Poliwager
Full Review by Ravenisawesome
Growing up in the 90's I am very familiar with the Pokemon franchise, in fact I'm still an avid Pokemon fan. I was extremely happy to see that the very first review I got to work on here at Forum Promotion is a review of a Pokemon fan site. While Generation three is my favorite generation of Pokemon, it seems that this fan site's mascot is a Generation One Pokemon, none other than Poliwag which is number 60 in the national dex. Still a wonderful Pokemon, even though it's not my personal favorite from Gen 1. Anyway, let's continue on to the review shall we?
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (10 out of 20)
Poliwagger, a very creative name for a website based around the Pokemon Poliwag. After all it's a play on words of the Pokemon's actual name, something you don't always see when it comes to fan sites based around certain franchises, especially one as big as the Pokemon franchise. While I was impressed with the name of the site, the default theme seemed to be lacking in the creative department. I will go over this shortly.
Before talking about the themes, while viewing your site I noticed a tiny glitch. As seen bellow, the search bar overlaps the style switcher text, making it difficult to read the names of your themes, specifically the default theme. While I can still click on the links to change the theme, this should be addressed as it could be off putting for potential readers of your main site. Please note that this issue doesn't occur when using Firefox on my desktop, but does occur when using Chrome and Firefox while viewing the site on my laptop. I came across another error. While viewing each page the site has to offer, I clicked on the Firefox personas page. I was greeted with two broken images, however when I clicked the link associated with each broken image, I was redirected to the correct page. This error occurs in both Firefox and Chrome, so this should be addressed. It's never professional to have broken images on your site of course. Another thing that I noticed when I first visited your site, was the page "DO NOT CLICK HERE!" This made me chuckle a bit as I thought it was quite humorous but I was expecting more than just a diamond of Poliwag sprites. Perhaps you could add something else to this page? I suggest maybe adding a bit of information regarding hilarious easter eggs in the games or anime, just to really grasp the reader's attention.
Alright lets go on to the main site's themes. The colors seem to clash rather than blend well, especially with the default theme. However the winter theme flows well and is very easy on the eyes. With that said, I also believe that possibly adding a image to each theme's background could really spice things up a bit. Since you have specific Pokemon representing each theme, perhaps adding it's evolution in the background of their theme could work? Even adding Poke balls in the background can definitely help each theme look more professional and it would definitely fit your site's niche. While the themes may be lacking in color, it was very nice to see a different Pokemon represent each theme. I enjoyed seeing Snorunt on the banner when I selected the winter theme, and then seeing Articuno on the navigational bars throughout your main site. I was also impressed with the various Pokemon in the right bottom corner that appear in each of your themes, that is impressive within itself. So with that said, let's take a look at the forums.
While the default theme is easy on the eyes I find it to be a bit bland. While it's great to see that the no new posts, new posts, etc. icons have been edited to fit the niche of your forum, I feel that many more modifications to the theme could be made to really attract more members. I have broken down each and every icon that I feel should be edited to help the forum look a bit better than it already does. Lets start with the new reply, new post, etc. buttons. These buttons are still using the default theme's buttons, adding any picture related to Pokemon will make these buttons look much more appealing. For example, adding an image of Poliwrath and Politoad to the new reply, new topic buttons will look much more appealing than using the theme's default buttons.
The next theme I looked at was the 610mn theme. This theme definitely has more color than the default theme, and it really caught my eye. However I was somewhat disappointed with the icons this theme is using. While the default theme has some icons edited this one, along with a few other themes didn't have any icons that were edited. To me it seems that the default theme was worked on a tad bit more than this one. While the theme was lacking in appearance, I also felt that the name of the theme isn't unique. In fact, the only theme on your forum that has a unique name is your forums default theme, while the other themes simply just use their default names. Choosing unique names for each theme will have members checking them out instead of simply using the default theme. Since each theme has a specific Pokemon or a group of Pokemon represented in each banner, choosing a name for each respective theme can help. Finally the last thing I'd like to talk about is the forums favicon. The favicon looks great on the main site, but really lacks creativity on the forum.Perhaps you could change this to a Poliwhirl or a different icon of Poliwag? While the favicon is a very small icon that many members usually won't notice, it is still nice to see a professional looking favicon.
Finally I was a bit disappointed with the rank images. I feel that they could be reworked on, to look more professional. They don't have any images that reflect the niche of the forum, like most icons on the board. They also feel like they were quickly put together. The stars could always be replaced by Pokeballs or even Poliwag. The admin rank image could have a image of Poliwrath, Moderators can have a image of Politoed in their member ranks while Jr. Mods could have Poliwhirl. Of course these are just suggestions, but since the forum is based around Poliwag, it only seems right to see the Pokemon and it's evolutions appear in more than just a handful of icons on the default forum theme.
Last but certainly not least, I am very impressed with the adoptables section. It's not something you see on every Pokemon fan site, most sites simply are just based on adopting Pokemon, but your site goes beyond that. The only thing I would change on this part is to edit each egg to look like how it's described. I think it'd be really neat to see the egg that each description tells the reader about, instead of using the default egg image. Looking beyond my first impressions and appearance, lets go on with the rest of the review and next I'll talk about the site layout.
Site Layout – (12 out of 20)
Generally this next section reflects how well your site is easy to navigate, while how well organized each section of your site and forum is. I'll be going over the main site's layout before diving into the forums since this is generally the first portion of your site visitors will view. I find the layout of each section to be in an odd order. For example "General Pokemon" is listed underneath "X and Y". Since this section contains articles based around the Pokemon games as a whole, I feel that it should be listed first to grasp the reader's attention. Some readers may not be familiar with the game mechanics and if they notice this section first it can really help them out.
The forums seem to be in a very decent layout. The most important sections of the board are the first sections that guests and members see as soon as they view the forums. The rules have their own sub forum and it's the very first sub forum members see. However I feel that rules usually are best as announcements, as members can view them anywhere on the board, and not just on the main forum page. The rules are definitely a very important part of your forum, and as the site owner you definitely want your members to respect them, and to read them.
Statistics and Activity – (7 out of 20)
I feel that both the forums and main site are lacking in the activity department. It looks like articles have been created here and there over the course of a few months, but most articles are based around your site rather than more information regarding Pokemon. While it's nice to announce milestones, it's also nice to share new information regarding the niche your site is based around. While new members may be thrilled to see how the site is doing, they also would like to read new information about Pokemon.
The forum is seriously lacking in activity unfortunately. There are a few members who have logged in and posted within the past few days, but only a handful. With a forum that has over 400 members, more members should be logging in and posting more frequently. It's always nice to have a huge memberbase, but it's better to have active members than non active ones who only logged in once. Here are a few steps that could really bring in more activity to your forum. First off, if you haven't done so in a while creating a contest can really help with activity. This is a Pokemon forum, and there is a Wifi battle section why not have a battle tournament of some sort? Depending on your budget, you could possibly give out Pokemon merchandise to top players. Other prizes could include shiny Pokemon, a special member rank or group, and finally even cash prizes could help.
Another thing I feel I should mention is your staff team. While looking at each sub forum I noticed that it's been a while since a few staff members have been active, or even signed in. While your global moderators have been active within the last few weeks, your Jr. Mods haven't. Even though they are sectional moderators it still doesn't look great if certain staff hasn't been active in a while. One Jr. Mod hasn't been active since last November, so I would send them either a PM or email to see if they come back. If they don't respond in a giving time period, they should be demoted with another volunteer wanting to keep an eye out on a specific section.
Content – (9 out of 20)
While Poliwager does go into detail about certain aspects of the Pokemon franchise I feel that much more content could be added to the site. Since the site itself is based around a Generation one Pokemon, I was expecting to read some more information about Generation one such as the many glitches or perhaps game mechanics. More information related to the anime, trading card game, and manga could also be included to the site. Lets break down each article that could be improved with more information.
The General Pokemon section only contains a few articles, which does cover most of the games different mechanics. There can be more information added to this section to improve it. There is more than just battling and raising Pokemon, not to mention breeding them. Most Pokemon games have different mini games players can play, if they ever get bored with raising their Pokemon. For example, since Gen 3 is getting remakes a article based around the Secret Bases introduced in that gen could be added. Even Gen one has slot machines that players can play, with coins they can collect to obtain other Pokemon. I'm also confused on why Pay Day is featured in this section. Everything else in this section covers different game mechanics, this page simply talks about a random Normal type move. This also goes for the page regarding the Technician Ability, perhaps a page reflecting the different moves and abilities the Poliwag family can learn and obtain would be better than listing a random move and ability.
I'm also a bit confused on why the two Eevee pages haven't been included together. What I mean is, these two pages could be fused together and the new article could be listed underneath the General Pokemon section since they both cover the same Pokemon, just from different games. It is a bit redundant to list two articles based around the same subject, and looks a bit unprofessional.
Lets take a look at your forums content next. What I do see is there seems to be a sub forum for each aspect related to the video games. I noticed a wifi battle topic, which is always best to have on a Pokemon forum. There's also a section that covers the franchise as a whole, something I didn't see on the main site which is great.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (12 out of 20)
I must say, the forum and main site both look very professional, aside from the very few glitches I spotted and have mentioned early in this review. Next, while looking at your main website and forum, I found little to no spelling errors as well, which is always great to see. Though I feel that a few articles could possibly be re-written on the main site to really grasp the readers attention. In this next part of the review, I will go over each article I feel could be improved.
I first started with the X and Y Discoveries page and noticed this could be touched up a bit. I know you've mentioned in the article that it is a bit sloppy and it would be revised at a later date, I just wanted to go over this page to possibly help you revise it a bit. The very first sentence could be fixed. Pokemon X and Y have been out for quite sometime now, so the first sentence doesn't make much sense. Next not every fan had a chance to buy it the very first day of release, so the "we are all starting at the same time" sentence could be reworded or cut out.
The Eevee page listed underneath the Red,Blue, and Yellow sections could also use a bit of work. The sentence "The others came in later games." seems a bit unprofessional. It could be composed into one full sentence, with the previous sentence before it. What I mean is, the sentence could be something similar to the sentence bellow.
"Eevee can only evolve into the first 3 evolutions, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon while the other evolutions were introduced in later Pokemon games."This sentence rolls off the tongue a bit better than the previous two sentences.
Total Score - (50 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
With the content Poliwager does currently have it is certainly a nice quiet Pokemon fan site. With a few more articles added on the site, I really feel that the site could be much better than it already is and could possibly bring in more visitors. The adoptables section is my personal favorite portion of the site, and with a few more adjustments I feel that section could be 100% completed. With a few more contests, the forums could become a bit more active than it is. Overall Poliwager is a fun community, but I feel that it has so much more to offer than it already does. With a bit more content, I can see Poliwager becoming another wonderful Pokemon community.
Strengths:
- - The adoptables section is fun and creative.
Weaknesses:
- - Staff and members could be a bit more active.
- More content could be added to the site.
- Themes on both main site and forums could be improved.
After reading your review, please click here to rate your review.
