StopMomStop.com - my first forum

[nevetS]

I'm finally getting around to actually releasing my first real forum, and I'd appreciate it much if anybody would take the time to provide me any feedback they can.

I know I still have a good deal of work to do, but we are actually allowing users in a little bit early since I actually have a few users to start out with.


The forum is located at http://www.stopmomstop.com/talk/

It's a vbSEO forum, with several mod's from here, and a good deal of my own customization.

Specifically, I'm interested in your thoughts on the color scheme, the overall layout, and page load times (slow or fast and where geographically you are located, not too specific). If you notice any particular feature not working, please let me know - I've modified the javascript significantly looking forward to some nifty scriptaculous things I'll be implementing once I get some sleep and some testing time . Please also comment on whether or not the fonts are clear enough.

I'd certainly be willing to reciprocate with a review of your forum (from my limited and narrow viewpoint), or if there is anything else I can do (provide you with a link or something like that - let me know).

[ep13]

at first seeing the domain i thought it was some child abuse forum or something ...

having looked at it the forums are nice but the domain dosnt really stear towards your content

[nevetS]

I really should put an explanation up about the name... LOL. My sister thought it was going to be a blog dedicated to complaining about my mom .

My daughter really loves the book "Go Dog Go!", so we thought "Go Mom Go!" would be a good one. Well, first off, that was taken, and secondly it's supposed to be a place where you can take a break. Mom's have enough Go Go Go. So then we thought Stop Mom Stop - which is easy to spell and easy to remember.

At this point, I'm tied into the domain name, but I appreciate the feedback. I think once we have some content up there it will be more clear. I had a logo up that included a tag line that spelled things out a bit better - I think I'll revert to that one again pretty soon.

[The Bish]

Damn the domain had me thinking it was about child abuse! Then I entered and although it is visiually pleasing I still could not get past the domain. Nice site though.

Great now I have the phrase... "no more wire hangers" beating through my head.

[nevetS]

oh jeez.... Mommy Dearest haunted my childhood... Especially since my mom had a thing about wire hangers too...

I'll take the visually pleasing compliment though. Seriously, I've been talking about this domain with friends and family for 6 months and not a single person ever mentioned anything bad about the name...

[Roxie]

I also thought it was a site about child abuse. After visiting, I decided the site is pleasing enough. I've visited enough "MOM" sites to know. I love the fact that it doesn't look too "v-bulletiny" which is sometimes a good thing, you know?

[FLMom]

I am going with the others with the name, although I didn't think of abuse, I just don't think it fits your site. Maybe when your domain name is up I would go with something else like "Mom Stop" or something like that.
I like the colors you have chosen and know you are still working on things, but when clicking on certain links, it was hard to go back to the forums page. It kept taking me back to a page with half a dog on it... I like your idea though and think that once you have put in some more work and get everything working properly it should be a great success!

Also, are the 5 forums all you have? Are you planning on adding any more? When first looking at that page, I kept thinking I should be seeing more and actually looked around for them so I had that feeling of "that's it?" So maybe you could add more forums, I think this will help your new members and give them something more to talk about..

[nevetS]

FLMom -

The 5 forums - from my limited research it seems that the advice is to start out with just a few forums and then grow them as traffic increases and you need a clear-er separation of topics. With the members we are starting out with, they have a historical habit of sticking to a single forum for their interaction - as they usually leave the forum up throughout the day and just hit refresh when they happen to stop by their computers.

I'm going to query around and see if I can't get a few more opinions, though as this is really advice that I just read and never questioned.

I'll work on the navigation links to provide a more clear path back to the forum home page.

Thanks for the advice!

I'll be joining your messageboard in the near future! It looks great!

[FLMom]

You are welcome! I was also told the same thing when I first started out, because if you have too many then it makes your site look too empty, but if you have too few then it also looks empty. I started with around 10-15 forums and went from there.

Good Luck with your site and thanks for the compliment about mine

[concepts]

okay, when I first saw the domain name I was scared haha.. seriously!
but your site looks great! I was never a fan of simpler sites being a designer, but I love the look of this! so welcoming and warming!

I would definately have my wife sign up here (when we have a lil one!) hehe.. but I do love this site, easy navigation, not too complicated for new vbulletin users.

great concept! I would however maybe having an opaque image in that right side grey border just to add a little flare.. maybe an image of a new mother or something? or kids playing? that would look nice and only add more meaning to what the site represents.

kuddos!

cheers! (<<<not from the UK, just always wanted to say that!)

haha!