icygamers Review!
- Thread starter icygamers
- Start date
Appearance (First Impressions)🙁13/20)
The first thing i notice is the link between the Name and the Skin, I really like the idea. But the main thing that is missing is something that tells you its a gaming forum. If it didnt have "gamers" in the title id of thought it was a winter sports forum. You should Change your banner so it has some gaming Characters in, this make the genre of the forum clear. If you want to keep to the ice theme i reccomend the character "Pingu". The "New posts" and "No New Posts" images could be changed to include gaming characters also, or maybe something to do with ice.
You should also get rid of the default Board name and Board Description through the Admin Control Panel. If you want a Board description you should add it to your banner so it doesnt overlap anything. I also like the way the Forum name's and description's are centralised, its quite rare you see that so its something nice and different.
Im going to give you 13/20 for this as the appearance of the forum doesnt match the genre.
Layout: (12/20):
The first problem i have with the Layout is the cool links forum and Market in the middle of the first Category. In my opinion the First Forum should be the accouncements, Followed by the suggestions forum and introductions forum. The market forum and cool links forum should be Elsewhere, in an off topic forum maybe.
Im not sure whether the Coding forums are needed on a gaming forum, But i dont think they are totally needed so i'd get rid of them, maybe make 1 forum about Coding, but a whole category isnt needed, Obviously your members agree as theres only 1 pody in the whole Category.
As a gaming forum i think you should have a Category with forums in for different gaming Consoles, and a forum For General PC gaming. As i dont think just having 4 forums just for 4 different games is too good, you want to have a wider audience, that way more people will join.
Ill give you 12/20 for this as it isnt great.
Number Of Members: (6/10)
17 Members isnt a great amount of members but your forum is fairly new, So if you keep up the advertising, using all the features here and at other advertising forums which will help your Member count it will soon get to a nice size, Such as the package service and Post exchanges, they will both get you members, and with so many advertising forums out there now, its a good way of getting a lot of members.
Try and keep making threads even though people may not be replying, as im sure this will help you out with advertising as your forum will look active. I reccomend making a referral competition for your current members, maybe offer VIP membership or a staff position if they refer a number of members.
Ill give you 6/10 for this as its not great but not too bad.
Number Of Posts (Spam or Otherwise): (3/10)
Packages, these are the key to getting a lot of posts on your forum. As i mentioned before theres so many advertising forums, most offer packages, a package per forum and you could get 100's of posts from them. As well as doing post exchanges you could bring in a hefty amount of posts.
You dont even have an average of 10 posts a member at the moment, which is quite poor. You have around 40% of the forums post which is ok for now, but that will need to decrease as your forum gets older.
You have a lot of forums with no posts in, You should put some threads in every forum to make your Forum look active, After a while, if no one else posts in the forum then it isnt needed and so you should get rid of it.
Im giving you 3/10 as i think this is quite poor, this should be top of your priorities to fix.
Moderation🙁9/10)
For the amount of members you have just you is enough to moderate the forum. But i would reccomend Hiring 1/2 moderators anyway, as this would mean 1/2 active members who will post regularly, Which is a good thing and should help your forum Develop.
At the moment, i would suggest Hiring the most active member on the forum (accept you obviously) and then try and get someone off another forum to join to be a moderator, make sure they are trustworthy first though, but this would mean a new member also.
Ill give you 9/10 for this as not a lot can be improved
Activity🙁10/20)
Your forum isnt active to say the least, Try to keep up the advertising, using all the services to try and get your forum out there on all the many forum advertising forums there are out there.
I also reccomend starting a posting competition, giving the member who posts the most in an amount of time a prize. All i can say is keep posting some topics to make your forum look as active as possible, And keep up the advertising.
Im giving you 10/20 for this as you have done a good job as trying to bump each forum regularly.
Spelling and Grammar(2/10)
The first forum description i see has a spelling mistake Missing an s off the end of new. So not a good start. You also have full stops in some descriptions and then none in the next, and 2 in one, you should go over it all.
Ill give you 2/10 for this as it only takes 1 minute to check, its obvious you havent bothered.
Suggestions
I think all the suggestions i have, ive mentioned above
Overall Mark (55/100):
It may seem a bit harsh, but spend a little time on your forum and it should be fine in no time, its only small mistakes
The first thing i notice is the link between the Name and the Skin, I really like the idea. But the main thing that is missing is something that tells you its a gaming forum. If it didnt have "gamers" in the title id of thought it was a winter sports forum. You should Change your banner so it has some gaming Characters in, this make the genre of the forum clear. If you want to keep to the ice theme i reccomend the character "Pingu". The "New posts" and "No New Posts" images could be changed to include gaming characters also, or maybe something to do with ice.
You should also get rid of the default Board name and Board Description through the Admin Control Panel. If you want a Board description you should add it to your banner so it doesnt overlap anything. I also like the way the Forum name's and description's are centralised, its quite rare you see that so its something nice and different.
Im going to give you 13/20 for this as the appearance of the forum doesnt match the genre.
Layout: (12/20):
The first problem i have with the Layout is the cool links forum and Market in the middle of the first Category. In my opinion the First Forum should be the accouncements, Followed by the suggestions forum and introductions forum. The market forum and cool links forum should be Elsewhere, in an off topic forum maybe.
Im not sure whether the Coding forums are needed on a gaming forum, But i dont think they are totally needed so i'd get rid of them, maybe make 1 forum about Coding, but a whole category isnt needed, Obviously your members agree as theres only 1 pody in the whole Category.
As a gaming forum i think you should have a Category with forums in for different gaming Consoles, and a forum For General PC gaming. As i dont think just having 4 forums just for 4 different games is too good, you want to have a wider audience, that way more people will join.
Ill give you 12/20 for this as it isnt great.
Number Of Members: (6/10)
17 Members isnt a great amount of members but your forum is fairly new, So if you keep up the advertising, using all the features here and at other advertising forums which will help your Member count it will soon get to a nice size, Such as the package service and Post exchanges, they will both get you members, and with so many advertising forums out there now, its a good way of getting a lot of members.
Try and keep making threads even though people may not be replying, as im sure this will help you out with advertising as your forum will look active. I reccomend making a referral competition for your current members, maybe offer VIP membership or a staff position if they refer a number of members.
Ill give you 6/10 for this as its not great but not too bad.
Number Of Posts (Spam or Otherwise): (3/10)
Packages, these are the key to getting a lot of posts on your forum. As i mentioned before theres so many advertising forums, most offer packages, a package per forum and you could get 100's of posts from them. As well as doing post exchanges you could bring in a hefty amount of posts.
You dont even have an average of 10 posts a member at the moment, which is quite poor. You have around 40% of the forums post which is ok for now, but that will need to decrease as your forum gets older.
You have a lot of forums with no posts in, You should put some threads in every forum to make your Forum look active, After a while, if no one else posts in the forum then it isnt needed and so you should get rid of it.
Im giving you 3/10 as i think this is quite poor, this should be top of your priorities to fix.
Moderation🙁9/10)
For the amount of members you have just you is enough to moderate the forum. But i would reccomend Hiring 1/2 moderators anyway, as this would mean 1/2 active members who will post regularly, Which is a good thing and should help your forum Develop.
At the moment, i would suggest Hiring the most active member on the forum (accept you obviously) and then try and get someone off another forum to join to be a moderator, make sure they are trustworthy first though, but this would mean a new member also.
Ill give you 9/10 for this as not a lot can be improved
Activity🙁10/20)
Your forum isnt active to say the least, Try to keep up the advertising, using all the services to try and get your forum out there on all the many forum advertising forums there are out there.
I also reccomend starting a posting competition, giving the member who posts the most in an amount of time a prize. All i can say is keep posting some topics to make your forum look as active as possible, And keep up the advertising.
Im giving you 10/20 for this as you have done a good job as trying to bump each forum regularly.
Spelling and Grammar(2/10)
The first forum description i see has a spelling mistake Missing an s off the end of new. So not a good start. You also have full stops in some descriptions and then none in the next, and 2 in one, you should go over it all.
Ill give you 2/10 for this as it only takes 1 minute to check, its obvious you havent bothered.
Suggestions
I think all the suggestions i have, ive mentioned above
Overall Mark (55/100):
It may seem a bit harsh, but spend a little time on your forum and it should be fine in no time, its only small mistakes
Affiliates
