Post by Cameron on Mar 20, 2011 15:06:59 GMT -5
This is a review that we received on March 20th, 2011. We received this review from Forum Promotion. This review was created by Lone Wolf.
Click the the following spoiler to see the review:
First Impressions & Appearance
Nice theme. That is the first thing that came into my head when I first visited. It's light, easy on the eyes and goes well with the genre of forum. Your logo is simple, easy to read and shows that you are a sports forum and that's without even reading anything else. I like how the color's blend together nicely, but the category header titles don't blend very well with the white background they are on making it hard to read. You could possibly change the color for the title to black. I also found it hard to read some of the members usernames as a few of them have a gradient effect (one letter a different color to it's next letter). I'm not familiar with ProBoards so I can't say if this is a default feature or if you implemented it.
(Score: 18/20)
Site Layout
Everything seems to be in order. You don't have too many sections which makes the ones you do have look even more active. The category are placed correctly and while you are a sports forum, it's good you have implemented an off-topic chat area. I'd definitely think about disabling guest access to the 'Promotion' forum though. This will leave you open to SPAM and may take time deleting the posts/topics they leave. Consider allowing guest viewing access, but don't give them the privilege to make a topic or reply to others.
The shoutbox is placed at the bottom which is great. I see too many forums placing it at the top and taking the members away from the actual forum itself. Keep it at the bottom, I can see it doesn't get greatly used, but more to allow members to say a quick hello to others.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity
For being open nearly two years, it's great you have got 54,000+ posts. That equates to just over 2,000 posts a month. This is a great achievement and I can honestly say that you will most likely become even more active the more time the forum is open. I seen that you have around 11 members and a lot of guests active over a 24 hour period, you could maybe try and persuade guests to join the forum by showing a welcome box at the top of the forum, possibly displaying reasons why they should join and the benefits.
(Scored 18/20)
Staff Moderation
I couldn't find any staff page linked on the homepage. It was hard for me to distinguish who was staff members without looking at username color's. Although I did find the staff page after viewing the member list page. Have you thought about making the staff page linkable from the index itself?
All your staff are active, this is very good considering I've seen bigger forums and staff aren't logging in regularly. Each have a high post count, so it looks like each are interacting with the community. I couldn't see any signs of SPAM on the board, the members are friendly and couldn't see any signs of member abuse, flame wars etc, so keep up the good work.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
Each of the forums and their descriptions are spelled correctly. There wasn't any signs of grammar mistakes either which is good. I also browsed some of the topics on your forum and couldn't find (out of the ones I viewed) any mistakes in spelling. I see this as professional and I definitely think you should keep up the good work on this behalf.
(Scored 19/20)
Final Remarks
Strong Points
The forum theme, the logo and the activity of the forum.
Things to Improve
Category titles and possibly look at regaining more activity in your sports forums rather than the general discussion.
After reading your review, please click here to rate our service.
Click the the following spoiler to see the review:
Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
Nice theme. That is the first thing that came into my head when I first visited. It's light, easy on the eyes and goes well with the genre of forum. Your logo is simple, easy to read and shows that you are a sports forum and that's without even reading anything else. I like how the color's blend together nicely, but the category header titles don't blend very well with the white background they are on making it hard to read. You could possibly change the color for the title to black. I also found it hard to read some of the members usernames as a few of them have a gradient effect (one letter a different color to it's next letter). I'm not familiar with ProBoards so I can't say if this is a default feature or if you implemented it.
(Score: 18/20)
Site Layout
Everything seems to be in order. You don't have too many sections which makes the ones you do have look even more active. The category are placed correctly and while you are a sports forum, it's good you have implemented an off-topic chat area. I'd definitely think about disabling guest access to the 'Promotion' forum though. This will leave you open to SPAM and may take time deleting the posts/topics they leave. Consider allowing guest viewing access, but don't give them the privilege to make a topic or reply to others.
The shoutbox is placed at the bottom which is great. I see too many forums placing it at the top and taking the members away from the actual forum itself. Keep it at the bottom, I can see it doesn't get greatly used, but more to allow members to say a quick hello to others.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity
For being open nearly two years, it's great you have got 54,000+ posts. That equates to just over 2,000 posts a month. This is a great achievement and I can honestly say that you will most likely become even more active the more time the forum is open. I seen that you have around 11 members and a lot of guests active over a 24 hour period, you could maybe try and persuade guests to join the forum by showing a welcome box at the top of the forum, possibly displaying reasons why they should join and the benefits.
(Scored 18/20)
Staff Moderation
I couldn't find any staff page linked on the homepage. It was hard for me to distinguish who was staff members without looking at username color's. Although I did find the staff page after viewing the member list page. Have you thought about making the staff page linkable from the index itself?
All your staff are active, this is very good considering I've seen bigger forums and staff aren't logging in regularly. Each have a high post count, so it looks like each are interacting with the community. I couldn't see any signs of SPAM on the board, the members are friendly and couldn't see any signs of member abuse, flame wars etc, so keep up the good work.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
Each of the forums and their descriptions are spelled correctly. There wasn't any signs of grammar mistakes either which is good. I also browsed some of the topics on your forum and couldn't find (out of the ones I viewed) any mistakes in spelling. I see this as professional and I definitely think you should keep up the good work on this behalf.
(Scored 19/20)
Total Score - 92/100
Final Remarks
Strong Points
The forum theme, the logo and the activity of the forum.
Things to Improve
Category titles and possibly look at regaining more activity in your sports forums rather than the general discussion.
After reading your review, please click here to rate our service.