Hello
Cuethelaugh! I think I'll touch on what you are hoping to hear about. Let's see!
First Impression:I really like your forum banner. Very nice image and obviously for a Harry Potter-based forum from the text style used. Seems easy enough to navigate, especially with the important links in the side bar.
Random Note:The Accipiter House description in the thread "The Four Houses" is in a different font style than the other three.
Scrolling down your boards:Icons - While I do like the 'Old' and 'New', I'm not sure they fit here. Maybe try magic wands or something with and without magic sparks to represent new and no new posts?
General - Normal enough, but oh, look! I really like how you played with your board titles here to match the topic. Why called it "Updates" or "Announcements" when you have "The Daily Prophet"? Why have a help board when you have an owlery? It's great. It really is.
Character Center - Again normal enough, but with a HP-twist. I really like your board titles. Can you tell?
Also it's a neat idea having the Two-Way Mirror board. That will have some effects on the plot as the role-play progresses. In a good way, for sure!
Role-Play Boards - Cool. Not too many boards. However, I would recommend you minimize your sub-boards for now. In this way, your developing member-base isn't stretched too thin. You could disable or hide the board/sub-board for now, that way once the activity picks up and you need the space, it's easy enough to just turn it back on again.
Beyond? - What's this? I understand now from looking at it that it would be like watching memories or futures, but from a first glimpse, it might be confusing. A description for the boards like you have with the others would clear this right up while also making them not look so much like the outcast board.
Out of Character - Again, I like your board names. Sorry if I sound like a broken record.
Overall Look:It's very easy to follow and I like the use of the sidebar. However, the forum still feels weaker and more crowded than it should.
To help with the crowded feel, you could space out your links from each other and maybe put another space between your welcome and your description in the Welcome box.
As for my "feels weak" comment, this is likely from the font style and colors. To spice things up, you could use a different, less standard font face. This alone could alter your forum's look. I think your forum could also benefit from something other than a plain background. Don't pick something too busy because you don't want to take away from the forum itself. But you want something different to make it feel like something other than just a list of boards. Take me and your guests and members TO the Rainier School of Magic and Wizardry.
And this is what your forum should do: Take us there! Who doesn't want to visit a world of magic every now and then.
With that, I will take my leave. Good luck and have fun!
