Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
The first thing I said when I visited your forum was wow, I love your christmas theme! The header is detailed and well laid out, it gave me a real festive feel. I can see a lot of work has gone into this theme, I really like the small details such as the PC/gaming images in the snow piles on each section.
However, I have also looked at your standard theme, which is called Playstation Dark I do believe. The logo on this one is really good too, you have done a really good job of choosing theme for your forum. This theme isn't as exciting and interesting as the christmas theme, but it is really good. I like the bright blue that works through the blacks and greys, the only thing I feel you could work with here is making the board descriptions a little clearer. Also, in my opinion, it would look better if you removed the italic from the sub-boards list and also made that text a little clearer.
I then moved on to look at your Xbox 360 Dark theme, which wasn't nearly as dark as the playstation dark theme. What I do like about this theme is the use of the Xbox colours, but I don't feel the whites quite work. I don't like this theme as much as the other two. The board markers are just green shapes, maybe using the Xbox logo or something instead would make the theme feel even more like an Xbox theme. The board descriptions are much easier to read on this theme, but the menu buttons right at the top of the page could be a little bigger. The logo on this theme was a bit disappointing after seeing the logos on the other themes.
The Wii theme was much brighter than the other themes, it is a little too plain for my liking. As you have a nice blue wave that rises in the center, why not place the logo here instead of off to one side? This would also enable you to make the logo larger. Apart from that this is a nice theme, even if the board descriptions could be a couple of font sizes larger. It is a nice change from the darkness of the other themes.
The GTA 5 theme I really like. The oranges, whites and greys go really well together and the logo is really good. This theme looks a lot more professional than the other ones (apart from the christmas one). It is very sleek and easy to navigate. Again, I would like to see something other than just orange squares as board markers though, maybe add a small image on top of them or something.
The Halo theme is another dark theme, it has a lot of strong points, but I do feel that it lets your theme list down a bit. The background idea of an image that is stuck behind is nice, but the blue colouring is a little too strong and it looks quite odd behind the logo. The logo itself is nice, but I can hardly see the menu on the right hand side. These buttons would work if they were slightly bigger, but I feel navigation would be easier if the menu were on the bar under the logo.
The Pokemon theme is great and the logo is very entertaining. The whole theme is very professional and well planned, with strong bright colours that are very pokemon themed. The board markers are perfect.
The Forza theme is a bit dark, the reds don't really bring out the board enough, you need a bit more colour here. The logo is a bit odd too, the racing car logo in itself works well, but the wooden planks behind spoil it a bit. I would rather see something that is a bit more racing inspired as a background. Maybe a racing track or a checkered flag? Even here the board markers could be a bit more racing inspired, maybe a flag or a tyre.
The Sims logo is brilliant, with the small ways you have related to the imaging and design of the game. The logo image is slightly pixelated, which is a shame, but I love that menu idea! The section titles look really good and the board markers are really good too. This is my second favourite theme after the christmas theme.
These themes show me how much effort you put into your forum. It is really good to see! Even other things, such as the favicon shows a great forum. The only thing I would like to see is maybe a TLD. Small things like this are the final thing for you to get your forum going for real, because you are well on your way!
(Score: 19/20)
Site Layout
The first section, Headquaters, contains all the boards I expect to see. I like the look of the battleground, a fun extra. The gaming section contains four boards, that are well set up, with a section for everything needed. There is a good balance of topics and posts in each for such a small forum. The community section is also well balanced and nicely done. There are a lot more topics in the general section than in any other, which isn't always good to see. If you can sort this balance out then you have a winning set-up here!
(Scored 20/20)
Statistics and Activity
Total Forum Posts: 8,075
Total Members: 62
Date Forum Opened: 11/8/11
Your forum has been open for around 5 months and in this time you have received around 1600 posts per month which is really good. Your members have an average post count of 130 which is also great for such a young forum. I don't see any issues with the activity on your site, it is amazing for such a young forum, I hope it continues this way. The activity in the last few days seems to have dipped a bit, but this is probably because we are nearing christmas so I will let that pass...
(Scored 20/20)
Staff Moderation
You currently are the only administrator and you have one moderator assisting you. This is a good amount for your forum, but if your forum continues to grow at the rate it is now then you will probably need to consider hiring another moderator quite soon. Your moderator Zethus has over 300 posts and seems to be active and a good community member, it is nice to see staff interacting and supporting the members, you have found a good staff member here! You yourself have nearly 900 posts and seem also to be highly active and a good community member. You have a small but strong staff team here, which will need support soon, as if one of you goes away the moderation may be a bit hard to handle on your own.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
I don't see any issues with professionalism anywhere on your forum, it is well run and well looked after. I would like to see better written board descriptions, the current ones are quite short and consist of small sentences. These could easily be written into longer, more creative and inspiring descriptions. I am unable to locate any spelling or major grammatical errors.
(Scored 17/20)
Total Score - 94/100
Final Remarks
An awesome forum that I am really looking forward to reviewing again when it has grown even more. I really hope you continue to put as much effort and work into this forum as you are right now. I wish you luck hiring more staff, look carefully for that person, someone you can trust and will continue to stay active on your forum. Keep those awesome themes and I want to see that christmas one again next year, the only way is forward right now. TLD next
😉
Strong Points
Themes, professionalism, commitment and statistics.
Things to Improve
Some small theme edits and new board descriptions.
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I'll get on that.
