Hello! I'm Sarapha! I'm the owner and operator of a well established site, and have 8+ years of experience. Hopefully, that will come in handy with helping you. The way that I rate is that I do not read any of the information you have listed here about the site, but let the site itself tell me what is going on. I click the link to the site and start typing about things as I see them. I have a great ability to view the forum as a prospective new member, and will judge everything as unbiased as can be. Let's get started
First ImpressionDark colors... Main banner makes me think of some sort of bio-hazard... Possibly a post-apocalyptic site? The name suggests zombies, but the overall theme suggests some sort of nuclear fallout. If the site is about Zombies, perhaps changing the main banner to have zombies in the theme, rather than the people in the biohazard gear. If the site is about nuclear fallout apocalypse, perhaps change the name to something less zombie? If the site isn't related to either of those, I would suggest changing everything (lol)
News BarI can't tell you how distracting that sort of thing is. As I'm looking through, my eyes venture right back up to it every time it changes text. Unfortunately, if I were attempting to post on here, I wouldn't be able to maintain concentration long enough to actually accomplish this.
CategoriesThough I do understand the purpose of collapsible categories, I can tell you that you won't make new members by hiding the RP areas. That is one of the main things that people go to a site to look at. If they can't see activity in the boards, they will click the red X. Even if it's a simple matter of clicking on the category, I can tell you that, without the experience necessary to know that you click it and it appears, people scrolling through will just assume that they are empty and will move on. Judging by the people who posted above me saying that they see your boards are empty, the thought is pretty much there already.
ChatboxGiven the size of your chatbox, it looks very awkward to just be down at the bottom of the board. My suggestion on that is to either size it to match the width of the board, or to move it to a side table. Otherwise, it gives me the impression of a tree, or a person with a huge head and tiny body.
Closer LookThe Rules-"1. Respect is required. You don't like someone? Suck it up. They probably don't like you either. But don't be rude or mean to ANY members. This is ZERO tolerance. First offense and you're banned. Period."
---While it is a good idea to state that respecting other members is a must, you have taken it extremely far. Stating "they probably don't like you either" is a horrible thing to say as an admin, and immediately throws conflict right into your face. Banning on the very first offense? That is extremely harsh. Conflicts happen,
a lot. Giving a warning system is one thing, but saying that you are going to ban each and every member to have a conflict without even giving a warning period is going to cost you pretty much anyone and everyone that signs up. The way you have it stated will immediately turn off anyone to coming to you if they have a problem, as, if I were a member and someone was messing with me, I would feel like I would be banned too, given that I'd be inadvertently involved. Instead, I suggest saying "OOC Conflict will not be tolerated. If someone is harassing you OOC, please report it to us. Conflicts are given one warning. If persisted, banning may become an option." Always make it known that you don't
want to ban people, but it is an option
if you need to.
-"2. Try and remain as active as you can. I am probably one of the worst about being busy. But try and log on and make a post at least once or twice a week. "
---You are telling your members that you, as the admin, are not active on the site. #1 thing people demand of a site? Active staff. If you aren't there, they have no reason to be, and the last thing you want to do is tell them right off the bat that you won't be on.
-"2.Characters don't really have rules. It's a lawless land now. But, you're all still human beings. Most of you still have feelings, try and make sure that your character behaves like one. You aren't zombies... yet anyway."
---While characters in character may not have rules due to the lawless society, I can certainly bet that they will have rules. What if I create a character that suddenly comes up with a cure for everything? Your site plot crashes. What if I create a Zombie and decide to go around to every thread and bite
everyone? What if I want to straight up kill another member's character? Surely, you have to have something in place that someone has to seek approval of the other member and/or admin before these types of things take place, otherwise, the godmoding rule might as well not be there.
Plot-Okay, so the plot is a mix of biohazard AND Zombies. Alrighty then.
-Your plot held me up until this part, "Welcome to Music City, where music can get you killed!". The way the plot is set up reads like an advertisement, and the placement of that sentence suggests that is the theme of the site. By reading
only the plot, it sounds more like Nashville, biohazard zombies, but a group of musicians are trying to survive while still attempting to be able to play their tunes.
After Opening the Collapsed CategoriesDefinitely not enough activity in the boards to warrant very much interest. Do you have a character? Do you have more than one? The rule of thumb is that every board that you have displaying on the main page should have at least one thread within it. Even if you are the only one there, full 'er up, or delete the board until you have more people. A good way to combat that is to create one RPG area category, then make each category you currently have into boards of their own. The boards inside there are now sub-boards. You now have less area to fill. When you get more members and more activity in each of the boards, expand it out again. Empty boards = empty interest.
