Tagged. Will be completed tomorrow



I'm going to be reviewing your forum with Windows XP latest & updated version of OS, 1680 x 1050 pixels resolution and Google Chrome web browser. I also want to say that I haven't meant to be rude, or insult you or your form by writing this review. I just wanted to point out flaws and mistakes that, in my opinion, should be corrected or replaced. So, no rudeness and insulting of any kind intended. Also, forgive me my gramatic and tense mistakes, I'm not a native English speaker, it's my second laguage and still improving it.

First Impressions - Excellent

At first glance, my impression is that the forum is well organized, colorful, and user-friendly. Cartoony style design can never be a mistake because almost all of us have watched cartoons when we were little, so, no matter how much flaws it has, it brings us back to our carefree childhood. Your forum presents us a cartoony design combined with the professionalism of the classical phpBB style, which is a great combination. Header is a little too high, but has amazing typography, while the navigation bar is very interesting. Categories and forums are fantastically organized and little cats are simply enchanting with their charm and simplicity. Widgets hit the bull’s eye, especially as they’re well used and contain valuable information about the forum and new projects. WIO kitty is adorable, and made me laugh, which gives an overall positive impression. What I like a lot is that you allow guests to see and read the threads, so it will be easier for visitors to explore the forum and enjoy it’s subject matter, and perhaps get the interest to register. If you are afraid that someone is going to copy your content, just remember: Imitation is the sincerest form of the flattery. All in all, it is clear that the forum is under control and regularly maintained, so just keep up with great work and your community will grow.

Graphics & Layout - Excellent

As I said, the background is colorful, but somewhat lower of quality standards than other graphics on the forum. Somehow it is too washed-out and pixelate, so I suggest you do the retouch. Header is a beautiful, naturalistic, with excellent typography, but too high. My suggestion is to reduce height and make it wider, so it can fit with forum body width.Navigation is interesting, and there's nothing to change there, except perhaps round the left edges of the right Home nav and right edges of the Log, but it's more a matter of taste, rather than design flaw. Body color is an excellent and it’s great for the eyes, and the professionalism of phpBB theme blends in perfectly with the whole toony tone. Icons in the description of each section contribute to the whole forum spirit so it’s a big plus. The paws that appears when you hover the sections is interesting and gives a nice effect of surprise. The icons are very simple, and add to the whole cat-atmosphere. The forum would not give this impression if it did not have theese widgets, so great job for adding them in. In order to improve design and faster posts loading, I would write a rule of limiting signature size, because some members have really large signature, which influences a lot on the page loading speed. In general, very well designed forum with almost nothing to correct.

Forum Activity - Good

Since the forum is about 5 months old and is based on a cat roleplay niche, I think the activity is average. Post count is okay, while the number of members can certainly be higher if you do a active advertising campaign, because there are many people who love RPG and cats, so the adverts are crucial in this case. I was impressed by the fact that the most users ever online was 288, which is huge considering the member count. There were a lots of guests, I guess, and it's quite an achievement for a forum with such activity. I'm sorry that I can not access the memberlist, but I think there are a lot of active members, as RPG forum requires daily visits to read news and participate in role playing. In general, I think that the activity is well, and it can be increased by exchaning banners, links or some other way of promotion your forum.

Staff & Usergroups - Average

I can notice a group of administrators, while other groups are related to the RPG. And as I can see, there are only two admins, one of which has not been active since February. The other is there, but almost is not active, if we tap into his post number (156). This means that the forum is generally created by members, while the admin takes care for the tech part, design and updating. I am judging by the first impressions and glance, and I’m not sure if it’s really like this. Well done if only one admin manages to keep all under control, but since the forum has grown a lot and is pretty active, I suggest you put at least two moderators who will look after the forum while the admin deals with the technical part.

Originality & Unique Quality - Excellent

So far I have not met with the forum which include RPGom and cats both, so I can say that you are quite unique, in the design and niche aspect. As for the quality, very good, up to date, you’re are constantly working on the forum and it is visible. All in all, the forum is pretty good compared to many that are can be seen online, and the most important is to take care the details, because details are often little things that reveals a person’s and also the forum’s peronality.

Kind regards,
V.

Thanks for the wonderful review! I will certainly take all the words to heart! Thanks for all the time you took to review it

Haha the Moderators are all the "Clan Leaders." The moderator group is hidden xD

But I do have a question. How would you "Advertise?"

No problem, thank you for reading it
Since I have visited the forum for the first time and haven't got a chance to be a member, I didn't know what are group leaders' obligations and activites, sorry.

I would suggest:

• Banner exchange program (you exchange banners with other forums so the daily visitors of other forums can find you easily)
  
• Link exchange - The same from above, except that no banners are included
  
• Gettting your forum link into the online forum and website directories
  
• Organizing a competition where your members will use their other forum and website accounts for posting forum promotion posts where allowed and you give them awards (online, forum-related, no real money or such) for their support and promotions. I've done it numerous times on my forum and it was a success.
  

Nice review!