The Mario Forums
Full Review by Jadster
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (16 out of 20)
My first impressions on TMF was astonishing. The activity, stats, and appearance of the site were just remarkable. I loved seeing how active the forum is, how the stats are, and the design of the site really grabbed my attention and really hooked me into the site. I was also astonished by the nice banner that you use for the website. The frozen Mario icon that you used is a nice little addition to the banner as well. I was really expecting something more old fashioned to be honest but it is nice to see something other then old fashion Mario icons. So overall, your theme has some nice colors, images, and the banner is very nice looking and there isn't much I can say that needs to be fixed. So, let us move onto the layout of your site.
Site Layout – (16 out of 20)
One of the many things that I love about your site is it has a wonderful layout and organization of categories, boards, navigation and much more. The navigation links work properly, navigation throughout the entire site is very easy and isn't hard to figure out. The navigation bar is working fine and you use up a good bit of the space with it, the banner isn't out of place. Your ads, affiliates and such are set properly and aren't out of place at all. You also have a good amount of boards & categories and have spread the boards around the categories so there aren't a lot or very few in a category which really helps bring out the professionalism in the site. One thing that I do think that takes away from the site though is the shout box because people can mess around in the shout box and not be posting around the site which can have a slow but major impact on the stats & content in the end. Overall, your layout of TMF is pretty well cleaned up and well organized and there isn't much to be worked on there. So let us move onto the stats & activity of the site.
Statistics and Activity – (16 out of 20)
The activity of TMF is something that really stands out to me. You have a lot of active members & a lot of active staff as well which is a good balance but I noticed that you have 2 groups named "Retired Staff" and I wasn't sure why this was to be honest. I noticed that you have a total of 212,278 posts but there wasn't a stat showing the amount of topics so I can't implement that into this review but for a site that is over 2 years old, that is pretty good to be honest but I do not know how many of those are topics and how many are actual posts. I also took a look into your Alexa ranking and it really needs help. Your current Alexa rank is 1,362,399 and your US rank is 177,947. You also have 0 star reviews and a total of 32 back links which is good but the star reviews is poor for a site like yours. I was expecting it to have a good amount of reviews and more back links to be honest. You should see what you can do about raising your ranking in Alexa & US as well as getting more back links & star reviews. Overall, you have good activity but the stats could be a bit more specific and the ratings could be better.
Content – (15 out of 20)
Like I mentioned above, you have a total of 212,278 posts but I do not know how many of those posts are topics and all so that makes it a little harder to review. But for a site like TMF, that is a pretty good amount of content for a site its age. I really think that the content is a good amount and could be higher but doesn't have to be nor is it expected to be as it is an older site really. The content count is really showing that your members & staff like to post around and really like to chat about gaming and Mario. The content count does show that a lot of these posts and such didn't come from just packages and that they are actual posts & topics from your active members and such. Overall, TMF has a great content count and you just need to keep it up!
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (17 out of 20)
After looking around TMF and reading some of the content that is there, I can see that the topics stay on topic for the most part, the grammar and spelling are great and aren't all messed up and many of the posts are very respectful and professional. Those characteristics really bring out the professionalism of TMF and so does the theme. When I think of Mario, I think of kids but your site really proves that even a gaming site can be very professional for kids & adults alike. The content shows very few errors from what I was reading and there weren't many grammatical errors from what I could see. Overall, the site is very professional just like the theme but also in the content that you have all around. So let us wrap up this review with my final words!
Total Score - (80 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Overall, TMF was a great site to get to review and I hope to get the chance to review it again some day but keep it up and I hope you enjoyed the review!
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
- - Shoutbox
- Alexa Ranking
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