Post by Cameron on Jul 11, 2011 10:27:43 GMT -5
This is a review that we received on April 25, 2011. We received this review from Promotion Stadium. This review was created by LionOfNarnia.
Click the the following spoiler to see the review:
[Image: color_wheel0512.png] First Impressions & Appearance
My very first impression was:- "Has this place REALLY been open for nearly 2 years?"
It has the look of a much more recent creation, the logo is a bit plain, there is a lot of 'dead space' between the banner & the Index which I feel should have all of the really useful buttons in it - View My Posts, View New Posts, View Unanswered Posts, View Staff, FAQ as well as some kind of introduction or mission statement.
Visually the index just isn't as dynamic/exciting as I would expect for what is supposed to be to be a 'Mens Team Sports' forum. I disliked the white-on-grey forum category names & see no point in the collapse/expand feature for a place with so few categories anyway - I can see the whole of the index without scrolling!
..And what was the point of having a special forum (Easter) for just 3 days?
Changing your username to "Easter Bunny" - That just smacks of desperation & unprofessionalism, guy.
I clicked to the Portal/Home page, that just stregnthened the impressions I'd formed above. No forum information at all, just 3 ESPN newsfeeds and a simple HTML link-box. Again, lots of dead, wasted white space.
Next I had a look at the 'Rules, Announcements & Updates' section - 118 topics, 1990 posts. Do you think a new member is going to be impressed by that much meaningless garbage to wade through? Most of what is there is could have been placed eslewhere, this section should be reserved for what members REALLY need to know.
(Score:5/20)
[Image: picture103.gif] Forums and layout
Whilst the forum logos for the actual 'sports' sections are strong & clean, the effect is ruined by the over-large "!" logos on just about every other section. This is made worse by the fact that there are only 6 sports fora competing with 9 'others'.
For me, by far the biggest turn-off (on the entire site) was when I actually entered a forum and saw the huge amounts of dead, wasted white space beneath just about every single posting, caused by the overly-large mini-profiles on the left-hand side. I also have issues with the overly-large & mostly meaningless images used as sigs by a lot of the senior members. It's the forum that's doing the talking, not the postings. And what it's saying is "go away, this isn't really a sports forum".
There are no-where near enough sub-fora, especially in the general categories considering the amount of postings there, a new member would have a hard job working out if what he had to say had already been said.
I'd also liked to have seen more differentiation within the sports catagories, if there is any input about NCAA or amateur/semi-pro sport it's lost in all the re-cycled bumf about the pro games. I found the descriptions for the sports catagories a bit insulting too, I have run back an interception for a touchdown & scored a goal in a meaningful match.
(Score:7/20)
[Image: 211139.gif] Statistics and Activity
The baseline stats, at first glance, look good - 56,751 posts in 2,900 topics. 401 registered members. (all) 6 Staff Members, 7 Members, 206 Guests active in the last 24 hours.
However, on further digging I found that the majority of those postings were made in just 1 forum - 29,238 in 'General Discussion - and of these, 16,420 were in the 'Arcade' sub-forum. Only about 1/5th of the total content is in the 'core categories' about sports. There are more threads in the 'forum promotion' section than in the 'American Football' section!
An examination of the membership list was also quite enlightening - by the time you get to #28 on the top-posters list, the post-count is below 110. 8 of the top 23 posters are listed as 'Retired Staff'. By #60 the post-count is barely above 40 and by #90 it's down to 20 posts. The top-ten posters have provided about 2/3 of all the postings, 3 of them are 'retired'.
The "Most Users Online" (96) was six months ago. All the signs are of a place which is on the wane despite the illusion of activity.
Lots of posts, but very little of worth actually being said - and I AM a big sports fan, having been a semi-pro gridiron player for 10 years and an NFL fan since 1983.
(Score:10/20)
[Image: 12353.gif] Staff Moderation
There are 3 types of 'staff' listed - Commissioners (2) Manager (1) & Coaches (3) Obviously they are very dedicated & active staff, with 28,500 posts between them, about half of the total. I saw evidence of 'good' moderation in dealing with an 'accidental spammer. This is beyond doubt the strongest aspect of this forum, the numbers are about right and I can't fault them on dedication to keeping the place alive. However misguided.
(Score:17/20)
[Image: 1untitled28.gif] Spelling/Grammar of users and forum
I saw no evidence of poor grammar, spelling or punctuation on the forum. However most of the posts I read were quite short, at best a sentence, at worst a single word. I think the longest posting I came across was one paragraph.
(Score:18/20)
Total Points:- 57/100
[Image: 13yh2c550.png] Final/General Thoughts
I am left with the impression of a place which STARTED as a Sports Forum but has lost it's way, and it's identity, in the chase for 'success'. Is it a sports forum, a general chat forum or a promotion forum?
I know you have put a lot of effort into promoting the place, as evidenced by the number of guests stopping by, but I feel that a) the blurred identity & b) the poor graphical impression is preventing you from converting guests into dedicated members.
[Image: add07.png] Strong Points
* Strong, dedicated, active staff team
[Image: delete00.png] Things to improve
* Focus on what kind of forum you want to be.
* Total re-vamp of style & graphics.
This review is almost three months old, I am just now posting it.
A few things have changed since the time this review was made, so it may not make much sense. I really didn't like this review. It seemed more like a rant, and him bragging about being a good athlete.
Click the the following spoiler to see the review:
[Image: color_wheel0512.png] First Impressions & Appearance
My very first impression was:- "Has this place REALLY been open for nearly 2 years?"
It has the look of a much more recent creation, the logo is a bit plain, there is a lot of 'dead space' between the banner & the Index which I feel should have all of the really useful buttons in it - View My Posts, View New Posts, View Unanswered Posts, View Staff, FAQ as well as some kind of introduction or mission statement.
Visually the index just isn't as dynamic/exciting as I would expect for what is supposed to be to be a 'Mens Team Sports' forum. I disliked the white-on-grey forum category names & see no point in the collapse/expand feature for a place with so few categories anyway - I can see the whole of the index without scrolling!
..And what was the point of having a special forum (Easter) for just 3 days?
Changing your username to "Easter Bunny" - That just smacks of desperation & unprofessionalism, guy.
I clicked to the Portal/Home page, that just stregnthened the impressions I'd formed above. No forum information at all, just 3 ESPN newsfeeds and a simple HTML link-box. Again, lots of dead, wasted white space.
Next I had a look at the 'Rules, Announcements & Updates' section - 118 topics, 1990 posts. Do you think a new member is going to be impressed by that much meaningless garbage to wade through? Most of what is there is could have been placed eslewhere, this section should be reserved for what members REALLY need to know.
(Score:5/20)
[Image: picture103.gif] Forums and layout
Whilst the forum logos for the actual 'sports' sections are strong & clean, the effect is ruined by the over-large "!" logos on just about every other section. This is made worse by the fact that there are only 6 sports fora competing with 9 'others'.
For me, by far the biggest turn-off (on the entire site) was when I actually entered a forum and saw the huge amounts of dead, wasted white space beneath just about every single posting, caused by the overly-large mini-profiles on the left-hand side. I also have issues with the overly-large & mostly meaningless images used as sigs by a lot of the senior members. It's the forum that's doing the talking, not the postings. And what it's saying is "go away, this isn't really a sports forum".
There are no-where near enough sub-fora, especially in the general categories considering the amount of postings there, a new member would have a hard job working out if what he had to say had already been said.
I'd also liked to have seen more differentiation within the sports catagories, if there is any input about NCAA or amateur/semi-pro sport it's lost in all the re-cycled bumf about the pro games. I found the descriptions for the sports catagories a bit insulting too, I have run back an interception for a touchdown & scored a goal in a meaningful match.
(Score:7/20)
[Image: 211139.gif] Statistics and Activity
The baseline stats, at first glance, look good - 56,751 posts in 2,900 topics. 401 registered members. (all) 6 Staff Members, 7 Members, 206 Guests active in the last 24 hours.
However, on further digging I found that the majority of those postings were made in just 1 forum - 29,238 in 'General Discussion - and of these, 16,420 were in the 'Arcade' sub-forum. Only about 1/5th of the total content is in the 'core categories' about sports. There are more threads in the 'forum promotion' section than in the 'American Football' section!
An examination of the membership list was also quite enlightening - by the time you get to #28 on the top-posters list, the post-count is below 110. 8 of the top 23 posters are listed as 'Retired Staff'. By #60 the post-count is barely above 40 and by #90 it's down to 20 posts. The top-ten posters have provided about 2/3 of all the postings, 3 of them are 'retired'.
The "Most Users Online" (96) was six months ago. All the signs are of a place which is on the wane despite the illusion of activity.
Lots of posts, but very little of worth actually being said - and I AM a big sports fan, having been a semi-pro gridiron player for 10 years and an NFL fan since 1983.
(Score:10/20)
[Image: 12353.gif] Staff Moderation
There are 3 types of 'staff' listed - Commissioners (2) Manager (1) & Coaches (3) Obviously they are very dedicated & active staff, with 28,500 posts between them, about half of the total. I saw evidence of 'good' moderation in dealing with an 'accidental spammer. This is beyond doubt the strongest aspect of this forum, the numbers are about right and I can't fault them on dedication to keeping the place alive. However misguided.
(Score:17/20)
[Image: 1untitled28.gif] Spelling/Grammar of users and forum
I saw no evidence of poor grammar, spelling or punctuation on the forum. However most of the posts I read were quite short, at best a sentence, at worst a single word. I think the longest posting I came across was one paragraph.
(Score:18/20)
Total Points:- 57/100
[Image: 13yh2c550.png] Final/General Thoughts
I am left with the impression of a place which STARTED as a Sports Forum but has lost it's way, and it's identity, in the chase for 'success'. Is it a sports forum, a general chat forum or a promotion forum?
I know you have put a lot of effort into promoting the place, as evidenced by the number of guests stopping by, but I feel that a) the blurred identity & b) the poor graphical impression is preventing you from converting guests into dedicated members.
[Image: add07.png] Strong Points
* Strong, dedicated, active staff team
[Image: delete00.png] Things to improve
* Focus on what kind of forum you want to be.
* Total re-vamp of style & graphics.
This review is almost three months old, I am just now posting it.
A few things have changed since the time this review was made, so it may not make much sense. I really didn't like this review. It seemed more like a rant, and him bragging about being a good athlete.