Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
Ok, first things first, you guys should work on getting a domain. The IPB is nice, but with a domain, it’ll make it look even better. Even if you have to get a free one for now, it’s better than .invinsionzone.com since it’ll shorten it. I do see that you have a vote up for this and most of your members are saying stay what it is for now. You have to be careful though; someone might see that and take all of the domains you’re interested in. The banner looks great, but it makes e think your forum is strictly Halo. Try adding some other characters into the banner so people know more what it’s about. “The Local Pub” doesn’t help with knowing either because that could refer to a lot of different things. The Shout box is a downside. Instead of having messages sent there, those could instead be posted and higher the post count on the forum. Maybe have a general chat thread in the general discussion forum to take its place. The theme is overall great. It will be too dark for some, and as long as you have lighter themes like you do, those who don’t like the dark theme can just change. The side bar is nice. I never used to like the stuff on the side bar until I moved my forum to IPB and realized how helpful it is. I also got reminded from this that I need to add my Facebook feed to my sidebar.
😛 The Top X Stats seems to take up a little bit too much space. If it’s possible to make it a little smaller, do it.
(Score: 16/20)
Site Layout
The layout and order of forums is a little confusing. I also feel like there are more forums than what’s actually needed. First of all, the Help and Suggestions forums can be moved into one. I’d merge the approved/denied suggestions sub forums into one with the resolved issues forum and call it Archive or something like that. Why don’t you merge the 3 News forums in ‘The Local Pub News’ and just sticky the topics for featured news? Also, you don’t need a news archive, just leave the news there and when it gets too old, close it or something. Or if you want to keep it, make it a sub forum. The whole “TLP Events” category should be sub forums under Announcements or at least moved into the “Site Forum” category. You don’t need 5 Graphics forums when there’s hardly any discussion in any of them. Have 1 forum called ‘Graphics’ and then have those 5 be sub forums under it. I’d also consider merging the ‘Gaming Systems’ and the ‘Title Games’ categories into one and calling it ‘Gaming’.
(Scored 14/20)
Statistics and Activity
For being a relatively new forum, you are doing quite well! Many people say "Free hosts won't get you anywhere(subdomains, ect)" - which I totally don't agree with - well you are breaking that mold. Your members are actively taking part in the community and making it more fun for those there. You have great activity and great staff, keep it up!
(Scored 19/20)
Staff Moderation
You have a perfect amount of staff, and they are all doing their jobs and interacting with the community. All suggestions are answered swift fully and professionally. The staff on this forum is doing an exceedingly well job at what they are doing and helping the community. They are the backbone of your forum, and a very strong one too! Keep it up!
😀
(Scored 20/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
All your forums seem to be good on spelling and such, I'd just watch to keep it as fresh as possible. If you have time, updating your forum descriptions every two weeks or so will really help freshen up the forum. Many people just write them and forget about them until someone spots an error. In your case, great descriptions, just keep changing them though (or rotate).
(Scored 20/20)
Total Score - 89/100
Final Remarks
Strong Points
Great theme and layout
Things to Improve
Staying on a subject.
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