Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
After I click onto your site, the first thing I notice is your banner. I think this banner is great, and you did a great job making it.
I don't particularly like the skin, though. You have a great banner but a skin that doesn't really match up with it too well. I'm not quite getting the squares in the background either, not sure what it has to do with Sonic.
The black background really just has nothing to do with Sonic, I would make it a whiteish blue color, and have more to do with Sonic characters. You can barely see the board titles with the blue font and such.
I really like how you have Sonic down at the bottom by your online list though, that's pretty damn cool looking.
The skin is really the main problem with the first impressions, your banner is great and sonic down by the who is online list is great, but it's really just that skin that would turn a guest away.
(Scored 13/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
Your layout isn't bad, here's some suggestions:
You have a board called " New Member " then under that you have one called " About You " I don't think you need this at all. I suggest you move your member Introductions board to the top under Community Issues and also move About You down to the general chat area. You don't really need that category.
I like how condensed your sonic discussion area is, and you seem to do fine with it the way it is. I recommend you move your gaming discussion category above off topic, as your site has more to do with gaming than off topic. Same with Fan Media, move that above general topic and below the gaming discussion area.
Other than those, your layout is great.
(Scored 17/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Your site was launched back in September, and now you've got 235 members and 35k posts, that's average. About 5 k posts per month, which isn't bad at all. Nice stats.
(Scored 19/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Here is the biggest problem. You don't want all these groups displayed at the bottom. Only display your Administrators and Moderators and Registered Users down there. You don't need the color legend for these special groups you have down there, it is very unattractive.
You have 4 administrators. This is way too many. You don't want 4 administrators on any site, most sites with 500k+ posts have no more than 3 administrators. I would recommend you stop hiring Admins entirely for now, and just keep the 4 you've got.
The plus side is these admins are all active.
You have too many moderators. For a board with 35k posts, having 5 moderators is a little much, 3 is an ideal number. For now, you're good with what you've got, don't hire any mods until you've got about 65k posts.
The plus side again is your staff is quite active.
(Scored 15/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
No issues at all here. High mark.
(Scored 20/20)
Total Score - 84(Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
You've got a great site going on here, and a great memberbase. I really suggest overhauling that skin, and getting something a little more sonic friendly.
What was most liked about the website/forums:
Your banner, and the big sonic down by the users online list. That's a great touch.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The skin.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
Replace the skin and I might have a look.
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