Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
When I first visit your site the first thought I get is, What a nice portal, but when I scroll down I see that what I thought was a portal was just an introduction text for the forum that is below. Not that I am saying there is anything wrong with the introduction text, I actually quite like it. But, between the end of the text and the start of the forum there is a large gap. I would suggest bringing the forum up and removing this gap. This makes it feel like a whole page instead of a portal and a separate forum underneath.
I love the theme, mainly due to the colour flow. The dark red/purple colour that runs through the entire theme creates a flow that is gentle on the eyes and makes me as a reader want to continue down the page. The main browns and beiges are also gentle on the eyes and run smoothly into eachother. I do find the font colour a little too similar to the background which makes them a little hard to read, I would suggest making the font colour slightly darker.
The text on the introduction text seems slightly distorted which hurts the eyes to read, especially on a bright computer screen. I would suggest looking into the cause of this.
The logo is very nice and I can tell a lot of thought has gone into it. It is nice to see how it has been worked into the design by having the image background pattern the same as the new post images on the categories. I only have a couple of things to point out with the logo. The image doesn't feel centred. I don't know if this is the logo that is not in the center of the page, or if it is the menu or the introduction texts. Something isn't in the right place and it puts the eye off. Other than that I would love to see the logo a little bigger. It really is a great logo though that really suits the theme!
The favicon is currently a leaf. I don't see any leaves on your theme, or anything that is green. I don't have a problem with the favicon, it is a good clear image. But I would like to see a favicon that is the same as an image in the skin, or is a little more tied in. Maybe the feather that is used in the logo? Just not the patterned image, you don't want to over-use it.
(Score: 18/20)
Site Layout
You currently have 4 sections. The first section, Official Business, contains 4 categories. I feel that these 4 categories are good and don't see any changes that need to be made here.
To be completely honest, All your sections are good. I don't know many details about your roleplay so I cannot comment on the amount of categories that are needed. But I can see that all of these categories are filled with decent content.
Personally I don't like shoutboxes, but I have no problem with yours. It is out of the way and is not being over-used. The chat in the shoutbox seems a little too off topic though.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity
Total Forum Posts: 10,308
Total Members: 96
Open since: 18th August
These stats aren't great. I would expect a lot more of a forum that has been open for nearly a year. You don't even have 100 members yet. I can understand that it is difficult to get new users considering your forum niche, but I would suggest you promoting your forum more and swapping affiliates with more forums that have a similar niche.
You have a forum here that has potential, but you need to do more for it to grow.
Activity wise your forum is doing really well, with 23 members logging in within the last 24 hours when I am visiting your site. However, the large amount of guests you have visiting your site does make me wonder a little. I suggest you doing more to get these guests to join. Maybe make the roleplay section a logged in to view section.
(Scored 8/20)
Staff Moderation
I don't see any spam on your forum which is always a very positive sign. You only have 2 administrators, who do seem to be keeping on top of things and to be actively posting in the community. These admins are doing their job well.
I would like to suggest maybe hiring a couple of support staff that help to keep conversation alive and moving. They could be moderators or just writers. As your forum has over 10000 posts I feel that 1 more member of staff may be needed. However, with only 96 members you may not feel this is needed. It is your own choice, it does depend on how you feel the content is on the site.
(Scored 16/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
Your grammar is amazing and your site is run very professionally. If I were to comment on one thing, it would be the admins way of writing in the shout box. Other than that, an amazing, well run site.
(Scored 19/20)
Total Score - 80/100
Final Remarks
I can see that a lot of work has been put into this site, but I can also see growth has been slow. I would suggest channelling more effort into growth and less into development right now.
Strong Points
Skin, Users grammar and activity
Things to Improve
Member count, statistics
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