Post by Homerunsox2005 on Nov 1, 2011 18:28:51 GMT -5
I requested this review for free from PhpBB Communities. I personally don't like the review that much, since I don't believe this reviewer is a Sports fan very much which I think affected his views. Also some of the things he said just didn't make sense.
I did like how he said we need to add some pizazz, which is true. When you just go to the forum index, it really isn't very attractive. It's very simple.
Heres the review:
Review for CMT Sports Forum
Design
- Banner, including alignment. 1 Out of 2
- Choice of Style 2 Out of 4
- Colour Choice 3 Out of 3
- Professionalism of Design 2 Out of 2
- Does the Style Suit the Site? 1 Out of 2
- General 'feel' of the Style 3 Out of 3
- Free Style, or Custom Style 3 Out of 4
Total: 15/20
Comments: The banner is off center to the right, in my perspective there is too much dead space in the center. This really boils down to user preference. You also use the initials, "Cmt" Where is that spelled out so guests know what it means? Also, why not all caps if each letter represents a word? Is it for example: Community Media And Technology, Country Music Television, or Certified Massage Therapist? The style is ok, I had expected much more for a sports themed site. There are 100s if not 1000s of sports sites out there, you want to capture the attention of a visitor right away, the little sports icons for topics is ok but it's not an attention grabber. The colour choices are fine, easy on the eyes and works well on several monitor types that I used during the review. The style is a basic design with custom features; well done, no bugs that I could find. The feel for the site is not bad but could use an attention grabber on the index. One thing I did notice and like, is your member avatars are centered (see posts look to the left for member info), I have not seen that before, it looks nice and flows well with your board. You even have a mod that allows the members to have a background and that is another feature I had not seen before. I like features that allow members to offer a personal touch and it seems you have allowed this without it taking away from the topics i.e. people still focus on the subject at hand.
Technical
- Use of Forum Software Default Features 2 Out of 2
- General Customization 2 Out of 3
- Domain Name 1 Out of 2
-- Related to Niche 1 Out of 1
-- Correct Spelling 1 Out of 1
-- TLD 1 Out of 2
--Uses paid hosting/url/forum software 3 Out of 3.
Total: 8/14
Comments: Can't find fault with what owners choose to use far as defaults, this is truly the owner and how he/she knows his member base. Again, this is a basic style with enhanced style features but it's not catchy, it does not grab you. This said, it's very easy on the eyes. Not everyone can afford their own domain or wants to. I do not rate hard for not having a solid domain, keep in mind your domain belongs to the free board you are with. This said, given it's a .com I assessed some credit in this category. Spelling in the domain is fine, no issues.
Layout
- Placement of Ads etc. 1 Out of 2
- Forum Index Layout, including Categories, Forums and Sub Boards. 4 Out of 6
- Navigation 2 Out of 3
- Organization, is everything organized etc. 1 Out of 2
Total: 8/13
Comments: My assessment here, you may take a tad hard but stop and think about it and if what I say has application great if not then discount it. If you control the ad placement, I would move the banner ad to the footer vice the header, last thing most people want to see on the index is an ad right in their face. Ads are not bad, just need to find the right place. A full page ad to me is better than an ad top of the index at least with a full page add you can in most cases skip it and move on... Not sure you have that option with a free host who controls the ads. Do you want guests to see you are about sports or about what is being sold? I recommend you Move the log in with your FB, Google etc place that at the top left or right of the forum. I like whom you used for that addtion to be able to log in with social netwroks, nice job! The index is fine but you do not seem to use sub categories much and some of your forum areas are filled with lots of independent topics that could be grouped. Board is "organized" but once inside some forum areas it seems cluttered. Example: Why not have sub categories for playoffs by year or Championships by year. Better yet as each year passes take the past year and make that entire year a category NBA 2011, NBA 2012... As your site grows and become 10 years old you would group those years into decades...
Content and Professionalism
- Spelling and Grammar 3 Out of 3
- Quality of Content 3 Out of 4
- Uniqueness 1 Out of 4
- Post Relevancy, including ratio of On Topic to Off Topic Posts 3 Out of 4
- Professionalism 3 Out of 4
Total: 13/19
Comments: Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation appear fine to me. Posts from members I do not consider a part of the review when it comes to spelling..., However, the owner needs to make sure his/her contributions and the team are spot on. Content reads well but no board is 100%. The board itself is not unique, what may help you in this area is add some streaming media content on the index that captures the guest, add such features in various topics like the last 30 sec of a big game... but from the standpoint of the board itself, there are 1000s of them out there. I really do not ding on post relevancy, reason is, members will post what they want. If they keep coming back and others have no issues with their posts great! You and your team have the role of cleaning up and directing where the flow of a topic goes.
Statistics and Activity
- Posts, Threads and Members Per Day. 3 Out of 4
- Activity relating to the age of the Site. 3 Out of 3
- Are posts evenly spread out between all categories. 2 Out of 2
- Member Activity 2 Out of 3
- Member to Member Interactivity 2 Out of 3
Total: 12/15
Comments:Active site across the spectrum.
Staff
- Interaction with Staff and Members 3 Out of 3
- Is the forum clean of Spam etc. 2 Out of 2
- Are the Staff doing their jobs? / Being Active2 Out of 2
- Amount of Staff, Including Amount of Staff Compared to Members. 2 Out of 2
Total: 9/9
Comments: Well Done!
Features, MODs etc.
- General Use of forum Add Ons 1 Out of 2
- Custom MODs, Add Ons 2 Out of 3
- Unique Features to the Site 1 Out of 3
- Integration of forum into the main site. 2 Out of 2
Total: 6/10
Comments: Add some Pizzazz and this score will go up. I am not one for using a ton of mods, if your members do not want or use them then do not install them. This said, you need some unique features you have a few but that is for once person joins, what is there to capture the guest?
General Feedback My review is based on the technical aspects as provided by PHPBBC and my own perspective as a guest who has never seen your site. If I were to stumble on your site would I stay, is there something that grabs my attention... What features are there that ties into the various topics, last 30 sec of a game, big score, play of the day... Layouts are a dime a dozen so are styles and each person will have their own thoughts as weather a site looks good to them or not so I tend not to rate hard in this area. At the same time, is the board organized, fun, active, catchy etc that is what gets members and activity and what I look for. Your board is active (you do have a core group of posters which is good and you have a non core group of posters, even better!), easy on the eyes, has content that is worth reading, it just needs that splash or pizzazz. On the index a streaming media of a play of the day, week etc would be a neat addition. On membership, I do not look so much for total members or posts, I look at ratios, 70,000 posts to total members is not the only ratio and is not always an indicator of a board's activity. I look at who is making the posts, if you have 500 members and 70,000 posts and only 10 people are truly active that to me is not an active board. If 50 were active then 10% is great and is at the industry standard (500 members 50 regualr posters = 10%). Your board is closed i.e. requires membership. Thus, ratios are easy to compute, there are boards that are open i.e. guests may post as well as members those are tad harder to capture. Point is, it’s not simply all about the total number of members a site has that I look for. If you had 10 members and 70,000 posts and all 10 were active then I would not fault a site for it. In your board's case you are at about 5% activity to total members. My numbers may be off given I did not have a PW do see your total members list and see whom is doing all the posting. I surfed several forums and topics and extrapulated. All and all not bad. What hurt your score in this review was was unique features or lack there of. Get some Pizzazz and your score would be at least 80/100.
Suggestions and Improvements I cover this in each category reviewed, Please see comments there.
Final Score: 71 Out of 100
Thank you for the opportuntiy to review you site, if you have any questions/comments, please let us know. Remember, a review is but one perspective, it does not mean your site is the best or the worst. A review is a snap shot in time from one person.
I did like how he said we need to add some pizazz, which is true. When you just go to the forum index, it really isn't very attractive. It's very simple.
Heres the review:
Review for CMT Sports Forum
Design
- Banner, including alignment. 1 Out of 2
- Choice of Style 2 Out of 4
- Colour Choice 3 Out of 3
- Professionalism of Design 2 Out of 2
- Does the Style Suit the Site? 1 Out of 2
- General 'feel' of the Style 3 Out of 3
- Free Style, or Custom Style 3 Out of 4
Total: 15/20
Comments: The banner is off center to the right, in my perspective there is too much dead space in the center. This really boils down to user preference. You also use the initials, "Cmt" Where is that spelled out so guests know what it means? Also, why not all caps if each letter represents a word? Is it for example: Community Media And Technology, Country Music Television, or Certified Massage Therapist? The style is ok, I had expected much more for a sports themed site. There are 100s if not 1000s of sports sites out there, you want to capture the attention of a visitor right away, the little sports icons for topics is ok but it's not an attention grabber. The colour choices are fine, easy on the eyes and works well on several monitor types that I used during the review. The style is a basic design with custom features; well done, no bugs that I could find. The feel for the site is not bad but could use an attention grabber on the index. One thing I did notice and like, is your member avatars are centered (see posts look to the left for member info), I have not seen that before, it looks nice and flows well with your board. You even have a mod that allows the members to have a background and that is another feature I had not seen before. I like features that allow members to offer a personal touch and it seems you have allowed this without it taking away from the topics i.e. people still focus on the subject at hand.
Technical
- Use of Forum Software Default Features 2 Out of 2
- General Customization 2 Out of 3
- Domain Name 1 Out of 2
-- Related to Niche 1 Out of 1
-- Correct Spelling 1 Out of 1
-- TLD 1 Out of 2
--Uses paid hosting/url/forum software 3 Out of 3.
Total: 8/14
Comments: Can't find fault with what owners choose to use far as defaults, this is truly the owner and how he/she knows his member base. Again, this is a basic style with enhanced style features but it's not catchy, it does not grab you. This said, it's very easy on the eyes. Not everyone can afford their own domain or wants to. I do not rate hard for not having a solid domain, keep in mind your domain belongs to the free board you are with. This said, given it's a .com I assessed some credit in this category. Spelling in the domain is fine, no issues.
Layout
- Placement of Ads etc. 1 Out of 2
- Forum Index Layout, including Categories, Forums and Sub Boards. 4 Out of 6
- Navigation 2 Out of 3
- Organization, is everything organized etc. 1 Out of 2
Total: 8/13
Comments: My assessment here, you may take a tad hard but stop and think about it and if what I say has application great if not then discount it. If you control the ad placement, I would move the banner ad to the footer vice the header, last thing most people want to see on the index is an ad right in their face. Ads are not bad, just need to find the right place. A full page ad to me is better than an ad top of the index at least with a full page add you can in most cases skip it and move on... Not sure you have that option with a free host who controls the ads. Do you want guests to see you are about sports or about what is being sold? I recommend you Move the log in with your FB, Google etc place that at the top left or right of the forum. I like whom you used for that addtion to be able to log in with social netwroks, nice job! The index is fine but you do not seem to use sub categories much and some of your forum areas are filled with lots of independent topics that could be grouped. Board is "organized" but once inside some forum areas it seems cluttered. Example: Why not have sub categories for playoffs by year or Championships by year. Better yet as each year passes take the past year and make that entire year a category NBA 2011, NBA 2012... As your site grows and become 10 years old you would group those years into decades...
Content and Professionalism
- Spelling and Grammar 3 Out of 3
- Quality of Content 3 Out of 4
- Uniqueness 1 Out of 4
- Post Relevancy, including ratio of On Topic to Off Topic Posts 3 Out of 4
- Professionalism 3 Out of 4
Total: 13/19
Comments: Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation appear fine to me. Posts from members I do not consider a part of the review when it comes to spelling..., However, the owner needs to make sure his/her contributions and the team are spot on. Content reads well but no board is 100%. The board itself is not unique, what may help you in this area is add some streaming media content on the index that captures the guest, add such features in various topics like the last 30 sec of a big game... but from the standpoint of the board itself, there are 1000s of them out there. I really do not ding on post relevancy, reason is, members will post what they want. If they keep coming back and others have no issues with their posts great! You and your team have the role of cleaning up and directing where the flow of a topic goes.
Statistics and Activity
- Posts, Threads and Members Per Day. 3 Out of 4
- Activity relating to the age of the Site. 3 Out of 3
- Are posts evenly spread out between all categories. 2 Out of 2
- Member Activity 2 Out of 3
- Member to Member Interactivity 2 Out of 3
Total: 12/15
Comments:Active site across the spectrum.
Staff
- Interaction with Staff and Members 3 Out of 3
- Is the forum clean of Spam etc. 2 Out of 2
- Are the Staff doing their jobs? / Being Active2 Out of 2
- Amount of Staff, Including Amount of Staff Compared to Members. 2 Out of 2
Total: 9/9
Comments: Well Done!
Features, MODs etc.
- General Use of forum Add Ons 1 Out of 2
- Custom MODs, Add Ons 2 Out of 3
- Unique Features to the Site 1 Out of 3
- Integration of forum into the main site. 2 Out of 2
Total: 6/10
Comments: Add some Pizzazz and this score will go up. I am not one for using a ton of mods, if your members do not want or use them then do not install them. This said, you need some unique features you have a few but that is for once person joins, what is there to capture the guest?
General Feedback My review is based on the technical aspects as provided by PHPBBC and my own perspective as a guest who has never seen your site. If I were to stumble on your site would I stay, is there something that grabs my attention... What features are there that ties into the various topics, last 30 sec of a game, big score, play of the day... Layouts are a dime a dozen so are styles and each person will have their own thoughts as weather a site looks good to them or not so I tend not to rate hard in this area. At the same time, is the board organized, fun, active, catchy etc that is what gets members and activity and what I look for. Your board is active (you do have a core group of posters which is good and you have a non core group of posters, even better!), easy on the eyes, has content that is worth reading, it just needs that splash or pizzazz. On the index a streaming media of a play of the day, week etc would be a neat addition. On membership, I do not look so much for total members or posts, I look at ratios, 70,000 posts to total members is not the only ratio and is not always an indicator of a board's activity. I look at who is making the posts, if you have 500 members and 70,000 posts and only 10 people are truly active that to me is not an active board. If 50 were active then 10% is great and is at the industry standard (500 members 50 regualr posters = 10%). Your board is closed i.e. requires membership. Thus, ratios are easy to compute, there are boards that are open i.e. guests may post as well as members those are tad harder to capture. Point is, it’s not simply all about the total number of members a site has that I look for. If you had 10 members and 70,000 posts and all 10 were active then I would not fault a site for it. In your board's case you are at about 5% activity to total members. My numbers may be off given I did not have a PW do see your total members list and see whom is doing all the posting. I surfed several forums and topics and extrapulated. All and all not bad. What hurt your score in this review was was unique features or lack there of. Get some Pizzazz and your score would be at least 80/100.
Suggestions and Improvements I cover this in each category reviewed, Please see comments there.
Final Score: 71 Out of 100
Thank you for the opportuntiy to review you site, if you have any questions/comments, please let us know. Remember, a review is but one perspective, it does not mean your site is the best or the worst. A review is a snap shot in time from one person.