Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
This forum feels very fresh from most gaming forums. Not many go with a light skin, and this one seems to work very well. I really do like the banner set up; but, there's really not much going on, and shows this is a gamer's forum, all except for "Game's" in the title. Try to get a banner that dresses it up a little, with gaming consoles, characters, ect.
The skin/template looks good, and organized. I reall like the new/old icon; reminds me of Yoshi eggs. I really, really don't like the c-box how it is placed. It should be at the bottom, but how it is presented should be fixed. You may not know this, but you can alter the HTML code for the c-box, and change the width and hieght to fit your forum. It just looks very unprofessional the way it is stacked so high, and with no width.
Plus, the horror of chatboxes .... I can see you're already getting url spams, with the latest entry in the c-box "swapitshopboards.com". Be very weary, that c-box's can either make or break a forum. In most cases, ruins a gaming forum. Sure, you'll still get members to log on, but they'll spend most their time in the c-box.
(17 /20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
I'm usually not fond of the Forum's material placed at the bottom, but i believe you've manged it well. You still have your announcements up top; while all forum support is at the bottom. Though, i would suggest swapping announcements and the new members board.
For the gaming section. I strongly believe that 3 boards can be combined. Adding other consoles, and handhelds, to the general console banter would work; thus, combing the topic/posts totals, and making that one board look more active. You could probably even make handhelds a sub-board, but i think it would still fit in with the rest.
In the General section, here's a common mistake alot of forums make. You have a "Media" section, where it sayd "all things media." So, why does music have it's own board? You'll either want to combine the two, or change "Media" to something like "TV/Movies".
Everything else seems pretty good, but, as far as "staff applications" goes, it really doesn't need a board all to itself. A topic in the announcemnts section should suffice enough. Especially since it's a locked board, a locked topic will do just fine.
(15 /20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Your forum's gained some ok stats since being open. 30 members in 2 weeks, is pretty good, averaging about 2 a day. But, with over 600 posts, which roughly averages to 20 posts per member; doesn't quite add up, seeing as the head admim has over 220 posts. So something is not keeping members from joining, then immediately leaving.
One of the main problemes; is it's a gaming foroum, but, the one board "forum games" has more posts than all of your 7 gamin boards combined. You guys likes games right, not forum/chat games, but video games. Then it's time to start making topics, about video games. And more of them. If you just start with generic game topic, "Whats' your favorite game for .... " members can find those anywhere. They're looking for fresh topics, and fresh discussions.
(14 /20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
So far, I've found 2 admins, and on "coder", whatever that means. And 2 admins is not necessary, unless the two began as partners, so that's ok, seeing as this is the first couiple weeks of the forum opening.
But, I can't access anything moderator related, unless i see "Admin" in someone's mini-profile. Guests like to see a staff lists, and how well manages the site it upon joining. Alot of people join a new gaming forum, cause their last one either got boring, or wasn't managed correctly by staff.
There is nothing to show me, cause i can'y click the admin/moderator buttons as a guests. You really need a "staff Team" topic, somewhere, I actually expected to see one in either the report board, or forum help section. But couldn't. Heck, I can't even tell if you're on staff Bapinder. Your title says "Coder" ; not admin, or moderator.
(17 /20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
Nothing bad to report on spelling, but, in punctuation, you need to them to your descriptions, especially periods at the ends. And, now, one thing alot of new forum admins to, is get in a hurry to make a new forum. I want you to take a little time, and re-read everyone of your board descriptions. And notice anything, about how bland, and repetitive they sound. It's because you wrote them up so fast, and just repeated , just using a diffferent word, from the board title , in the description.
Now, go through each on, one at a time, and really think, even say it out loud to yourself, until you come up with something intersting to wriye, and something that grabs the reader's attention. i'm not saying your site is boring, but, you can't help but notice, those boards were rushed when putting the forum together. I made the same mistake myself.
(16 /20)
80 - (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The text in the banner, but still needs something added to it. There's really nothing gaming at all on the forum's index page, that makes it feel like a good gaming forum.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The CHAT BOX! I just have a personal vendetta against them. It may work, but try get it looking more presentible.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
I'm always interested in gaming forums. Just there are so many to chose from, this probably wouldn't be my next choice, until there are more gaming topics, and better gaming discussions that warrant my participation.
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