My Forum Review

Jan

2012

Name of the Forum: SPAjZK
Address: wc-gaming.org
Type of Review (Do not Edit): Full Review
Your Name on the board: X-jZeDxSTOjZM-X

1 Empire_1, on 17/01/2012 at 03h08

Hi,

- Please provide a screenshot of your forum statistics to prove you are eligible for the requested review type.

- Please provide an account for the reviewer to use.

- Please provide a screenshot of your Forum's Administrators group to prove you are an Administrator of the forum.

Thanks for your understanding.
Staff.

2 skyforce25, on 17/01/2012 at 03h44

but if i give you an account then you can see it all. So is that cool with you? Cause if you got an account then you can see the whole thing. So if i give you an account then can u do the review? Cause my pc dont allow screenshots.

Account info:

user: Reviewer123
pass: review123

3 Empire_1, on 18/01/2012 at 05h09

skyforce25 wrote:but if i give you an account then you can see it all. So is that cool with you? Cause if you got an account then you can see the whole thing. So if i give you an account then can u do the review? Cause my pc dont allow screenshots.

Account info:

user: Reviewer123
pass: review123

This is fine Wink

Topic Cleaned

Tagged - Your request will be completed anywhere between 24-72 hours. Please be patient and look at the estimated date of completion.
Estimated Date of Completion: 1/18/12

4 skyforce25, on 18/01/2012 at 06h10

cant wait to hear a honest truthful answer on my site. Before you do it remember its a old site wiht deleted posts and we deleted them to start the site like new instead of making new forum.

5 Empire_1, on 19/01/2012 at 05h39

Free ForuMotion Service

SPAjZK

Unfortunately, when I opened your site, I wasn't too impressed. Graphics on first impression didn't look particularly appealing and it didn't galvanize any feeling of awe. The huge dark expanse of black all over your site further lowered my impressions.
I would like to say that, however, the effect of the interesting site name was immediate. It created some interest to your site, but do note that your site name is not one that is catchy (examples: Google, Twitter) and so do be wary that the name's weird spelling and even more odd pronunciation may not be the best choice for your site's name to be easily communicated everywhere.
Overall, first impression scores are not too good. The easiest way to score a good first impression is through images and a well-composed theme, which is also why First Impressions are so closely related to Graphics. We'll discuss more on how to improve your forum's look in the Graphics section of this review.

Let's start off with the banner. It doesn't convey a feeling of what your site is about. For a gaming site, I would've expected a more gamer-related design, perhaps with some thematic style of gaming consoles or the newest, popular games. However, I think the current one is acceptable enough and you shouldn't stress too much with banners right now as there are other things you can work on.

Your forum colors, as I have said above, are much too dark. To me, it's like navigating a huge expanse of black space, enlightened by only swaths of white text. Not only is this setup is no appealing, but it's also not conducive for easy reading. Try for a much lighter theme, and mix a blend of brighter, whiter colors to give your forum a sense of vivacity and vibrancy. I highly recommend making the background of the forum sections a light color and making the text white. This is the best setup for text reading.

Moving on to Navigation bar, it can definitely be switched out for a better site. The current ones you have now don't look like they belong on a forum. Rather, they look more like they belong on an outdated computer keyboard. You can find many unique and nice sets at the Navigation Bar Gallery. Find one that suits and complements your theme.

Your forum layout isn't the best. The first three categories ("Updates," "Discussion Area," and "GaMiNg") are fine. But from those 3 on, it gets too busy and a degree of disorganization appears. For example, in the GFX section, there is no need for a "Renders" forum as renders would also fit under the "Showcase" forum. There are many overlapping themes of forum sections all over your layout, which adds to disorganization. The entire "Applications" category and the forums within isn't needed at all.

The background needs improvement too.

Overall, Graphics are not the best for a gaming site. Gaming forums are the most competitive niche of forums out there and competition is stiff. You need to impress, awe, and inspire with a brilliantly composed theme and forum in order to find success in the Gaming Forums category.
Take some time to view the Tips and Tricks forum on the ESF and also work to improve your site's appearance. With a well designed site, members will come naturally. Until then, you'll need to work for it. Wink

Member count is rather low, and messages total is also pretty low. You seem to have a good enough active member count, even though the "Members Last Connected" is set to a rather high 72 hours.
Again, I would focus more on your forum's theme and appearance for now.

You have way to many usergroups for your low member count. It add way too much clutter. In now circumstance does a gaming site (or any site for that matter) need a groups such as "Active Members" or "Programmerz." I'm thinking you can merge the "eXcLuSiVe" and "V.!.P" together too. Same with "General Managers" and "Global Moderators," they can be merged as well.

A good tip with your usergroups is to model it after the Support Forum's. The Support Forum sets an excellent example of a professional Staff & Usergroup setup and I highly recommend you tailor yours to perfection as well.

I'm not going to provide a rating for this one, since I believe that are much more important issues you should address.
However, I would like to add that if you follow my tips and guidelines I outlined for you, I believe your site can achieve much success. Don't feel discouraged; every successful forum owner has gone through a period of construction and learning. With experience, you will come to know how to sculpt the perfect forum. And the Forumotion staff are always here to assist you along the way Wink

. I hope you make some good changes and I hope to see much improvement in a future review!

Regards and best of luck,
Empire_1

Would you like to share your review on your forum, on another forum, or with your friends? Then here you go... grab the code!

Code:: [center][img]http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/15/36/47/26/yourfo10.png[/img] [size=18][font=Trebuchet MS]SPAjZK[/font][/size][/center] [img]http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc433/Staff-Forumotion/FirstImpressions.png[/img][img]http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/15/36/47/26/r_fair10.png[/img] [list][font=Trebuchet MS] Unfortunately, when I opened your site, I wasn't too impressed. Graphics on first impression didn't look particularly appealing and it didn't galvanize any feeling of awe. The huge dark expanse of black all over your site further lowered my impressions. I would like to say that, however, the effect of the interesting site name was immediate. It created some interest to your site, but do note that your site name is [u]not[/u] one that is catchy (examples: Google, Twitter) and so do be wary that the name's weird spelling and even more odd pronunciation may not be the best choice for your site's name to be easily communicated everywhere. Overall, first impression scores are not too good. The easiest way to score a good first impression is through images and a well-composed theme, which is also why First Impressions are so closely related to Graphics. We'll discuss more on how to improve your forum's look in the Graphics section of this review. [/font][/list] [img]http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc433/Staff-Forumotion/GraphicsLayout.png[/img][img]http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/15/36/47/26/r_poor10.png[/img] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]Let's start off with the banner. It doesn't convey a feeling of what your site is about. For a gaming site, I would've expected a more gamer-related design, perhaps with some thematic style of gaming consoles or the newest, popular games. However, I think the current one is acceptable enough and you shouldn't stress too much with banners right now as there are other things you can work on. Your forum colors, as I have said above, are much too dark. To me, it's like navigating a huge expanse of black space, enlightened by only swaths of white text. Not only is this setup is no appealing, but it's also not conducive for easy reading. Try for a much lighter theme, and mix a blend of brighter, whiter colors to give your forum a sense of vivacity and vibrancy. I highly recommend making the background of the forum sections a light color and making the text white. This is the best setup for text reading. Moving on to Navigation bar, it can definitely be switched out for a better site. The current ones you have now don't look like they belong on a forum. Rather, they look more like they belong on an outdated computer keyboard. You can find many unique and nice sets at the [url=http://help.forumotion.com/f54-navigation-bars]Navigation Bar Gallery[/url]. Find one that suits and complements your theme. Your forum layout isn't the best. The first three categories ("Updates," "Discussion Area," and "GaMiNg") are fine. But from those 3 on, it gets too busy and a degree of disorganization appears. For example, in the GFX section, there is no need for a "Renders" forum as renders would also fit under the "Showcase" forum. There are many overlapping themes of forum sections all over your layout, which adds to disorganization. The entire "Applications" category and the forums within isn't needed at all. The background needs improvement too. Overall, Graphics are not the best for a gaming site. Gaming forums are the [u]most competitive[/u] niche of forums out there and competition is stiff. You need to impress, awe, and inspire with a brilliantly composed theme and forum in order to find success in the Gaming Forums category. Take some time to view the Tips and Tricks forum on the ESF and also work to improve your site's appearance. With a well designed site, members will come naturally. Until then, you'll need to work for it. ;)[/font][/list] [img]http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc433/Staff-Forumotion/ForumActivity.png[/img][img]http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/15/36/47/26/r_aver10.png[/img] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]Member count is rather low, and messages total is also pretty low. You seem to have a good enough active member count, even though the "Members Last Connected" is set to a rather high 72 hours. Again, I would focus more on your forum's theme and appearance for now.[/font][/list] [img]http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc433/Staff-Forumotion/StaffUsergroups.png[/img][img]http://i46.servimg.com/u/f46/15/36/47/26/r_fair10.png[/img] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]You have way to many usergroups for your low member count. It add way too much clutter. In now circumstance does a gaming site (or any site for that matter) need a groups such as "Active Members" or "Programmerz." I'm thinking you can merge the "eXcLuSiVe" and "V.!.P" together too. Same with "General Managers" and "Global Moderators," they can be merged as well. A good tip with your usergroups is to model it after the Support Forum's. The Support Forum sets an excellent example of a professional Staff & Usergroup setup and I highly recommend you tailor yours to perfection as well.[/font][/list] [img]http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc433/Staff-Forumotion/ForumOriginality.png[/img] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]I'm not going to provide a rating for this one, since I believe that are much more important issues you should address. However, I would like to add that if you follow my tips and guidelines I outlined for you, I believe your site can achieve much success. Don't feel discouraged; every successful forum owner has gone through a period of construction and learning. With experience, you will come to know how to sculpt the perfect forum. And the Forumotion staff are always here to assist you along the way ;). I hope you make some good changes and I hope to see much improvement in a future review![/font][/list] Regards and best of luck, Empire_1 [center][img]http://i28.servimg.com/u/f28/14/18/91/65/d1012.png[/img][/center]

Forum Review Supplied By: Empire_1
Note: Please be reminded that members are not allowed to use this template for reviewing as it is reserved for the staff only. Thank you.
Cordially,
The ForuMotion Team

6 Empire_1, on 19/01/2012 at 23h08

Review complete and moved to completed requests.