Review Number 3

Forum Name: Pokemon Forest
Forum Link: www.pokemonforest.mybbnew.com
Amount Of Posts Your Forum Have: 1,340+
Type Of Review: full
Test/Demo Account: none needed.

Hai!!

Forum's Appearance and Design (20 marks)
I like it overall, it is very nice I like the clean light skin with green, it goes very nicely with the Pokemon idea. However the numbers of topics seems a bit low to me and it is noticeable in a first scroll down. I like the latest threads module at the button. it isn't noticeable in the index but I see an interesting set of trees trying to further the forest idea, the problem is they make the navigation very hard to read, perhaps changing the color of links, if you plan on keeping the tree sprites for long and find a shade easier in the eyes of your visitors.
The banner doesn't blend with the the gradient, in colour it looks all right yeah, but it still look like a pasted square. It is a nice banner, but I think that having something that interacts with teh gradient banner will look better, since the banner is aligned to the left, maybe having the right side become more transparent so the gradient filters in smoothly? Once again it is just a small thing that bugged me when i enter but nothing big and disastrous, I think the banner with the Celeby and the forest looks nice and is definitely part of what your visitors will relate your place.

Score - 17/20


Forum's Layout and Categorization(20 marks)
Well I don't think i have much to say here, things haven't change much since the last time I checked the site for a review, except for the descriptions. I see no zero thread areas which is really good. I think the Pokemon RPG zone should be above the general roleplaying. I also think you could make the pokemon talk a complete zone with more divisions, since it is what your board is related to, so having just one area dedicated to Pokemon talk, for all those no RPGers isn't exactly giving a lot to stay for. So I'd take out Pokemon Chat from general category and make it its own, adding some more areas to discuss either by games or even by products say manga, cards, videogames, etc.. it would look more attractive, given that you actually created threads in said areas. Well that's a suggestion.

Score - 18/20


Forum's Activity and Amount Of Users Online (20 marks)
Looking good, while I was around you had at least three more people around beside me. I can also see from the past hours that you had more than seven visitors, so that's pretty nice. I can see staff also checks often, this is important as well as relieving, we want to know the forum is not only active but that we're protected and the staff cares for the place.
I also noticed that most categories have had a reply today, that's hard to maintain in bigger boards. Many threads were answered today, it showed me two pages of active threads, that is a really nice activity, the members that keep returning are also continuously involved answering threads regularly. Good for you, guys.

Score - 18/20

Forum's Posts Count and Members(20 marks)
Your statistics show over a thousand posts and over thirty members, which give us an average of 45 message per users. However I can't help to notice you have less than a hundred threads, it is important to have more threads around to keep conversation fresh and avoid excessive derailing of threads. You have over ten members with zero posts, that's more than a third of you database. It gives the impression that many people change their minds after joining. You might want to prune this accounts or contact them to comeback. Aside one member, none of your active members have even 1/5 of what you have posted. Considering the threads are not something created often in the boards my guess is both admins get too involved in their replies and somehow the rest may feel excluded to follow up, maybe making some more open threads around will help to spark more activity from those members that already have a reason to visit regularly.

Score -17/20

Forum's Spelling and Grammar (20 marks)
nice punctuation, just one detail leave a space after you use "..." like this "just general stuff... no really pokémon related". I don't mind leet talk and such around the general area, but it will be good image if you don't take so lightly the way you express while trolling the RPG. Again a suggestion, if it is intentional you desire to break the paradigm then go ahead, just make sure they are aware of your intentions so no confusion arises.

Score 18/20

Final Comments
As recurrent member of your boards I got used to pretty much to the place which doesn't help me giving you a objective unbiased review but I tried my best. I hope you like it. You know I like your place and I still visit from time to time. I wish you good luck with your place and I hope this review could be somewhat useful for you. Have a nice day.