would expect members to be making an average of 15-20 posts per month each, so the posts per month should be a lot higher. With 500 members you have an average of 107 posts per member, 107 posts in 30 months per member isn't that much. It looks to me like members come, make a few posts and leave. This suggests that there isn't much that makes them want to stay on your forum. You need to talk with your staff and see what they think the problem might be. Sometimes it can be small issues, like they just don't like what is on the forum and that is nothing you can do anything about. But if it is an activity or navigational issue then you can do a lot about it. Don't get me wroing, 53000 posts is good, but I would of expected a bit more after 30 months with that amount of members.
(Scored 11/20)
Staff Moderation
You currently have 3 administrators and 2 moderators. This is a good amount for your forum with the activity you have right now. The forum looks well moderated, I don't see any spam or double posts. All staff members have a good amount of posts and seem to be active on the forum. They interact well with members and are creating a nice place for your members. When you feel that activity lacks then make sure your moderaters are posting all around the forum, they aren't only staff to moderate, it is also their job to help keep activity going.
(Scored 20/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
There aren't any spelling mistakes that I can see, but you have a lot of grammatical errors on your site. Here is an example "This section is for Announcements/Updates and any other important notices relating to the forum." Relating - Related. There are many tempus and other grammatical errors, mostly in the board descriptions. I suggest you find someone who can proof-read your board for you. The board descriptions are all very short and boring, I would suggest re-writing them without the demands and rule repeats, I personally don't want to be a member of a forum where I feel too controlled and demanded upon.
(Scored 11/20)
Total Score - 73/100
Final Remarks
A nice established forum that has been around for a long time. These forums aren't always easy to run and there are times when it is easy to feel like you just want to give up. But you have done a great job, just keep at it! The most important thing to remember is that members can get bored of the same things all the time. Now and then it is important to introduce them to new things to keep their interest for your site up, good luck!
Strong Points
Theme, Staff
Things to Improve
Board descriptions, New things for members
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