XWA

[xwadigg]

Name of Forum: XWA Universe
Forum Link: xwauniverse.com
Type of Review ( Quick Review / Forum Review / Blog Review ): Forum Review
Date Forum Opened: 2008
Demo Account for reviewer (Supplied by requester): FP
Pass: review
Additional Notes: 😎

 

[SheepishWolf]

Accepted!

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Thank you for requesting a Forum Promotion review. You will have your review completed in 48 hours or less. If you have any questions regarding your review, feel free to ask me. While you are waiting on your review, why don't you look around the forum! After your review is finished, please rate your reviewer on how they did Here.

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Thank you for using the Forum Promotion Review Service,
Review Team​

 

[xwadigg]

Ok, so this will be done within 2 hrs?

 

[SheepishWolf]

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Your Forum Review​

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First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
Honestly, when I first visited this site I had no idea that it was on Freeforums. (That's a good thing).
Something I do not like about the forum index when I first view it is the very large banner in the place of a forum description. In the navigation bar it clearly says "register" and you have a "welcome" message that mentions registering under the navigation bar, so by putting a second very large banner on the forum is kind of overdoing it a bit. I can understand how you would want to make it very clear that the guests should register, but there is such a thing as "too-much" in regards to that. And, to be frank the banner just looks odd in the forum and is only taking up space. I would recommend that you get rid of that.

I really like your forums banner, but I do think that the font could use a change (in the banner). I'm pretty sure that it is one of the default fonts, nothing really special. Something more..interesting would work in your forum. Also, in your banner the word "universe" and some of the right side images are lined with red - whereas the forum icons, and what seems to be the secondary color of the forum is orange. I think that you should change either the secondary forum color to red or the outlines in the banner and "universe" text in the banner to orange. Personally, I think it would look better if you just changed the banner image outlines and "universe" text to orange, but that is just an opinion.

The images you have in the " Xtreme Wrestling Association " category really look good. I like how you have them all the same size and they all look nice with that forum. Good job on that, it was really creative. Speaking of images, the favicon image you have is really nice, it's great that you have one.

I think that you have a bit too many ads on the forum index. You have a large sized forum, but you're on a free host which shouldn't require much - if any - funds. So I'm not sure why you have 2+ ads on the forum index, not to mention the self advertising links above and below the forum index, linking to some threads. I think that you should cut down on the amount of advertisements on the forum index, it can be a big turn off to many forum guests.
(Scored 17/20)

Site Layout - (Out of 20)
When I view the site as a guest I see one of the first forums/categories set as "Copyright Disclaimer -
XWA is a fan site and is not associated with, sponsored, by, or endorsed in any way by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) or Total Nonstop Action (TNA).". I think that that would look better from a guests point of view, if it was placed per say in the footer of the forum instead? Anywhere but as a category taking up space would be better. Guests and members typically don't like to have a really long forum index, because sometimes it makes the page take longer to load. So by you having the extra category which could take up space if it was at the footer of the forum is not really good.

Really, the only other problem I see with the forum layout is the category "FYI". Actually, I see two problems with it. 1) There's only one forum in that category, so what is the point of having that category at all when you could just add it to another category? 2) It's below the off-topic forums. The way I see it, your forum should have the most important information closer to the top, or as close to the top as possible. That way there is more of a chance for a guest or member to view it.
(Scored 14/20)

Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
It's obvious by the amount of members on in the last day or so that you've got a really good member base.

By my calculations there are about one hundred fifty-four posts per user. That's really great. That means that even if you have XX amount of empty, no post, inactive accounts, that your forum still has enough active and regular members to make up for them. Right now, your forum activity is so good that it actually would be kind of pointless for me to make suggestions on how to get you more active members, since you already have so many of them.

You've done a good job getting into Google, which may have part of your forums overall success and statistics. I typed in "XWA u" and it automatically came up -

Which means, that if a user just happened to be typing in "XWA" and accidentally added on a "u" to that, then there's a good chance that they could stumble upon your forum.

You've got really great statistics, and really active forum with one heck of a user base. Great job with that. Be happy with your stats, but not satisfied. Because once you become satisfied you may start loosing the activity you currently have. I've seen it happen to so many good forums, where the owner starts to get cocky with their activity and they stop advertising and such. Don't do that.
(Scored 19/20)

Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
You have way too many administrators. Nine administrators leaves a lot of room for accidents (i.e. one of the passwords getting out). I would say that you should cut down the amount of administrators to about four, considering the amount you have right now. You should never let that many people have that high access to the administration control panel, look at how much larger forum promotion is than your forum; but it only has three administrators, and it is running just fine.

I really like how you have different groups that members can apply to join in, but they are not staff. That's kind of interesting and [semi]unique. Though I do think that some of the colors a a little too bright. It may just be how bright my monitor is and those colors are just amplified by it, but from my point of view they're really bright. Perhaps dimming some of them down a notch or two would be good for people similar to me who also have bright or semi-bright monitors.
(Scored 10/20)

Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
I legitimately could not find any grammar or spelling errors in the forum index, rules, or or main places of the forum. That's wonderful.

Having no (or none that can be caught by my eye, in which case you are lucky) spelling or grammar errors in the forum index descriptions and such can really leave a good impression for some picky or more professional members who may be viewing your forum.

I do think though, that this should be removed from the rules - "...and be active 🙂".
Since that sentence I quoted above was in the rules, it makes it seem like it is a forum rule to be active. That could imply a number of things, some of which being that their account will be deactivated or banned if they do not have X amount of posts a week. That will not be caught by many (if any) users on the forum, and can't harm your forum in the long run, but if you ever feel the need to edit the rules then changing that would be one thing that could benefit your forum.

(Scored 19/20)

Total Score - 79/100​

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Final Remarks:

What was most liked about the website/forums: The activity.

What was disliked most about the website/forums: The amount of administrators.

How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Change the user group fonts, and fix some of the minor problems I mentioned above. There are not many, I would probably join how it currently is.


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]

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[xwadigg]

This sites reviewing is so damn contradicting and inconsistent.
The last time i got a review, i got a 92 or 93.

Spoiler

First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
The first thing I notice when I come to your site is your banner. It's a pretty awesome banner! The extremely large header is pretty irritating, but it's not a huge deal since it obviously goes away when you register (this comment prompted me to log in via the test account). I don't like the way the chat box is at the top of the forum; I think it would look better at the bottom. However, I don't think there's any way for you to change that since you're on FreeForums.org; if there is, though, I would definitely recommend moving it to the bottom. Other than those two things, though, your theme really looks nice. It really suits your site, too. I wouldn't recommend any other changes.

In addition to having a lot of aesthetic appeal, your forum also looks extremely active at first glance. You have a huge amount of posts and members, and you have had a ton of members connected to the forum in the past twenty-four hours. I seriously doubt that any user in the world would leave your forum because it's not active enough.

Overall, my first impression of your forum was excellent.
(Scored 19/20)

Site Layout - (Out of 20)
Your site's index is pretty long. However, you've organized it well, and the size of your site certainly justifies the size of your index. Although you have a lot of forums, they all seem to be used heavily. It appears that your layout has developed over time because it works for your forum. You could use a trim to your index, but I wouldn't say it's direly needed. You obviously know what you're doing here; it looks like your layout is the way it is because that's what makes your forum work for your users. If you can find any way to trim it down slightly, though, that would be helpful.
(Scored 18/20)

Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Although there are other good aspects of your forum, activity is where your forum really shines. It appears that your forum is just under the one thousand post per day mark, and you've got almost 150 posts for each of your five thousand members. These statistics are amazing! Your forum really seems to be heading in a positive direction. It also appears that you've reached the point where the forum basically advertises itself. You've got so many users that it's almost inevitable that your userbase will grow by itself. However, you should keep up on your advertising just to make sure your forum experiences as much growth as it possibly can. Basically, I can only tell you to keep doing what you've been doing. It's worked well.
(Scored 20/20)

Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Your staff appears to be about as close to flawless as any team can be. You currently employ twenty people unless I'm mistaken. That does seem like a legitimately large staff on paper, but you've got five thousand members. Your forum is also partly dedicated to role playing, so you need extra staff members to run that. I think that your staff is a good size for your level of activity. All of your staff members are very active, too; virtually every one of your staff members has an amazing post count. Looking at your introduction section, it also appears that no member goes without a welcoming. I think that your staff is doing a very good job, and I wouldn't recommend any changes here.
(Scored 20/20)

Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
This area is probably the part of your review where I have the most mixed feelings. Some of your forum descriptions are fantastic; the picture ones for your RP section are fantastic. Some of the text descriptions are great, too, like your description for "Forum Games." Some of them are short and relatively bland, though. Your forum is really large, and it probably gets a lot of people viewing it every single day. Your descriptions should sell your forum to the guests. Make sure that every description is up to the level that your good descriptions are, and you'll be golden.
(Scored 16/20)
Total Score - 93 (Out of 100)


Final Remarks: Your forum is really doing very well. There are a few minor problems that you might want to correct, but you're doing very well for the most part.

Strong Points: Your activity, staff, and theme are wonderful.

Improvements to Make: You may consider changing your forum's layout and cutting down the index if at all possible.

Last time, one of my strong points was the fact that i had a big staff. And why wouldnt i? Their are over 100+ daily members. Now, this time around, my weak points is the fact that i have a large staff? Tha f*ck is up with that. The only things that have changed since my last review is a change of theme/banner, shortening the forum, and new members coming. How the hell does my score drop by a dozen because of that? You all are fools, this is the last time im usin this site for anything.

 

[SheepishWolf]

Because different reviewers review differently and see things differently.
If everyone on FP who was going to review your site gave you a 92, stating the same thing, then how would that help you at all? It's the same way with users; not every one of them will see that it is great that you have so many staff (for example).

And I wasn't keen on the fact you have nine administrators because that leaves nine different ways to get into the administration control panel and potentially harm your forum. I don't see a reason for a forum to have more than five administrators, regardless of the size (with exceptions; i.e. Gaiaonline). Why not take down some of them and make them moderators? They are basically doing the same thing, but without access to the administration control panel, and if they want to do something in there they should consult you first regardless. And I never said it was because you had a large staff - it isn't bad to have a large staff with a forum of your size. But I don't see why most of them have to be administrators.

And swearing is rude and crude; regardless of your emotions it is not polite to use on a public forum. Synonyms such for "F***ed up" could be "messed up" and so on.

Everyone has a different opinion. That's what reviews are made up of. Complaining about it will not change how people view it. Unless there is any factual evidence to back up that you need to have that many admins, my opinion won't be changing, take it or leave it.

And as to the question "How the hell does my score drop by a dozen because of that?" - perhaps I just more harshly than whoever did you last review.

Regardless, thank you for your feedback 🙂

 

[Safari]

With all due respect to you, Snowflake. I am a proud member of the site, and a very proud moderator. The last review we received from this site, the staff got a 20/20. How do we go from a perfect score to a 10/20? Nothing changed with the admins. Yes, we have 9 admins, but everyone of them has proved them self to the site. It's not like Digg lets anyone become admin. It's a huge insult for you to rate our forum 79/100 when it is one of the top 5 most active free forum forum's. If you'd like, you could make us a banner for the forum, since you know how to do it. We wouldn't mind. It's not like we already have professional artist on the site who do them for us....... Dumb Ass.

You seem to contradict yourself a lot in your review, and I really don't think you know what it's like to run a forum, or be apart of one. You think the fact that "...and be active" is in the rules, that turns members away? What the f.uck are you snorting dude? This is most likely the most useless review I've ever read. You say

How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Change the user group fonts, and fix some of the minor problems I mentioned above. There are not many, I would probably join how it currently is.

You say you'd join the site how it currently is, yet there's so many problems with the amount of staff,and the "...be active" and the group colors.... why would you want to join such a shitty site with all those huge problems? This how review is F.UCKED up. I mean, Messed up. Get your head out of your ass, and don't be so strict about stuff you don't know a damn about.

Sorry if I've come off rude, but when you clearly don't have a clue about what you're talking about, it pisses me of.

 

[Concentration]

Please show some order because this is just disrespectful.

When you request a review you shouldn't be expected a biased review, so because you received a review with positive remarks from September, December MUST be the same? Maybe, and just maybe the site has changed from then. We all have different likings, please respect Mr. Snowflake.

 

[WTFItsStraightEdge]

I'm actually offended that there would be any thought, that Digg would have nine admins and that he couldn't trust us. As one of those nine admins, I take care to never leave my computer logged in when I'm afk, and I change my username/password regularly, so no, I'm not an easy way into the ACP, and neither are a single one of his admins. We've all shown that we're deserving of the promotions that Digg gave us. An 89 would be a much better score, and even then that would be BS, the site has gotten better and better since I joined. I also agree with Safari, you were very contradiction in your review, and I didn't see anything that we don't already do to improve the site that you mentioned. The banner is great, don't know why anyone would go against it, seeing as they're made by the GFX artists of our forum.

I agree with Digg, this is the last time this site should be used to review XWA. Sure different reviewers have different opinions, but to have such a drop from one interviewer to another is BS, and nothing you say will change my mind on that. There should be a more consistent review system than the reviewers opinion.

 

[SheepishWolf]

With all due respect to you, Snowflake. I am a proud member of the site, and a very proud moderator. The last review we received from this site, the staff got a 20/20. How do we go from a perfect score to a 10/20? Nothing changed with the admins. Yes, we have 9 admins, but everyone of them has proved them self to the site. It's not like Digg lets anyone become admin. It's a huge insult for you to rate our forum 79/100 when it is one of the top 5 most active free forum forum's. If you'd like, you could make us a banner for the forum, since you know how to do it. We wouldn't mind. It's not like we already have professional artist on the site who do them for us....... Dumb Ass.

You seem to contradict yourself a lot in your review, and I really don't think you know what it's like to run a forum, or be apart of one. You think the fact that "...and be active" is in the rules, that turns members away? What the f.uck are you snorting dude? This is most likely the most useless review I've ever read. You say

How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Change the user group fonts, and fix some of the minor problems I mentioned above. There are not many, I would probably join how it currently is.

You say you'd join the site how it currently is, yet there's so many problems with the amount of staff,and the "...be active" and the group colors.... why would you want to join such a shitty site with all those huge problems? This how review is F.UCKED up. I mean, Messed up. Get your head out of your ass, and don't be so strict about stuff you don't know a damn about.

Sorry if I've come off rude, but when you clearly don't have a clue about what you're talking about, it pisses me of.

Regarding the first bold - I am probably more strict a reviewer than your last reviewer, or have different insights in the amount of staff.

Regarding the second bold - I'm terribly sorry to insult your amazing forum. Allow me to change my opinion of your forum to a 100/100 since it's so amazing.

Regarding the italic I never implied that you did, but your banner doesn't completely fit in with your color scheme. I pick out things like that because it's how I review - take it or leave it. Since you obviously have a big head about your forum and since you obviously think your forum is amazing, you should work on little things too. Sometimes little things can make a big difference.

Regarding the underline - I never said that you had a bad forum. If you want a review that only points out all the good things you have, then get your most active member to write you a review and fill up your ego. I don't review like that - if I did it would be a short review and have very little content or helpfulness in it.

Regarding the second underline - Thank you for controlling your mouth 🙂 And I do know what I'm talking about 😉

Frankly, you're coming across as the kind of forum owner who doesn't want any honest feedback - which is exactly what I gave you. If you want a shitty review where I'm telling you everything I love about your forum PM me and I'll give you a fluffy review. But until then, please stop acting like a smartass forum owner. It's irritating and it will not make me change your score. Your score is well deserved and honest, and that's all anyone can give you.


And thank you all (directed at everyone else who posted in this topic) for your opinions; but they clearly are very biased. I wasn't saying that you he wouldn't be able to trust you, but there have been many recent hackings, and there is just generally no reason to have that many admins. If you give me a reason I will consider it. But this is coming from an unbiased, guest/members point of view and someone who has never seen the site before.

 

[WTFItsStraightEdge]

I understand looking at it by a guests point of view, it would appear that way, seeing as you don't know a lot of the staff, no offense, but you couldn't understand how much trust Digg has given us, and how much we've shown that we deserve it. His judgment with promotions has been great since I got here, and all of the members have shown quite a lot of loyalty. I don't think you should change your score, because then we'd be telling you that you're opinion is wrong, when it's just that an opinion. We're for the most part just expressing out our own. We may be biased, but for the most part I don't base my opinions by the fact that I'm an admin, I base it on the fact that I've been on the site long enough to know that some of the first impressions, critiques aren't necessarily true. Thanks for keeping a pretty much level head during the comments though, I've seen way to many arguments on forums different from this one and XWA that blow way to out of proportion over things like this.

 

[Edge Rocks]

^WTF Its straightedge!!!

Well I don’t agree with the score that we got at all. I don’t think I have ever seen the site being this active and we got 19/20 when I honestly think that should have defiantly been 20/20. There is nothing wrong with the amount of admins on the site. It’s allot of work for there to only be four admins on the site when there are hundreds of members logging into the site every day. That’s asking for allot of work for admins to do and with more admins the site can me running smoothly. Everyone who is an admin and people on the staff deserves and worked hard for the spot that they got and they have not let down at there position. I don’t agree with most of the things that you said but I’m not mad about any of it. It’s nice to get a different opinion for once. Thank you for your but no one has really had a problem with the way the site looks and where everything is placed.

 

[SheepishWolf]

I understand looking at it by a guests point of view, it would appear that way, seeing as you don't know a lot of the staff, no offense, but you couldn't understand how much trust Digg has given us, and how much we've shown that we deserve it. His judgment with promotions has been great since I got here, and all of the members have shown quite a lot of loyalty. I don't think you should change your score, because then we'd be telling you that you're opinion is wrong, when it's just that an opinion. We're for the most part just expressing out our own. We may be biased, but for the most part I don't base my opinions by the fact that I'm an admin, I base it on the fact that I've been on the site long enough to know that some of the first impressions, critiques aren't necessarily true. Thanks for keeping a pretty much level head during the comments though, I've seen way to many arguments on forums different from this one and XWA that blow way to out of proportion over things like this.

Thanks, but if you (the 9 admins) realize that it may come out like that then why request reviews at all - or why not even add a note of that when they originally requested it?

Reviews are honest opinions, made to give helpful critique on your forum in detail. Not for an ego boost. Your forum didn't even get a bad score - I would just like to point out.

And if you are that unhappy with your review, I understand - you may leave feedback in the directed topic from my second post and then request a follow up review from a different staff member who may review better than me and actually know what they're talking about :roll:

Well I don’t agree with the score that we got at all. I don’t think I have ever seen the site being this active and we got 19/20 when I honestly think that should have defiantly been 20/20. There is nothing wrong with the amount of admins on the site. It’s allot of work for there to only be four admins on the site when there are hundreds of members logging into the site every day. That’s asking for allot of work for admins to do and with more admins the site can me running smoothly. Everyone who is an admin and people on the staff deserves and worked hard for the spot that they got and they have not let down at there position. I don’t agree with most of the things that you said but I’m not mad about any of it. It’s nice to get a different opinion for once. Thank you for your but no one has really had a problem with the way the site looks and where everything is placed.

Really, so you want a 20/20 because your site can never get more active than it is right now?
And I disagree, you can make the other five admins moderators and keep the best admins or most hard working in administration.
And if you feel that way and are not willing to accept feedback then do not request a review.
Thank you,
Anathema.

 

[Cody]

The review is suppose to be given as what the reviewer thinks of the website. Looking at a forum with that many staff as a guest, will turn some potential members away. All Snowflake is trying to do is give you spots where you can improve to make your forum even better. I'm sure you'd get a different score from each reviewer. Chances are, no review would be the same. We're all just doing what we can to help you guys improve by giving you guys our opinions on your forum. If you don't like how Snowflake reviewed your site, then if you request again, you can request to have a different reviewer. All Snowflake is trying to do it help.

 

[Concentration]

I agree 100% with Cody.
Snowflake showed true profession in his review and should be respected for such.