Any comments on my forum.

[ITprob]

Hello would like to hear any comments about my forum, thanks! Jay
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[Teknomancer]

From the look of your site it struck me that it was a Windows only, Windows centric site.

First Impressions
You've adopted the Windows XP style and if you intend to cover more OSs like Linux etc., I strongly suggest changing the theme to something more generic, yet unique.

Some Negative Aspects
1. You have WAY too many boards spread out and it gives a very empty feeling to the site. Combine a few boards into one (or as child boards) so that you give a more busy look to the site with posts/topics numbers being higher when you combine the boards. EG: Combine all Windows boards into one board, with sub-boards for each specific version of Windows.

2. Logo:
The graphical part of the logo, the computer with tools inside, looks quite generic. You could always do with a bit more specific logo or slightly wider (not taller) logo to fill up some empty space at the top.

Some Strong Points
1. Theme
The text part of the logo "A place to ask questions about computers" really helped a lot as it is bold and bright and any totally new user can figure out what the site is about. Which is THE most important aspect.

2. Navigation
The navigation links at the top right of the page are very clear and stand-out a lot rather than blend in. This is actually a good thing and makes things a lot easier to navigate through your site. Don't change the top right part of the site!! Its perfect.

3. Other points
Great and easy to remember URL, non-obstrusive advertisements and a general familiarity of the site are all your plus points! Good work.

Overall a great start, i'd give it a 7/10 !
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[~HG~]

Pretty much as above but do a google on the empty forum titles and pick out a few snippets of information to post to give them the feel that they are at least of some use to someone.

As it appears to be windows based, why not have a forum with the history of windows ... you could get the info from a google search and simply paste it into your forum but make sure it is locked so that it remains the only topic in the forum with lots of interesting info on the OS
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[Mercury]

If you designed that banner, good job. The text is easy to read and it gives a decent idea what your forum is for, so it's effective. Kudos to that.

You make the mistake of having too many forums to start off with. You should start off with fewer forums and work to build content over time before expanding your forum by starting new forums for the more popular topics that are distinct enough to be split off.

Many of your forums have bland and overused names. Try being creative, but the creativity should not cross the point that it's no longer considered decently relevant to the subject. You can try comparing the names of forums with the related subject your forum centers on, or use your own real words that you like and using a thesaurus.

Two thumbs up on having the Rules, Terms, and Privacy Policy linked at the bottom. However, it took me a while to find it, as the bottom of the forum shouldn't be the central access point of your important information, being that the bottom is much less looked at than the relevant forum (the one for announcements, for instance, which is well placed) or the header. Perhaps you should link that important information in your general announcements forum in an announcement, or have copies of those links in the header. My point is you should increase visibility.
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