Hello guys. I use to create some great reviews on the ForuMotion Support Forum when they implemented the Review service. I haven't made any reviews in a long while, but I'd like to say that I write some very detailed reviews covering more areas of your forum than what FP's reviews cover.
The review costs 60 FP Cash each. I will only accept a few reviews at a time. To know how I review, look a few posts down in this thread and observe orc_dragoon's review.
Cheers.
First Impressions (Score: 10/10):
My first steps into your forum were pretty nice. You have a wonderful banner (I love banners that have blue/dark color schemes; like yours), an appealing and fitting layout and background, and a nice arrangement of categories and forums with some great activity. You also have a blue font scheme prior to your banner, and that's very great; keep the color scheme going. You have some wonderful activity in all of your discussion forums, and each of the discussion forums are filled with posts unlike most forums having one or two discussion forums with no posts or topics at all. Furthermore, you have an excellent forum index as well as the entire forum itself. Excellent work; nothing wrong at all in this criteria.
Oh, and I like the welcome message:
Index Appearance (Score: 9/10):
Your index is very nice; you don't have tons of things clogged up in your homepage message (like what most forums do.) You have a decent amount of categories and forums, the theme prefectly fits the general topic of the forum, and basically everything I stated in my First Impressions implemention applies to this as well. You have no blocking widgets or moving text, so your forum is very calm and still whilst having a soothing blue-on-black color scheme. You even kept your footer affiliates at a paused motion whilst other forums keep their affiliates scrolling. I sense some pretty unique qualities in your forum and definite potential in the future. Nevertheless, I did acknowledge only one problem with your forum's index: the width is a bit too wide. If you could somehow bring the width down a bit, then that would be a great achievement. Antoher thing I recommend is resizing all of your affiliates to 88x31- it will definitely make your footer look organized. Overall, your index is very attractive and will be appealing to many guests. Great job.
Forum Layout & Color Scheme (Score: 10/10):
As I stated before, your layout is nice, decent, and it fits the general topic of the forum. Dark themes fit perfectly onto miscellaneous forums such as gaming, music, general, etc... and it also fits into general topics such as yours. The banner is what definitely brings out the definition of your forum alongside the blue color scheme. I don't see anything wrong at all, so I'm just going to come out and say that you have done a great job on keeping your forum in a wonderful and controlled style and scheme; excellent work.
Categories & Forums (Score: 9/10):
Your categories and discussion forums are very arranged into a pretty decent style. You have your default on-topic discussion forums such as the Sci Fi-related generalities... and then you have your general sections right below that, and those general sections will get registering users posting and become more interested in your forum. Unlike most forums, you actually have quite a nice, numeric assortment of general sections for all topics like graphics, technical objectives dealing with technology, miscellaneous events associating with music and gaming, some great book-sharing, and even a section where users can promote their site. You have a little bit of everything in just one category, and that's superb. On the other hand, I only see one mistake with your categories and discussion forums criteria, and it's that you have the 'Off Topic Discussion' section located in the top category along with the general forum necessities. I do not believe that section should be found in the main section of the forum. If I would you, I would move it to the 'Other Content' section where it's most likable to be found. Overall, I'd say you kept a great standard in the categories and discussion forums range, and you are definitely keeping up the score of your forum's overviewing standard.
Generalities total: 38/40 Forum Style
Banner & Navigation Bar (Score: 10/10): Banner
As I have previously stated above in your forum's review, your banner is absolutely wonderful from my perspective. It fits your forum's general topic, brings out the true features of your blue-on-black color scheme, and it's generally appealing to me considering I'm reviewing your forum. Absolutely great job on the banner. Navigation Bar
You necessarily have a navigation bar, but you do have navigation utencil links to needed activity such as your forum, your portal, the forum 'store', etc. I won't count anything off for this criteria.
Images & Icons (Score: 7/10):
Well, I wouldn't say that originality is the main source on your index when it comes down to your discusison forum icons. All the discussion forum icons are is just a little box with a checkmark at the bottom-right. A science fiction-related topic forum wouldn't have icons like those. May I recommend something more like your banner- maybe a black earth or something that relates to science fiction. However, I'd still say the discussion forum icons are pretty decent and cooresponds with professionalism.
I wouldn't say that the 'new post' icons are that great as well. They seem more related to a light-colored theme. I'd recommend what I stated about your discussion forum icons above for your 'new post' icons.
Style total: 17/20 Forum Moderation & Groups
Staff Population (Score: 10/10):
I couldn't be accurate with your staff population information because it won't appear to me as I'm viewing your forum as a guest, not a member. However, as I was browsing through your forum's topics and posts, it didn't seem like there was not a big problem of membersmisbehaving where a staff member would have to pursue. I have to say that you are doing a great job keeping the forum thoroughly clean of spam and misbehavior considering you have approximately 200 members. With a member population of almost 200 members, I'd say you should have over 2 members of administration and 2-4 members of moderation.
Staff/User Groups (Score: 10/10):
As stated in the above section, I cannot view your usergroups, so I won't count this off. As mentioned, your forum is doing great as it is, just be sure to have the right amount of staff in each of your usergroups.
Usergroup total: 20/20 Forum Activity
Post/Member Ratio (Score: 6/10):
You have 181 members and approximately 3,000 posts. If you divide all of those posts into those 181 members simulateously, your average ratio would be over 16 posts per member. The estimated amount of posts a usual bycomming member would make before leaving the forum is about 5-10 posts; so, I'd say that you are tipping that a bit. 16 posts per user is great, but not too fair. I'd say that a few of your members came by your forum and only posted 2 or three times whilst the major members of the forum such as you, your first active members on your forum, and your staff would have the majority of posts with probably 200 posts each. Anyway, keep your members posting. Whenever a new member signs up, be sure to reply to that member's post immediately to have them reply; then you will qualify that member as a part of an official discussion in your forum.
Member Activity (Score: 6/10):
As stated in the above criteria, your members are pretty much active, but definitely not the majority of them. Keep the members active and send out newletters to all of the inactive members to drop by and make a few posts.
Activity total: 12/20
Overall Mark: 87/100
Conclusion
What could be done to improve your forum:
just keep the activity flowing and be sure to fix some of the minor issues stated in this review.
The best thing I like about your forum:
You kept your forum index very clean and at a great standard of professionalism by keeping the color scheme at momentum. Great job!
