Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
When viewing your forums for the first time I was instantly interested. The design topped it all of making it feel like a graphics websites as some lack this. However one part that turned me off was having the winner of large art or "Signature of the week" at the top of the website. This is unique but graphics websites are some of the hardest forums to get started when being "unique" or different.
I strongly suggest making this at the bottom of the forums until you get a solid member base. Why? Well because most graphics sites (well known) ones put at bottom to make sure it isn't cluttered at the top. Plus you have a
HUGE empty space when you scroll down to the bottom of the forums. This could fill in that space. Overall though if I was a guest just visiting your website for the first
time which I sorta was I would gladly join and become active.
(Scored 18/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
The layout is unique in some ways and lacks different in others. One area that lacks
"I'm here" is the donation area. If you want people to start donating and helping money wise, It is probably best to make it shown a bit more. Maybe you could add a different background color for the donation area. Like I said above the signature winner & avatar winner. Really isn't fitting at the top in my opinion and I think you should look into re-placing it underneath the forum where that
HUGE empty space is showing. As that empty space does make your site in my opinion a bit unprofessional.
The design itself is very suiting for the kind of forums you are currently running. They are easy on the eyes and supply satisfaction to your users. Some of the text throughout your forums are a bit hard to read with the dark blue on black. I would look into changing this a bit so people don't have to squint their eyes just to view the text. Also just a suggestion towards making your site a bit better is to remove the viewing the shoutbox text as a guest. Also when registering and logging I still notice that the top becomes more and more cluttered having the shoutbox viewable. I still stand by my point that you should definantly look into adding that Awards part to the bottom.
Now some of the links on your navigation can be viewed as guests which I'm sure your aware of. However having this can have it's pros & cons, One pro that is can have is it's showing your guests that they will get this feature when they
register. However people like me viewing your website will think the opposite your basically showing that you
HAVE to register to get these features. What's my point? Well I'm suggesting removing the viewable links to the shoutbox and anything else guests cannot use until they register. However leave all forums to be viewed by guests.
I would also move your affiliates area maybe also to the bottom as it isn't very "see able" unless your trying to find it as the sidebar is getting a bit cluttered as well.
(Scored 15/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
When viewing your forum. When I was on I noticed that your
shoutbox was more active than your own forums. As I didn't see one person who was on not in the shoutbox. However it seems that when people are not chatting away in the shoutbox that they are doing tons of posting throughout the day & night. Your site is defiantly on the right path towards the next website for graphics. All you need to now is to really drag your members into the site a bit more maybe more activities and less staff. If you bring in to many staff some members might think this site is a joke and just well over staffing is not fun to anyone who isn't staff. It also makes your site a bit more of an easy way to gain staff on your site. But overall your site is heading in the right way as I stated above.
(Scored 8/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Yes, I am going to let you know that you have
WAY to many admins for the size of the activity you get daily. Having around four admins is a bit too many in my opinion considering how many people are on at once, and or how many people on daily. I suggest if you need to keep all those people to have around two admins at
max and maybe demote the others to a higher end super moderator if needed. I have also noticed that your staff have been well doing their job couldn't find any threads not in the right section or anything like that. Other than having too many admins, I noticed that you guys are doing your job when needed. Which that's how it should be if your running that many admins. The only way which it would be okay to have that many admin's is if you split them up in the following order.
For example lets say each admin handles something different.
Admin 1 - Handles the community
Admin 2 - Handles server side stuff
Admin 3 - is head admin (Founder) ect..
Admin 4 - Handles the actual layout and style.
(Scored 5/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
As far as I could see most of the site was using proper grammar and showing somewhat of professionalism. However there was some parts of the forum descriptions that could of been worded a bit differently. But for the most part everything seems to be right in order (Spelling wise).
(Scored 14/20)
Total Score - 60 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The design itself was probably my favorite thing about the whole site.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
The clutter throughout the main part of the website.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
Defiantly by moving some of the clutter around the site to make it less cluttered.
After you have read your review, please click the following link and rate our service to help us make it better for you.... [
Click Here]
.
