Post by Shishkarobb on May 30, 2007 8:24:06 GMT -5
I was on the ProBoards site a couple of weeks back looking for some board tweaks and decided to have them rate this board. Here is the only review I got before it scrolled off the first page of the forum I posted the link in-
Thoughts?
Things I like:
1. I like how you have some rules and the like to tell members what you expect from them in return for them discussing aspects on your forum. I think that you might give some ideas as to what might happen if they are in violation though. Are they banned, warned, mollycoddled? I think if there is a definitive punishment for the infringement of the rules, that makes it much easier for potential members, especially ones who might not have been on the old forum.
2. I like how you reference your old forum and tell the story behind it. I am sure most members won't feel that you are just deserting and starting over with that explanation. It also lets them know that you are looking out for the best interest of the forum, and through the forum, for them. Nice work.
3. I like the look of the boards and the background and such. It has that classic TV feel, similar to the television on the left side of your banner. I used to have a TV JUST LIKE THAT! It made it feel homey and the like, and members need a place where they feel comfortable. Great job again!
4. I like how you have a suggestion board, which also includes announcements and the Introduction thread. I like how you have one thread for introductions and one for announcements, as well as one for the CT's that your members must like to have. The one suggestion I would make is two-fold:
A. Don't have the Suggestions limited to one thread. That could get very tedious to wade through, especially if you get several at a time. I would allow each member to create threads about suggestions so there is that differentiation, which also makes them eaiser to lock and moderate.
B. Move the Announcements up with the rules. They tend to be less utilized, just like the Rules overall, but they tend to work better together in my mind. The CT part would be an addendum to the rules as I see it as well. That way, you have the Introduction thread...maybe stickied...and the rest of that board is ALL suggestions.
5. I love how you have kept the CLASSIC INFO CENTER as I call it. To me, it fits the profile of a simple forum with simple rules and a simple topic to keep people on track. It is not inherently confusing and putting information out there that members do NOT need to have on a daily basis. Great work.
Things I don't like:
1. Your banner stretches the page on my computer and I thought my resolution was pretty good. It does not stretch it by much, but it does cut some of the right side of the page off. The easiest way to get rid of that problem--Cut out the "The TV and MORE discussion board" part of it. I think that the guests and members will figure that part out and it is not necessary. If you trimmed that down, it should all work very nicely and fit the banner back on the page.
2. The News Fader. To me, that can be used instead of or in conjunction with the Announcements. At the moment, very little is said in your News Fader and most might ignore your fader because it is VERY slow. Plus, I know it is a joke, but some people might take offense to the news about God and having the steak and the like. If you have nothing to put there, you might remove the news fader and focus just on the announcements or vice versa.
3. I have to admit that I am not a fan overall of your layout. I think some aspects were done quite well and I will allude to those, but most of it tends to work against the overall push of the forum as I see it. I will develop it in parts.
The first board: THE WHEDONVERSE. Why not just make a Whedon FORUM rather than a catch-all for TV and the like and then make it seem to be devoted entirely to one aspect of TV? It makes it seem like this brand of TV is MORE appealing to the admin and might keep others from joining since this takes a precedence. I would say that you should combine that with THE BOOB TUBE section and keep it TV. THEN, if any show tends to have several threads about it or a LOT of posts, maybe consider putting a sub-board up for that show at the time.
The second board: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS! I actually like this one overall. It is not in the best spot...to my mind, it should really go first, almost as an introduction to the rest of the section. I like the sub-board too, but you should have a post in there of SOME sort. Even if it is just the way for members to post the Obits. Most members might feel odd about being the first person to post in a zero sub-board. As admin, that should be your job to spur conversation and to lead by example on HOW to post.
The third board: THE BOOB TUBE! I have mentioned above how I think you could improve this to some degree. I like this board overall, but your description might recognize if it is new or old shows. After all, you have a TV ON DVD section, which I admire. Would that discuss the old shows or what? I think that this board should be your busiest as it directly relates to the TITLE of the forum. And it should be the one, if any, having the most sub-boards after a while and after you see what is popular.
The fourth board: THE SILVER SCREEN. Pretty straightforward and no direct changes I would make, but see the next section I bold and you will see my questions on what I do not understand, which concerns this board.
The fifth board: THE WRITTEN WORD. Why a Harry Potter sub-board? That could easily go in the Silver Screen section too. It makes it seem once again that you have a bias in a certain direction and that can isolate members and potential members. What if they like to talk about the written word, but see that Harry Potter has its own section? It can be disheartening to new members, especially if they don't like what seems to be touted.
The sixth board: MUSIC. Again, no problem here, but I will allude to it later as well.
4. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD section. This seems to me to be the OT section of your forum because you can talk about anything here, even though it is categorized. I don't really care for this section because you have four boards and only NINE total posts. Why not just have an OT section which allows discussion of ALL of them? Then, over time, if one area stands out, why not make a sub-board...and if it continues to grow, make it a board? It just seems too forced right now, especially with such a small membership. Plus, one of the boards has NO posts in it and that makes the forum still look new and not ready for business overall.
Things I don't understand:
1. Why is your forum called Planet T.V. when you have SO many avenues of things that are NOT about TV? Right now, only TWO of the boards discuss anything about TV directly. The rest are the "and MORE" part of your banner. It seems that your forum is more AND MORE than anything else. Why not JUST have a TV forum?
If you want to keep all that you have, I would suggest the following:
Leaving the top section as it is, unless you follow the suggestions I gave earlier to change it. Then, the second section would have ENTERTAINMENT NEWS first, followed by a CURRENT TV section. This way members can discuss new TV shows that are out and this section is easy to manage. I would follow that with an OLD TV section where people can talk about ANY TV show that is not currently on the air, unless it is in syndication. Next, I would have a TV on DVD section where members can talk about current and old TV revolving around the DVDs if they are out there...or if not, how to GET them on DVD. To me, that second section would be MUCH better served doing that.
As for the other boards, I would make a new category called OTHER MEDIUMS or something along those lines. Then, combine some of the aspects such as FROM WRITTEN WORD TO SILVER SCREEN where you can talk about books/plays that ARE movies as well and talk about books that people would LIKE to see as movies if they had the option. I would put the MUSIC one here too and try to relate the description to talking about music that revolves around television and the movies. I think that will help keep the forum from becoming more of a general focus.
Finally, the OT section as I call it. Currently, I would put all those boards into one board and call it OT or POWER'S OUT or something so they know that this is NOT about what the rest of the forum is about. As mentioned earlier, if over time, they WANT seperate boards, do so. But for now it makes it look less professional.
I hope that this rate helps to some degree to give you some thoughts and opinions on how to work your forum around. If you have any questions or would like me to rerate after you have tinkered with the site, let me know. Good luck on your forum.
Overall rate: 6/10.
1. I like how you have some rules and the like to tell members what you expect from them in return for them discussing aspects on your forum. I think that you might give some ideas as to what might happen if they are in violation though. Are they banned, warned, mollycoddled? I think if there is a definitive punishment for the infringement of the rules, that makes it much easier for potential members, especially ones who might not have been on the old forum.
2. I like how you reference your old forum and tell the story behind it. I am sure most members won't feel that you are just deserting and starting over with that explanation. It also lets them know that you are looking out for the best interest of the forum, and through the forum, for them. Nice work.
3. I like the look of the boards and the background and such. It has that classic TV feel, similar to the television on the left side of your banner. I used to have a TV JUST LIKE THAT! It made it feel homey and the like, and members need a place where they feel comfortable. Great job again!
4. I like how you have a suggestion board, which also includes announcements and the Introduction thread. I like how you have one thread for introductions and one for announcements, as well as one for the CT's that your members must like to have. The one suggestion I would make is two-fold:
A. Don't have the Suggestions limited to one thread. That could get very tedious to wade through, especially if you get several at a time. I would allow each member to create threads about suggestions so there is that differentiation, which also makes them eaiser to lock and moderate.
B. Move the Announcements up with the rules. They tend to be less utilized, just like the Rules overall, but they tend to work better together in my mind. The CT part would be an addendum to the rules as I see it as well. That way, you have the Introduction thread...maybe stickied...and the rest of that board is ALL suggestions.
5. I love how you have kept the CLASSIC INFO CENTER as I call it. To me, it fits the profile of a simple forum with simple rules and a simple topic to keep people on track. It is not inherently confusing and putting information out there that members do NOT need to have on a daily basis. Great work.
Things I don't like:
1. Your banner stretches the page on my computer and I thought my resolution was pretty good. It does not stretch it by much, but it does cut some of the right side of the page off. The easiest way to get rid of that problem--Cut out the "The TV and MORE discussion board" part of it. I think that the guests and members will figure that part out and it is not necessary. If you trimmed that down, it should all work very nicely and fit the banner back on the page.
2. The News Fader. To me, that can be used instead of or in conjunction with the Announcements. At the moment, very little is said in your News Fader and most might ignore your fader because it is VERY slow. Plus, I know it is a joke, but some people might take offense to the news about God and having the steak and the like. If you have nothing to put there, you might remove the news fader and focus just on the announcements or vice versa.
3. I have to admit that I am not a fan overall of your layout. I think some aspects were done quite well and I will allude to those, but most of it tends to work against the overall push of the forum as I see it. I will develop it in parts.
The first board: THE WHEDONVERSE. Why not just make a Whedon FORUM rather than a catch-all for TV and the like and then make it seem to be devoted entirely to one aspect of TV? It makes it seem like this brand of TV is MORE appealing to the admin and might keep others from joining since this takes a precedence. I would say that you should combine that with THE BOOB TUBE section and keep it TV. THEN, if any show tends to have several threads about it or a LOT of posts, maybe consider putting a sub-board up for that show at the time.
The second board: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS! I actually like this one overall. It is not in the best spot...to my mind, it should really go first, almost as an introduction to the rest of the section. I like the sub-board too, but you should have a post in there of SOME sort. Even if it is just the way for members to post the Obits. Most members might feel odd about being the first person to post in a zero sub-board. As admin, that should be your job to spur conversation and to lead by example on HOW to post.
The third board: THE BOOB TUBE! I have mentioned above how I think you could improve this to some degree. I like this board overall, but your description might recognize if it is new or old shows. After all, you have a TV ON DVD section, which I admire. Would that discuss the old shows or what? I think that this board should be your busiest as it directly relates to the TITLE of the forum. And it should be the one, if any, having the most sub-boards after a while and after you see what is popular.
The fourth board: THE SILVER SCREEN. Pretty straightforward and no direct changes I would make, but see the next section I bold and you will see my questions on what I do not understand, which concerns this board.
The fifth board: THE WRITTEN WORD. Why a Harry Potter sub-board? That could easily go in the Silver Screen section too. It makes it seem once again that you have a bias in a certain direction and that can isolate members and potential members. What if they like to talk about the written word, but see that Harry Potter has its own section? It can be disheartening to new members, especially if they don't like what seems to be touted.
The sixth board: MUSIC. Again, no problem here, but I will allude to it later as well.
4. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD section. This seems to me to be the OT section of your forum because you can talk about anything here, even though it is categorized. I don't really care for this section because you have four boards and only NINE total posts. Why not just have an OT section which allows discussion of ALL of them? Then, over time, if one area stands out, why not make a sub-board...and if it continues to grow, make it a board? It just seems too forced right now, especially with such a small membership. Plus, one of the boards has NO posts in it and that makes the forum still look new and not ready for business overall.
Things I don't understand:
1. Why is your forum called Planet T.V. when you have SO many avenues of things that are NOT about TV? Right now, only TWO of the boards discuss anything about TV directly. The rest are the "and MORE" part of your banner. It seems that your forum is more AND MORE than anything else. Why not JUST have a TV forum?
If you want to keep all that you have, I would suggest the following:
Leaving the top section as it is, unless you follow the suggestions I gave earlier to change it. Then, the second section would have ENTERTAINMENT NEWS first, followed by a CURRENT TV section. This way members can discuss new TV shows that are out and this section is easy to manage. I would follow that with an OLD TV section where people can talk about ANY TV show that is not currently on the air, unless it is in syndication. Next, I would have a TV on DVD section where members can talk about current and old TV revolving around the DVDs if they are out there...or if not, how to GET them on DVD. To me, that second section would be MUCH better served doing that.
As for the other boards, I would make a new category called OTHER MEDIUMS or something along those lines. Then, combine some of the aspects such as FROM WRITTEN WORD TO SILVER SCREEN where you can talk about books/plays that ARE movies as well and talk about books that people would LIKE to see as movies if they had the option. I would put the MUSIC one here too and try to relate the description to talking about music that revolves around television and the movies. I think that will help keep the forum from becoming more of a general focus.
Finally, the OT section as I call it. Currently, I would put all those boards into one board and call it OT or POWER'S OUT or something so they know that this is NOT about what the rest of the forum is about. As mentioned earlier, if over time, they WANT seperate boards, do so. But for now it makes it look less professional.
I hope that this rate helps to some degree to give you some thoughts and opinions on how to work your forum around. If you have any questions or would like me to rerate after you have tinkered with the site, let me know. Good luck on your forum.
Overall rate: 6/10.
Thoughts?
