Christina's Forum - 14 Rates -

[bigballofyarn]

Forum URL: bigballofyarn.proboards.com/

Forum Name: Christina's Forum

Description: General Forum

Desired Outcome of Rate: I'm looking for opinions on the design and style as well as ways you think I can attract new members. Would you suggest making the forum 100% viewable to guests? I like keeping it more private.

Thanks

[bigballofyarn]

I would greatly appreciate a rating.... not looking for anything of epic proportion. You don't have to write me a book - just honest and sincere compliments or criticism.

[Sàm]

Hello.

When I first opened the page, I stared at it for a moment. It took me some time to think about the skin, but I think I like it. The blue fits nicely, and everything rolls together without hurting my eyes or making me want to exit out on the spot. I wonder, though, whether you have additional skins? I know if I joined, I would probably get bored of the current skin after awhile. That does not mean it's bad -- that's just how I am. I like variety, and I'm sure other people out there would prefer a variety.

I noticed that people have a lot of posts. I also noticed that you only have two boards open. I understand keeping things on a members-only basis, but really, maybe you should open just a couple boards to the public so they can see how things work. Maybe they dislike how things run, and when they sign up, they'll never sign on again. Then again, maybe someone would like how the site runs, but they don't sign up and never get the opportunity to see that. Those are obviously just what-ifs, so it's clearly down to you to decide whether it's necessary to reveal some of the forum.

You've been up for over six years? I suppose I would see more members existing on your board (a lot more), but you still have a pretty decent ratio of active members. The main board (Rules and Announcements) it's pretty clustered; maybe you could have sub-boards? I skimmed through both pages, but I didn't really see any clear-set rules. Maybe you should put all of the announcements into a sub-board so they're separate from the information guests need to know (such as registering, rules, et cetera), or perhaps put that information into a sub-board? There's a lot of information there, and I think separating it would be nice.

I'm not that good at ratings and telling people how to get more members (considering I can't get any members on my own forums ), so I give you an overall 7/10 and bid you good luck in getting more members!

[bigballofyarn]

No I don't have any other skins. I'm kinda lazy.

I did have a lot more members, but I got into the habit of deleting old, inactive accounts, or accounts that had zero posts. I didn't feel there was a reason to keep inactive people.

I'm thinking of opening maybe ONE other section, like the random section so guests can get a feel for the personality of the forum.

I appreciate your opinion and rate!!!!! Thanks a ton!!

[jaws50005]

What I like

○Design is easy on the eyes
○Lots of active members = guests more likely to join
○Small welcome table size. I don't have to do a lot of scrolling on your forum.


Improvements

○The post section of the boards (where it says how many posts is in each board) looks big to me. I don't know why it's doing that, but maybe you could change it somehow.

○The gradient for the .catbg looks a little odd to me. Maybe you could make it a little larger.

○Stick with one name. Is it Christina's Forum or Big Ball of Yarn?


Overall

Overall your forum is cool! A new skin may be nice, but otherwise the design is nice. I don't think you need a higher member count. I think you want more active members. You already have a lot of them though.

Keep up the great work!

[bigballofyarn]

May 3, 2009 13:58:15 GMT -8 jaws50005 said:

The post section of the boards (where it says how many posts is in each board) looks big to me. I don't know why it's doing that, but maybe you could change it somehow.

The gradient for the .catbg looks a little odd to me. Maybe you could make it a little larger.

Stick with one name. Is it Christina's Forum or Big Ball of Yarn?

Thank you for the rate. I appreciate it.

Are you using Firefox3? That's the only browser that seems to mess up my column width and my gradients. Otherwise things look fine. But I do have problems viewing most proboards in FF3. Everything looks normal to me in FF2.

I agree that I need to pick one name and keep it. I was just indecisive and wrote both. hehe

Again, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your time.

[jaws50005]

Yeah, I do use FF 3. I tried it in Chrome, and the size of the boards look perfect. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Maybe add a little note somewhere on the frontpage that your site is best viewed in *Insert Browser Name Here*

[bigballofyarn]

May 4, 2009 14:55:03 GMT -8 jaws50005 said:

Yeah, I do use FF 3. I tried it in Chrome, and the size of the boards look perfect. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Maybe add a little note somewhere on the frontpage that your site is best viewed in *Insert Browser Name Here*

You inspired me to fix it and I THINK everything is okay in FF3 on the main page. I just need to fix it inside the forum now.

[bigballofyarn]

I still have to fix the FF3 problem inside the forum, but everything should be fixed on the main page. Other rates are appreciated.

[baines]

Colors and color scheme: I love the colors of your site. Everything is perfectly readable.
Graphics and images: The graphics are really cool. I especially like the banner.
Forum topic/theme and board content: It seems good to me.
Coding and odds 'n' ends: Seems good.
Overall: I say 10/10. You are doing an awesome job, keep up the good work!

[bigballofyarn]

May 9, 2009 15:27:02 GMT -8 baines said:

Colors and color scheme: I love the colors of your site. Everything is perfectly readable.
Graphics and images: The graphics are really cool. I especially like the banner.
Forum topic/theme and board content: It seems good to me.
Coding and odds 'n' ends: Seems good.
Overall: I say 10/10. You are doing an awesome job, keep up the good work!

As I said in my PM to you, thank you so much. Your rate makes me smile.

[ahab]

Can't argue with success. Your site remains active and you've kept it going form 6 years. If the look pleases you, why change? It's your board and should reflect your interests. I might differ on some of the points but your formula works so 7/10.

[bigballofyarn]

May 24, 2009 6:28:01 GMT -8 ahab said:

Can't argue with success. Your site remains active and you've kept it going form 6 years. If the look pleases you, why change? It's your board and should reflect your interests. I might differ on some of the points but your formula works so 7/10.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Anyone else?

[ahab]

Colors are great, well organized. 8/10

[bigballofyarn]

Jul 3, 2009 8:48:54 GMT -8 ahab said:

Colors are great, well organized. 8/10

I went up since the first time you rated me? Cool. Thanks. Anyone else?