Review: ForumBuddy.net

[TehForum]

ForumBuddy
General Discussion Forum

ForumBuddy opened in the middle of December 2009, currently founded by Ryan and managed by Leon. ForumBuddy has got a little community, but willing to grow day by day to achieve our goal which is to be the largest community on the web...

However we cannot achieve our goal without your help, we are asking you to review our forum, giving us some good and bad points so that we can improve, I would appreciate if they were constructive and if possible on some good ways to improve our forum.

Thank you.
ForumBuddy

www.FORUMBUDDY.NET

[AzH]

Review.

1) Forum layout. I'm running 1680 x 1050 px and your actual content is below the cut for me. When a forum is visited you need to see good content right away. Currently there is nothing of any value that can be seen right away. Move the chatbox and 'ForumBuddy Forums' category to the bottom so that good quality content is at the top.

2) How welcome do I feel? You're running the default welcome message. Either edit this via phrases or find a welcome message plug in here on vb.org. You need to tell me, the potential member, what I can expect to get out of being a member. I have mine formatted as an image:

that links directly to the registration page.

Sticking with the welcome theme. You have the rules very prominently displayed, both as a subforum and a header/navbar link. Remove this. I want to join a forum to enjoy it, not to be told what to do.

3) What's it all about? This will feed directly into the above welcome message, but when a visitor hits your forum they need to know if it is for them or not. Currently I can't see anything that tells me about the forum. You can edit the phrases for x - Powered by vBulletin too. List some of your topics/categories.

4. How do I look? You need a more exciting theme. There are huge numbers of free or dirt cheap themes out there. The current one if very bland and poor. I don't want to spend a lot of time looking at it. Find something more exciting.

[TehForum]

Originally Posted by AzH

Review.

1) Forum layout. I'm running 1680 x 1050 px and your actual content is below the cut for me. When a forum is visited you need to see good content right away. Currently there is nothing of any value that can be seen right away. Move the chatbox and 'ForumBuddy Forums' category to the bottom so that good quality content is at the top.

2) How welcome do I feel? You're running the default welcome message. Either edit this via phrases or find a welcome message plug in here on vb.org. You need to tell me, the potential member, what I can expect to get out of being a member. I have mine formatted as an image:

that links directly to the registration page.

Sticking with the welcome theme. You have the rules very prominently displayed, both as a subforum and a header/navbar link. Remove this. I want to join a forum to enjoy it, not to be told what to do.

3) What's it all about? This will feed directly into the above welcome message, but when a visitor hits your forum they need to know if it is for them or not. Currently I can't see anything that tells me about the forum. You can edit the phrases for x - Powered by vBulletin too. List some of your topics/categories.

4. How do I look? You need a more exciting theme. There are huge numbers of free or dirt cheap themes out there. The current one if very bland and poor. I don't want to spend a lot of time looking at it. Find something more exciting.

Thank you so much. I will be editing ForumBuddy during the weekend and I will attempt to do all of the above.

--------------- Added [DATE]1263397003[/DATE] at [TIME]1263397003[/TIME] ---------------

Would any other vB.org members would like to review ForumBuddy?!

[TehForum]

Anymore reviews?!

[Speysider]

The welcome message doesn't look very different at all.

The best thing to do is have something like this:

Welcome to the Harry Potter Community Forums. We hope that you enjoy your time here.

It appears that you are not registered on the forums, which means you cannot take advantage of what the site has to offer. Take a look around and if you like what you see, register on the forums, which is absolutely free, and you will get an extended range of features, including:

1. The ability to post new scrolls (threads)
2. Be able to reply to other user's scrolls (threads)
3. Edit your posts
4. Receiving email notification of replies to posts and threads you specify
5. Sending private messages to other members
6. Creating albums of pictures and comment on others' pictures
7. Adding events to the forum calendar
8. Setting up a 'contact list' to quickly see which of your friends are online.

And More!

Note that entering your email address will not leave you open to 'spam', as you can choose to hide it from other board users. You'll probably be able to allow other registered users to contact you via email, but the system won't display your email address to them unless you give permission.

That's my welcome message and it tells everyone the benefits of registering.