Name of Forum:TNG_Community Forum Link:http://s1.zetaboards.com/TNG_Community/index/ Type of Review ( Quick Review / Forum Review ):Quick Date Forum Opened:July 3rd. (The group it's made for has existed since February) Account for reviewer (Optional): Additional Notes:Some menus within the forum require JavaScripts to be enabled to be functional. I would prefer it if the reviewer has them enabled so I don't get marked down for it.
Your forum name, I like it. It has a very nice ring to it and clearly states what your forum is all about.
You are very well mannered and your spelling, grammar and use of words is good, which is fantastic for a forum about writing and novels!
Your forums are nicely laid out, I like the structure, very easy to understand where everything is and I think you offer what most writers, novel fans and readers want to start off with.
I don't quite know why, but your forum has a very nice feel about it, being such a small and new community this is relatively strange but fantastic if you can work on it. Get advertising and draw your punters (I mean writers) in!
Forum Cons:
First upon entering your forum, the skin is not bad. The colours aren't what I would pair with a writing/novel forum. I have seen other writing forums go with a nice white, then a hint of blue or green. On a slight side note, your banner is using a very sharp styled font, I would suggest having a smoother result in Photoshop or another image manipulation program.
Staying on the design and look of the forum point above, I don't think that menu is needed or can bring anything to the forum. I click on 'Dismiss', hoping that this is a nice fix that can hide it through my time on the board. Whenever I refresh the page or click a link to go somewhere else on your forum, it pops back again! May I suggest removing this?
Just one more suggestion for your skin, honest! 😀 I would maybe look at getting a different affiliates code or try alter it a bit, it seems to be stretching your board's footer and creates a space bewteen your footer (the end of the skin) and the actual end of the forum (where the browser's status bar begins).
Looking at your categories and forums, you have the right amount to start with and the structure is good, I would suggest merging the 'Getting Started' forum with the Announcements forum, other than that they just need filling! You need to place more topics up, more content unique to your forum and members should post back. Your forum just needs the boost now to kick start it's growth.
Lastly, I don't think your small images (in topics: Up, Quote etc.) and rank images give the skin any benefits, maybe request some graphics ideas in our graphics section? 🙂
Final/General Thoughts:
This might have seemed like a very one sided 'con' review, but believe me you have fantastic building blocks for your forum! You just need to get that design sorted, iron the creases and tweak some things and you should be plain sailing. Your main task after the above suggestions is to advertise like crazy, affiliate, get some dedicated members, get your Staff active and advertising too and you'll do well 🙂
What was most liked about the website/forums:
It has a nice feel, good Administrator and has bags of potential.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The design and that damn menu! 😛
Final Score :Score - 6 (Out of 10)
Some Useful links, here at forum promotion, you may want to look at. All for the better of your forum's activity.
