Hello
newkifs,
I would like to offer you your first review. Hopefully we can get your Arrow-play forum to fly straight.
How I normally go about a review is to start with first impressions; these are my thoughts upon opening your forum. Then I will go down your boards looking at theme, layout, and in some ways content. Everything that I say comes completely as a suggestion only. Hopefully some things I say will help you. Are you ready? Let's start!
First Impressions:
Very nice. A space-themed forum. This could be fun.
Forum Banner:
I like your banner at least aesthetically speaking. I would prefer if your forum title was brighter or contrasted more, because as it stands, "moon" stands out better than "Arrow-play roleplay" and moon really doesn't tell me a whole lot.
Forum Theme:
I'm going to skip to this right away because honestly, I cannot get feel for your actual forum. Sure, you have a great looking moon-theme but I have no idea what the purpose of your forum is. Right at the top, you have an advertisement board and unless your purpose is to advertise other sites, this should be towards the bottom of your boards. Then you have a general board which includes everything from a gallery, to RP boards, to general discussion. Immediately after I hit your forum legend.
What is the purpose of your forum? Are you a discussion site for the moon and/or space? Is this a roleplay forum based on the moon (which is my better guess from the title and forum banner)? Is this a general roleplay forum as your inclusion of an Eragon sub-board indicates?
Right now, I'm not sure what type of forum you aim to build. I think you should define this and then more meaningful suggestions can be offered.
One way you can start defining your boards is by offering guests an easy way to learn about your site. Perhaps include a side bar with a short description of the forum (I'm a fan of side bars). Perhaps break up your one category into multiple more defined categories such as general, roleplays, image gallery... I don't know, I'm throwing things out there for you. And then, of course, move your advertisement board down.
Other things to include:
Once you've defined your boards a bit better for guests and users, you will also want to include a set of rules that is easy to understand. The rules you include would be dependent upon the type of forum you wish to create.
You may even wish to include a few examples of what you expect from your members in terms of topics and such. You need to give in this instance to receive.
Random Notes:
On the top right below your forum banner, you have Home, Forum, Help, and Search. In case you don't know, Home and Forum take me to the exact same page and is redundant. One should be removed - likely Forum.
Also, there is a tab with a broken image link on the left of your boards. I would either find a use for it beyond taking me exactly back to the same page I'm already on or remove it. Basically, you don't need three different ways to return to the site's home page.
Overall:
This probably isn't want you want to hear but your forum is only a the very start. However, once you define more clearly the type of forum you wish to create, the suggestions for improvement and the members will come.
Good luck in defining and building your forum!
