Advertise Hotspot
Advertise Hotspot is a forum used specifically for people to advertise their websites or forums.
First Impression:
When I clicked onto the link you posted to your forum, I saw a homepage. The homepage had 3 paragraphs, "Our History", "Why Us?" and "What Do We Offer". While I took the time to read these, I am not certain guests to your site will take the time to read them. The paragraphs are fairly well written, some grammar mistakes could be corrected.
Clicking into the actual forum, I noticed a toolbar at the bottom. The ability to close the bar makes this feature very nice.
Forum:
The forum is well divided up, perhaps a bit too well. The categories are aptly titled, as are the forums. The five-post requirement to post in certain sections can be helpful in cutting down spam, but can be an annoyance. Cutting down to a specific thread, the attendance thread really has no purpose to me. I don't recommend it. The announcements are well oragnized, and making the rules a universal announcement makes it clear you are seruious about enforcing them. Putting the announcements with the intros and Feedback sections are good. All of the promotion sections are together, making for neat organization. Extras and The Lounge could possibly be merged, but not a necessary change.
Graphics:
The homepage is well laid out, as is the forum. The icons for the forum are appropriate for their sections. Your banner is very bright, which makes your forum seem happy and enjoyable. Having the name of the forum mean something is good as well. The bullseye on the O in Hotspot creates a nice effect. However, it is not very noticeable. The theme of the forum is kind of bland, but and the graphics do little to spice it up. Perhaps adding some designs or a background could help.
Usergroups/Staff:
3 admins including the founder is a good amount for a forum with 255 users. 4 moderators may be too much, especially if all are active. However, if they moderate all sections of the forum, 4 is a fine number.
I like the idea of a VIP group, but what privileges do they get? Also, putting staff removed from their position in a VIP group may not be the best idea if the staff member was fired under bad circumstances.
3 each of the service providers is a okay amount, although 2 may be better.
As for active member and member groups, what privileges do they get?
20 staff for 255 members may be a bit too much, as it is approaching one for every ten members. Consider cutting down to 12-15 staff members.
Activity:
17736 posts for 255 members is not a very good number to be honest. This averages out to 69 posts per user. There is a large disparity between your number one poster and the rest of the top 10. In fact, the top poster has 80% of the total number of posts of the rest of the top 10, 5000 vs. 6000. This is not a very good ratio.
Overall grades:
First Impressions: 17/20
Forum: 18/20
Graphics: 13/20
Usergroups/Staff: 11/20
Activity: 10/20
Overall: 69/100.
Suggestions:
1. Reduce the amount of staff.
2. Eliminate the members and active members groups.
3. Have some other members post more, and increase activity.
4. Add a background to your forum.
Thanks for reading this review. If you would like more information on this topic, feel free to PM me! Also, be sure to rate this review! Thanks again!
