Hocotate Freight- 2nd Review..

Luigi1632 wrote:So mine is about to be review :0

Luigi1632 wrote:So mine is about to be review :0

Luigi1632 wrote:

quite a long time for a review..

Graphics:
- Theme: A dark theme. Nice and I like darker themes but it has some things which can distract much from its beauty. Firstly, the background. The picture itself is a nice one but it is tiled up. Why don`t you make an image which is seamlessly tiled and put it up to be static (it don`t scrolls with the forum when you scroll down). It would even slightly lower the pageload time. The other thing is that the names of the categories are too close to the edge of the left border. I don`t know if you can change that, but if you can, you should. (7/10)
- Banner: The quality is not bad and the picture looks kinda cool (and is that Snake from Metal Gear Solid?), but whats with the right side? I mean, c`mon, there is plenty of space left there. Show some imagination cause that text is really boring there. Try to get another picture and make it appear beside the current one. Play with the effects that two picture can give you. Really. I hate that empty space. (6/10)
- Navigation Bar: First of all, the background picture is good and matching the forum style. The main fonttype is good too. However, the "Chat" and "Arcade" buttons are not fitting in there. Even the quality of the image is worse than the others. And the text on those two are not with the same fonttype and misses that nice glow effect the others have. Try to make those two (or make a request for it somewhere) to look exactly like the others. And finally, make the bar to appear in the center. It will look much better in my humble opinion. So generally I like it but those two homemade ones are just not that good to fit in there. (7/10)
- Icons: Familiar icons on the index page. Yes, I like them too. You were lucky that our mysterious helper jumped in. Anyway... Nice solution. One horizontal line for regular topics and one extra vertical for hot threads. The same goes to the icons when you enter a forum (as they are the same). The "Who is online" picture is nice too, but when I look at it, I get the feeling that it supposed to be moving. I don`t know why. And the "cut a rectangular section out from a picture" is not my style. The "Add Reply" and "New Topic" buttons would be nicer if you would remove that annoying black background around it. And it would get some nicer shape too. So the notification icons have made your points go a little higher, but that`s all. (6/10)
The sum of all is 26/40. Just change the things I mentioned up here, and it will be much better.

Categories & Forums:
You cover pretty much everything that is about games. Maybe you could make some sub-forums in the "Gaming Section" for every popular game genre like FPS, RPG, Sport and such. Just to keep it organized. And unfortunately I see some problems with the attitude on your forum. First of all, the question I saw that you asked from a member to test him if he is trustworthy ("Special --> Requests") is ridiculous. Maybe it is seems like a funny joke but c`mon. What has that question to do anything about trust or gaming? The other thing is (if I got it right) that you are ask for money to be someones affiliate. That is definitely a bad idea. You wont get too much member with that attitude. You should change these things. Be nice to your members. Treat them with respect. It`s the base of a good forum. Aside from these things, everything is ok here. (13/20).

Usergroups:
Administrators and Moderators. As your site is a new one, it is enough for now. But I`ve seen you are making some reviews on games too. Then maybe you should hire some reviewers for that job so you can concentrate on other things. Also some basic description is included here. That`s ok. Your two moderators seems to be active. Just keep them. For now, there is not much more to say here. (13/20)

Activity:
The forum is about 45 days old and has 17 registered user. That is 0,37 new member each day. That`s a small number. The number of posts is 558 at the moment. Statistically those were made by 4 members only. That means 80%. And 60% of it was made by the administrator itself. But again, it is a new site and the administrator should be active naturally. In the last 24 hours there were 5 members who connected (I know this from the "Last Visited" column in the memberlist). Not too good, but I`m sure you will find some more active members in the near future. Just be nice with them. (10/20)

More:
Keep or start advertising on a daily basis.

And so the sum is 62/100 this time. Just made it to the Pretty Nice rank. Keep up the work.

Code:

[b][i]"Nothing is personal in a review"[/i][/b]

[b]My rating table: [/b]
[b][color=red]91-100[/color][/b] - Unexpectedly Awesome
[b][color=darkred]76-90[/color][/b] - Awesome
[b][color=orange]61-75[/color][/b] - Pretty Nice
[b][color=green]41-60[/color][/b] - Average
[b][color=blue]21-40[/color][/b] - Below Average
[b][color=black]0-20[/color][/b] - Fail

[justify][b]Graphics[/b]:
- [b]Theme[/b]: A dark theme. Nice and I like darker themes but it has some things which can distract much from its beauty. Firstly, the background. The picture itself is a nice one but it is tiled up. Why don`t you make an image which is seamlessly tiled and put it up to be static (it don`t scrolls with the forum when you scroll down). It would even slightly lower the pageload time. The other thing is that the names of the categories are too close to the edge of the left border. I don`t know if you can change that, but if you can, you should. ([b][color=orange]7/10[/color][/b])
- [b]Banner[/b]: The quality is not bad and the picture looks kinda cool (and is that Snake from Metal Gear Solid?), but whats with the right side? I mean, c`mon, there is plenty of space left there. Show some imagination cause that text is really boring there. Try to get another picture and make it appear beside the current one. Play with the effects that two picture can give you. Really. I hate that empty space. ([b][color=green]6/10[/color][/b])
- [b]Navigation Bar[/b]: First of all, the background picture is good and matching the forum style. The main fonttype is good too. However, the "Chat" and "Arcade" buttons are not fitting in there. Even the quality of the image is worse than the others. And the text on those two are not with the same fonttype and misses that nice glow effect the others have. Try to make those two (or make a request for it somewhere) to look exactly like the others. And finally, make the bar to appear in the center. It will look much better in my humble opinion. So generally I like it but those two homemade ones are just not that good to fit in there. ([b][color=orange]7/10[/color][/b])
- [b]Icons[/b]: Familiar icons on the index page. Yes, I like them too. You were lucky that our mysterious helper jumped in. :) Anyway... Nice solution. One horizontal line for regular topics and one extra vertical for hot threads. The same goes to the icons when you enter a forum (as they are the same). The "Who is online" picture is nice too, but when I look at it, I get the feeling that it supposed to be moving. I don`t know why. And the "cut a rectangular section out from a picture" is not my style. The "Add Reply" and "New Topic" buttons would be nicer if you would remove that annoying black background around it. And it would get some nicer shape too. So the notification icons have made your points go a little higher, but that`s all. ([b][color=green]6/10[/color][/b])
The sum of all is [b][color=orange]26/40[/color][/b]. Just change the things I mentioned up here, and it will be much better. 

[b]Categories & Forums[/b]:
You cover pretty much everything that is about games. Maybe you could make some sub-forums in the "Gaming Section" for every popular game genre like FPS, RPG, Sport and such. Just to keep it organized. And unfortunately I see some problems with the attitude on your forum. First of all, the question I saw that you asked from a member to test him if he is trustworthy ("Special --> Requests") is ridiculous. Maybe it is seems like a funny joke but c`mon. What has that question to do anything about trust or gaming? The other thing is (if I got it right) that you are ask for money to be someones affiliate. That is definitely a bad idea. You wont get too much member with that attitude. You should change these things. Be nice to your members. Treat them with respect. It`s the base of a good forum. Aside from these things, everything is ok here. ([b][color=orange]13/20[/color][/b]).

[b]Usergroups[/b]:
Administrators and Moderators. As your site is a new one, it is enough for now. But I`ve seen you are making some reviews on games too. Then maybe you should hire some reviewers for that job so you can concentrate on other things. Also some basic description is included here. That`s ok. Your two moderators seems to be active. Just keep them. For now, there is not much more to say here. ([b][color=orange]13/20[/color][/b])

[b]Activity[/b]:
The forum is about 45 days old and has 17 registered user. That is 0,37 new member each day. That`s a small number. The number of posts is 558 at the moment. Statistically those were made by 4 members only. That means 80%. And 60% of it was made by the administrator itself. But again, it is a new site and the administrator should be active naturally.  In the last 24 hours there were 5 members who connected (I know this from the "Last Visited" column in the memberlist). Not too good, but I`m sure you will find some more active members in the near future. Just be nice with them. ([b][color=green]10/20[/color][/b])

[b]More[/b]:
Keep or start advertising on a daily basis. 

And so the sum is [b][color=orange]62/100[/color][/b] this time. Just made it to the [b][color=orange]Pretty Nice[/color][/b] rank. Keep up the work.[/justify]