Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Clearly the main focal point of the site is the banner. It's grungy, it's different, it's unique, it's interesting, it draws you in, it's just something to stop and look at, and that's an impressive feat for a forum, a place of discussion, where most people just get in, look for topics, and get out. Usually people give a cursory glance at a site to sum it up, have an impression made, and make a split decision to stay, investigate, and maybe join, or leave. Whether or not you created this yourself is inconsequential, it's remarkable, and well detailed. I like the icons you used for the index, basically your forum logo, but edited to be seen somewhat easier. What I disagree with, however, are your topic icons, which are regular, default folders. Having them replaced with instruments, such as guitars, or drums would match the theme better. I appreciate your attention to the favicon, having it a distinct rock on symbol. Overall, your site's design is pretty much spot on for what it's for. Grungy, dark, heavy, but artful, interesting, and detailed. Excellent.
(Scored 19/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
Short index and interesting names make for a memorable site. The way the forum titles don't take themselves, or the rest of the site all that seriously give a more casual and relaxed feel to the overall site. I like how you've organized everything into 3 categories, it makes it much more navigable than at other sites who want to separate everything that's not directly, or interchangeably related. I also like how you prioritized them, putting your subject matter at the top, then miscellaneous discussion, then lastly the site itself. You've made an evident effort in trying to keep it tidy, not spamming the edges of the site with features, news, users, and so on. Your buttons are small and don't have fancy designs to detract the legibility, it's straightforward, and you can't go wrong with that. All your forums are different. Every single forum serves a distinguished purpose, and all have a unique appeal to every variety of user and guest, which is what will count towards your future activity. Basically, I like how you keep everything condensed, and have what's important first, the way it's supposed to be. The layout is solid, and there isn't much to improve upon that you haven't already done. Well done.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
A remarkable amount of posts and topics are seen immediately. Every single forum has a minimum of more than a thousand posts, which is rather impressive when someone happens to walk in on the site and glance at it. There's also no forum under a hundred topics, save for sports, which is understandable, most people on the internet who discuss sports just go to the official sites directly (NFL, NBA, FIFA, etc.,), so it's not a large demographic to appeal to on other, more general forums, so nothing to fret about. Now for such an active forum, normally you would expect at the least, a thousand members or more. Don't get me wrong, 700 isn't bad at all, in fact, it's good, it shows that what members who have joined are very active, 700 to give more than 100k posts, and any future members will do the same. It's better to have 100 active members than 5,000 inactive, if you think about it. Despite the apparent activity, the one thing that takes away from it all is the fact that it was founded in 2005, 5 years ago. In half that time, I've seen various related forums reach that and over, so it's more of a case of slowly but surely building activity, and a userbase.
(Scored 18/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
I had to search individual posts and topics and connect the dots between users and ranks because, as a guest, I wasn't allowed to view any user's profiles. This is a bit problematic for me to review, and frankly, I don't see the reason why a feature like that would be installed, or removed, depending on vBulletin's default settings. I can understand privacy, but if you've already allowed me to see everything else, every topic and post, there's not much else to hide that I can't find out. However, I did notice you have a list of staff members under a tab labeled quick links, which doesn't indicate anything specific, and is confusing if anyone wants to know who to look up in a convenient way, because the staff are the most important members of the site. The moderators' conduct are laid back, they join the discussion without imposing their authority, again, adding to your site's feel of friendliness. Finding them might have been a small issue, but after reviewing their posts themselves, there isn't much reason to worry about it. They handle their jobs with respect and don't seem to be intimidated to use their powers if need be. They have a balance I haven't really seen to often at other sites. They're serious and involved, but they're also casual, yet they're not overly friendly to the point of being insufferably saccharine.
(Scored 20/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
The grammar is admirable, and the professionalism would be, in another setting otherwise, quite rude or personally biased, quite professional and homey in a metal forum. You keep a good balance of grammar throughout the site, you capitalize what needs to be capitalized, and no more, there are some minor mistakes here, but it's not too noticeable. The only thing that stands out as going against grammar or professionalism are the member's usernames, which can't really be helped unless you made a stringent rule against it, which isn't advisable. What matters is that it's legible, decently structured English, and obeys nearly all the rules and semantics of the language, which is what's needed. Frmo the topics I've read, no one seems to have used leet speak, chat lingo, or any of that. On the contrary, everyone seems to make a conscious effort to correct their posts while writing them, something every forum should have.
(Scored 19/20)
Total Score - (95 Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
What was most liked about the website/forums: The design, I can't stop staring at it.
What was disliked most about the website/forums: A few negligible navigation problems with user profiles, and site staff list.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? My only concern is that over 5 years, and you still haven't reached a regular milestone of other promoted sites, I would suggest trying to make them a but more active for continued visits, at least one new post a day per forum.
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