SWC The Resurgence
Full Review by phio_chan
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (12 out of 20)
SWC. SWC The Resurgence. The abbreviation did not really hit me in the first place. I was wondering what the name wanted to point me too before I clicked on the link. Also the additional title 'resurgence', which means restoration or a comeback, makes me wonder if it was an old forum which was brought back to life. With that confusion in mind, I clicked on the link. After I arrived at the forum, I only felt the light after scrolling to the third category of the forum. "Ah, it's about sports and wrestling." Now the name makes sense. I asked Google about SWC and it said something related to sports conference. Well, I see the connection, but I suppose you didn't really think that far, but it was simply an abbreviation of sports and wrestling community. Rather confusing for someone who is not too keen on sports like me, but acceptable.
Moving on with the first impression of your forum when I first visited it, I had the impression that it was easy on the eyes. I'm more adapted towards darker theme, that's why I found it comfortable looking at the color combination and contrast. After logging in using the demo account provided, I realized you had many themes installed. I'll try to review those one by one as detailed as possible.
Default theme: Ah, the standard white theme. It seems to be the default ProBoards theme. You did not change anything for this theme except the banner. Talking about the banner of the default theme, I think it is a good attempt so far, but not really appropriate. The banner says "Sports Wrestling Community" with big fonts. I see two pictures related to sports and two other pictures completely unrelated (they're holding microphones; must be singers?). I'm not sure why those unrelated pictures are there if your forum is about sports and wrestling, going by the name. Going by the forum sections, it does seem like the forum is also dedicated to entertainment, but it's not significant compared to the sports and wrestling part of the forum. In my opinion, a forum or website banner should reflect the strongest and most unique content of the site, and should be focused on that. Other minor features can be advertised too but in other ways. The forum body and the footer are standard set-up; there doesn't seem to be any difference with the default ProBoards theme, which makes it rather bland. The icon for 'Forum Age' is the same with the 'Threads and Posts' icon at statistics area. It's not really an astounding theme to offer to members, especially to set with the word 'Default', but it is easy and simple on the eyes. Everything is clear and can be found rather quickly.
GREEN AND GREY 6 MONTHS: ...Okay, that's a very long theme name, to start with. It is always fun to name a title with something unique, which may represent the overall color scheme and special features it have. This one can be named "Green Hustlin'", for example. Anyway, so this is the theme I saw as a guest. I assume this is actually the real default theme of the forum. Dark themes are easier on my eyes so I'm generally more comfortable with this kind of color scheme. Now moving deeper, the banner is slightly confusing. It does reflect the basic idea of your forum better than the banner of 'Default' theme, but I had to move my head in a bit to see what that banner is composed of: two faces, each at the right and the left. However it doesn't hurt the eyes, though, and can invite interest quite fine, so I think you did a good job there. As for category/forum icons you have on this theme... I'm still trying to decipher what signs are those you used for new and no-new posts. As much as I wonder what kind of connection they have with sports and wrestling, they actually did a good job extinguishing new and old posts.
PURPLE AND WHITE 6 MONTHS: I'll skip the name problem. "Purple Attack" could be a nice name, by the way. I returned to the forum index, and it looks very similar to 'GREEN AND GREY 6 MONTHS' theme, which in my opinion does not fit this color scheme. The banner is exactly the same, just in purple and black, and it makes the pictures even less visible as compared to the green one to my eyes. I was helped because I had already known what the banner looks like, so I could easily tell this one apart too. I think it's too dark and hard to understand to be enjoyed. Same goes with the category/forum icons. They are clearly made for dark themes, and it's obvious that they didn't fit the white background well; at least not as good as they did with dark theme because of the background. The text "new" and "old" is also not easy to read; visible, but not very comfortable to look at. The diagonal lines you made as background somehow works, but it feels plain.
SWC BLACK AND RED and
SWC ORANGE: Yet more remakes of the other theme I have seen before. In both of these themes, however, the banners work better compared to the purple theme, as well as the category/forum icons.
To generally conclude a set of themes you offer, I think your forum works best with dark color scheme, bias aside. The banners and category/forum icons are designed to match such situation. I would say you work harder on that instead of trying to offer a light theme, unless you can provide a light theme with proper combination of all elements. I favor forums which offer a dark and light theme for members' choice, but it's not mandatory. If you can make one your strength and excel in it, go ahead. In all themes, you used the standard ProBoards topic icons, star rank images, and other elements. You already have some themes tweaked for your forum's preference; those are already great steps. It's a bit too bad that you don't go as deep as changing your topic icons or rank images. You're already halfway through, why not just finish? By installing sets which match the content of your forum, it will definitely help to give more personal touch and impression of professionalism. Your banners are okay so far. You can try to improve them more by using more pictures related to sport/wrestling and make them visible, but not too bright on the eyes that they will shadow the text title/tagline of the forum itself. Perhaps it doesn't have to be pictures of players. It can be items related to sports/wrestling or logo of related clubs/groups. This can give a minor but exciting variation, given how all your banners contain people and their faces. Same thing applies to the background. The diagonal lines are not too comfortable to my eyes, I feel that subtle textures will work better. Also, a customized favicon will be a nice complement, don't you think?
Site Layout – (10 out of 20)
Layout, layout. The organization of the forum. Talking about the layout of the board index, categories and forums, what concerns me most is the small size of the forum as I see it from the index. Honestly speaking, I prefer a forum not to be too long for me too scroll, so I like it short and straight to the point, but that also shouldn't stop or limit administrators to make their communities so small! Given by your name, "Sports Wrestling Community", and how you're trying to emphasize the non-sport content too (especially in entertainment), one category for them both is too small, don't you think? That is one point to start with. Going deeper, under one category, three forums are for sports and one forum is for entertainment. It is not balanced. If you want to say that sports is what your forum is trying to 'sell', I agree that sports should have more branches than entertainment, and it should stand out alone. The way you only have one category for specific content of the forum is what worries me. It's too small, and visitors/members may feel that you don't offer much for them.
Try to look inside more and see to which direction discussions can be pumped. For example, under "Sports" forum. I see it is a section for general talk of sports. Maybe branch it out to specific sports? Say, football, soccer, basketball, golf, and so on? Or sections for clubs? Or to discuss tournaments? Those are examples of how you can try to vary the discussion for members to indulge themselves in. Same goes with the "Pro Wrestling". Threads can be piling up, and interesting topics may be forgotten in older threads as new ones coming by. Potential ones can be expanded further into sub-forums or even forums, so to say. You even still have "Entertainment" which you can also explore. Sports and entertainment are very broad topics; there are a bunch of forums and blogs and websites with those themes out there, some are general and some others are specific. You need to let out the unique content you have, or else it will be boring quickly for new members/visitors. One of the steps to make them stand out is by expanding the main area and keep on adding new content.
The off-topic area is also limited. I'm still trying to figure out why you placed general discussion section and forum games together with forum announcements and suggestions. All those sections are general indeed and equally important for members, but I feel that if you placed news/announcement and suggestion forums at the top of the index page, you don't want to show forum games right away. Maybe it will be better to split the more-serious off-topic sections from the less-serious ones. Awards can be included in the first category rather than standing all alone lonely like that. I also don't think members/guests need to view the archive, especially if you have important content out there. The chat box is at its right place, in my opinion.
Last I want to touch on the news ticker. Nice idea, I always like the usage of simple addition like a news ticker to gain attention to things happening at the forum. ...Wait, the line didn't change. It only has one line. And it also still says "approaching 10,000 posts". It is a great feature, but apparently you don't update it or use it a lot? You have awards event on-going; I even have a private message coming to my inbox about it. Why not use the news ticker to advertise it too? Or put a link to random featured thread every once in a while, a not-too-active thread, to give more exposure and encourage discussions? You have good feature installed, don't let it go to waste.
Navigation is easy; ProBoards is new for me but using it for writing a review proves that it's not too confusing. It just takes time to adjust to something new. But while navigation is easy, the content are yet to be organized, I'd say.
Statistics and Activity – (9 out of 20)
Let's start counting the numbers! SWC has 10,200 posts when I wrote this part with 29 members during your six months open. Posts are also made regularly each day. Roughly dividing it, it means around 352 posts per members. That's a crazy number! Around 8,000 posts are made by three staff members. The rest is split between other members, and may involve unseen posts too. It doesn't matter. The number means a lot. With only around 10 active members base, your forum can reach ten thousand posts. That means dedication, and that is a pretty achievement. Congratulations. The sad thing is that the posts are mainly by the staff team members, and it gives the impression that only certain bunch of the members are enjoying the forum. Not much participation from other members. Only two members made as far as 850 and 600 posts, others are way below that. This should become your concern if it has not. You need to figure out a way to get more members from your current list to participate, and in a longer run to get new members who are also pretty active. It may not have to be amazingly active and make a hundred posts in a day; but making few worthy and insightful posts means a lot more than that. Add events, add new content, add new sections to enjoy more discussions, and so on. Work on spreading the post/member ratio even better.
Another thing I will mention is the activity in making new posts and new threads. I will not talk much about making new posts; so far you and fellow members seem to be able to do that just fine for your to reach lovely number of posts. And so the attention comes to the rate of new threads, which I conclude as low, after browsing three forums under your one on-topic category. "SWC Wrestling" forum seems to be updated rather often by one sole staff member. The content appears to be some kind of role-playing? I'm not too sure about the content. But anyway, from the first page of the other three forums, I can barely find any threads started on December. Some are started on late November, yes, but there could've been more. Your community seems to be mainly focused on posts instead of new threads. It's not a bad thing to make posts, but if you can spare more time and effort to make new threads to provide more topics to talk to, perhaps more members can join you in to enrich the discussion.
Content – (6 out of 20)
Ah, so now we are talking about content. Let's see what I can point out to help you improve the forum.
To start with, as I have said above, the forum lacks specificity. The layout is simple that it is easy to click around, yes. But once I get on the forums, I'm rather confused about what to do since the threads are so not organized. Sports and entertainment are very big. I can't feel the direction to where you want the discussion to grow to. I don't mean for you to limit the discussions, but to show more what members can discuss, at least. You each have one section for general sports, for wrestling, and for entertainment. What are we supposed to do there? What topic exactly can we discuss? It is not clear. And even if members can talk about basically anything inside those sections, topics can be easily lost in other pages and therefore it's confusing. Break down the sections, show what we can talk about, start new threads, and drive discussions.
To get more inside the thread, I should say I'm rather disappointed in the posts themselves, some of them. Especially the first post, mostly. Take this thread for example:
I think a topic should be clear for at least those who are not familiar with the genre to be able to give opinions for a little. Let's say I'm someone new to the community and new to sports and wrestling world. The topic above will be very confusing to me. Okay, there is a thread title, but the post is not very helpful at all. You could have at least explain a bit more about the names you write, or perhaps quote the source article to give background for members to respond to you. You can see the response; the posts replying to that thread are not shaping a discussion, the chat did not go anywhere. Because you didn't give enough background story and something to discuss. If there is only a short background story or article, you can write few lines introducing your opinions or thoughts, and see later what members have to respond to you. And then you can respond again. That way it will bring discussion and things will be more lively.
This is the main problem I see in your activity and content. The community seems laid-back, but I can hardly feel any huge and unique discussion. The threads and types of discussion can be found in sport-related section in a general discussion forum, for example. The discussions are more like a fun chit-chat between friends in real life with no sign of trying to bring it to a new level to make visitors/members interested and staying.
Until this point I'm also still wondering about the content "SWC Wrestling" forum, to be honest. It looks like some kind of role-playing or fan fiction where you combine people or situation and build your own story, but I can be wrong. I wonder if anybody else is as confused about it as me, so a clear forum description or an introduction thread to that section will be very helpful.
The last is probably the organization of the events. You have one section for awards, with only one thread and three posts. You actually have a Secret Santa event going on too, without utilizing that section. Given how the current thread on awards section is inactive, maybe you don't need a section at all. About the events itself they are pretty fun and much directed to Christmas and New Year, but I would like to suggest to add events related to the main theme of your forum, which are sports and entertainment. Something regular and fun for members to enjoy may help spark activity a bit.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (4 out of 20)
The number '4' is probably the lowest score for this section I have ever given to any review. Let's find out why.
The biggest cause to this low score is thread duplication. It hurts the professionalism aspect very much. I very much respect honesty and hard work, so it hurts me when I clicked on Secret Santa and Annual Awards thread and I found that the content of those topics are very much similar to Forum Promotion's Secret Santa 2013 and Awards 2013 too. I know that these events are popular around this time around of the year, so it's understandable that forums and websites are holding the event for their members/visitors. However, I do not appreciate that you are copying the content of threads from some other forum and use it on your own forum. That shows that you lack ideas and efforts and motivation to work for your own forum.
The second point is usage of language. I have to say that up to certain point I'm not very comfortable with usage of language in your forum. I know it is freedom of speech, but I think since it is a public place, we can be a bit more careful with what we write/say. Sometimes you and your members use cursing words, which may be offensive for several visitors. We never know. Again, related to the atmosphere that you feel like this is a chit-chat between friends in real life, perhaps you feel it is okay to write so. It can be okay if it's in forum games or as a joke in general discussion area, but to use it in on-topic sections, that's not a very proper thing to do, if we're talking about professionalism.
Other than that I notice you have a lot of mistakes in your writing. Let's take one easiest example of the line on your news ticker: "Welcome to SWC we are 6 months old and are approaching 10,000 posts." It can be broken down to "Welcome to SWC. We are 6 months old and approaching 10,000 posts!" to make it more tidy. As I browse around the topics and posts I notice many mistakes like this. There are also couples of grammatical errors and usage of non-formal languages, such as writing "u" instead of "you", "quenue" instead of "queue", and "ETC" instead of "etc.". Your forum descriptions are also standard and not too detailed, like "Discuss all the Things Wrestling" for "Pro Wrestling" forum. That is not descriptive at all. Try to use other words while trying to describe a word so visitors/members won't be confused while reading it.
Total Score - (41 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
After writing that wall of texts above, I feel that SWC The Resurgence lacks originality and specificity. You have been supported well enough in technical area, in my opinion. Unfortunately you are yet to give content strong enough to complement those that may make visitors and members interested in staying longer. And so those are the points you need to ponder. Brainstorm with the staff members and the community itself about what they want to see which can hopefully help the discussion to get better. You already have it, but it feels way too casual for an online forum/community. Best of luck with the forum.
Strengths:
- - Good customized theme
- An active (staff) member base
Weaknesses:
- - Content lacks originality and specificity
- No 'real' discussion, more like casual chit-chat
- Not many (regular) members are actively participating
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