Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Allow me to start off this review by saying
I love your banner. At this point in the review I haven't looked in depth at anything yet, but one thing is sure; you have a really nice banner. It has the slogan/motto in it as well as the name and a nice background image for the text.
Something else that I rather like about your forums appearance is the striped background and forum table images. I like how you have the stripes, but they're not dizzy-making. However that being said, I do not like how your forum background blue stripes are a different shade of blue from the forum categories. The forum background blue stripes are the same color as the forum banner background, and that generally is a nice color (not to dark and not too light), so I personally would recommend that you change the forum table category background stripes to that color (as opposed to their current lighter shade of blue).
Something I do like is how you have an international board. Not many forums think to have that, and some don't approve because you can't always monitor what's being said, but I fully support it. English is my main language, but I
love the German language, so I would enjoy that board. Having that board also can get you more than one type of member (i.e. where if you didn't have the international board you would only have English speaking members on your board, whereas if you do have the international board you could get German, french, ect. members).
Another thing that I'm not particularly fond of is the "log in" under your "search" bar in the forum header. You already have a "log in" link in the navigation bar, so I see no need for you to have two log in links so close to each other. That could come off as a bit pushy to some. You have two "register" links on the index (the first being in the navigation bar, the second is the forum redirect saying
"The Discussion - Where Entertainment Is A Gurantee!
Dear Guests,
Please note that in order to take full advantage of the forums and its features, you are requested to register. It only takes a few moments and we can guarantee entertainment at its best!. Thank you for visiting, and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Thankyou
The Community Team" in case you are not sure what I'm referring to) , but I don't see a problem with that. See, if someone is already registered then that usually means that they have an interest in your forum, and will log in automatically. Whereas with the register, you kind of want to get that point across more, so like I said I do not see a problem with the two registers. If they were right next to each other I might have, but one's on the top of the forum and the other is on the bottom.
I notice that you have the default "
" favicon. I strongly recommend you to get a real favicon that's
unique or semi unique. What I mean by semi unique is that if you can't have a custom favicon made, you should find a pretty one from
free favicon. And that being said, this really isn't as big a deal as some other things that I will continue to mention. In fact, not many people mind if you do not have a favicon (heh I actually have that default favicon image saved on my computer and the link to free favicon in my bookmarks because I have to mention this in so many reviews I do), so if you would put this last on your to-do list, I would support that.
(Scored 14/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
I think that your forum has a very decent layout. The typical "Announcements, suggestions, introductions, then the main content and sub content" layout is in action in your forum, but that's not a bad thing. In fact, your forum is actually very easy to navigate and very organized. I don't even have any suggestions or dislikes about it. Certainly a high point in your forum, great job with it.
This doesn't actually have any to do with the forum itselfs layout (though I feel it is worth mentioning), but your point statistics at the bottom I feel should be removed. The only thing I think you should keep is the "Next draw: Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:38 pm" because that directly effects and could potentially interest the users, where the amount of forum cash in circulation most likely will not.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
When I divide the amount of posts your forum has by the amount of users it has, it comes out to about twenty-three. That's not bad, however it could be much better. To classify a forum as active (though do not misinterpret this, because there is no sure way to rate a forums activity. This is just my personal way of doing it) I like that amount to be 45-50+. I like that it that way because then even the ghost (no post, never on members) accounts will statistically show up to have some posts.
I feel that your current activity in the forum is not terrible for a young fora - but it could be much better. After you make some (if not all or the ones that you agree with) improvements to the forum, I would recommend you to do the following -
-Add your forum to Google to try to get it in the listings, if you have not already.
-Go to some promotion forums (if you need, I have a saved list of about 30+ promotion forums saved. PM me and I'll send it to you) and create a topic. When I had a forum, I got quite a few members from just creating a pretty topic stating what the forum is about, the link to it, a nice banner, why they should join, and a purpose for the forum. That worked well for me.
-Request some posting packages or do exchanges. If you do do that though, keep in mind that the quality of the posts is more important than the quantity and that the quality really depends on who you're exchanging with.
-Adding your forum to directories. When I had a forum (this list is going off my experience on what worked best for me when I had a forum, if you have not noticed) I found that adding to directories can really get your a lot of guests. Granted, not all are human and most are bots but it having XX amount of guests at a time can help, and there's always a chance that someone could find your forum through it.
-Tell your internet and real life friends. I'm hoping you have some, if not disregard this. If you have internet friends, then they could become your most active members. They already semi respect you (if not, fully) and chances are, they may join because they are your friend and want to help/support you and your forum.
To sum that up; your forum activity is 'OK'ish, but could be so much better.
(Scored 10/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
From what you told me in the original post, you have one administrator and one moderator. I can't tell if that is true to the time that I'm posting this, but I'll assume it is. I think that that is a great amount of staff for your forum to have at this stage. Having one moderator can be great when you are away, and having one administrator keeps the forum more secure (password-hacking wise). I do not feel you need anymore staff at this stage in your forum.
I did look through to see the activity of the staff though, and it seems that your one moderator has only one post? That's not good at all. Staff members set an example, so if they are not active on the forum and interacting with members, then how can you expect members to be active? I would recommend that you talk to whoever that moderator is and explain that to him/her, and if she/he does not improve to get rid of him/her and find someone who is willing to actually contribute to the community. A moderators job is not only to keep the board nice and clean (rule-breaking free) but is also to stimulate the community discussions and just generally be a perfect example of a great member.
(Scored 10/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
I notice a problem with the
"The Discussion - Where Entertainment Is A Gurantee!
Dear Guests,
Please note that in order to take full advantage of the forums and its features, you are requested to register. It only takes a few moments and we can guarantee entertainment at its best!. Thank you for visiting, and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Thankyou
The Community Team"
redirect forum. "Gurantee" is spelled wrong, it should be "guarantee". I also feel that the word "requested" should be "required". Also, there should be a space between "Thank you" as well as a comma after you.
In the "music desk" forums' description - "Music is the language of all! Let the music reveal in you" there should be a period after 'you' and I feel that the word "reveal" should be "live", because I can't really find sense in the sentence otherwise.
Many - most - of the forum descriptions need a period at the end of them. I would list them, but it's nearly all, so I will just say that at the end of a sentence is a period, unless an exclamation point or question mark is there.
Looking at a few of your forums threads though, most of them are decent or high quality. That's great, because content is what forums are for, so if you have very good threads then your forum is more likely headed towards success. Good job with that, and b sure to continue it. Content will help your forum more than anything in the long run.
(Scored 14/20)
Total Score - 67/100
Final Remarks:
What was most liked about the website/forums: The banner. Even if you change every other thing in the forum, keep the banner.
What was disliked most about the website/forums: The staffing activity, the color differences in the forum.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Get some more activity.
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