[Michael]

Want to review a forum?
Be a good community member and help out others :wink:

We have had some requests of members who have wanted to review forums but have been unsure regarding what the forums should be judged on. Well there can be many, many variations to this of course and your marking system ... staff from The Staff Lounge will essentially be using the following Review Template though which you are more than welcome to use also:

[b]Post Count[/b]: ??/10
[b]Member Count[/b]: ??/10
[b]Skin and Images[/b]: ??/10
[b]Layout[/b]: ??/10
[b]Administration[/b]: ??/10
[b]Moderation[/b]: ??/10
[b]Member Activity[/b]: ??/10
[b]Originality[/b]: ??/10
[b][color=Red]Overall[/color][/b]: ??/10

[b]Additional Notes[/b]:

[Michael]

Struggling to give marks?
Here is our coherant guideline outlay for you.

Post Count

• 1/10 0 < 1,000
• 2/10 1,000 < 2,000
• 3/10 2,000 < 5,000
• 4/10 5,000 < 7,000
• 5/10 7,000 < 10,000
• 6/10 10,000 < 20,000
• 7/10 20,000 < 50,000
• 8/10 50,000 < 100,000
• 9/10 100,000 < 200,000
• 10/10 200,000 +

Member Count

• 1/10 0 < 100
• 2/10 100 < 200
• 3/10 200 < 500
• 4/10 500 < 700
• 5/10 700 < 1,000
• 6/10 1,000 < 2,000
• 7/10 2,000 < 5,000
• 8/10 5,000 < 10,000
• 9/10 10,000 < 20,000
• 10/10 20,000 +

Skin and Images
Open to interpretation, possible questions to ask

• Is their a particular pattern?
• Does it appeal to you?
• Does it appeal to the forums target audience?
• Is this design customized?
• Is this design avaiable to others?
• How appropriate is this design to the forums theme?

Layout
Open to interpretation, possible questions to ask

• Is the layout coherant and easy to follow?
• Is the layout in a logical order?
• Are there enough forums?
• Are there too many forums?
• How is space being used?
• Are forum choices/layout unique/inventive?

Administration
Open to interpretation, possible questions to ask

• Has the site been customized?
• Has the site developed an "identity"?
• Is the site administrator active?
• Does the site administrator host community events?
• Does the site administrator communicate/discuss with members?

Moderation
Open to interpretation, possible questions to ask

• How do moderators act to other staff members?
• Do moderators show respect to registered users?
• Is there an appropriate level of moderation?
• How do moderators handle rule breakers?

Member Activity
Formulae: Total Posts/Total Members = Member Activity
or, Formulae: Todays Posts/Todays Active Members = Member Activity

Please note these formulas are just an example of how you could possiblity define the activity of members, and the choices you could define activity as.

Originality
Open to interpretation, possible questions to ask

• Does this site offer a USP (Unique Selling Point)?
• Do you see sites offering similar services?
• Is the content used unique and not copied from elsewhere?

Overall
Formulae: n1 + n2 ..... n8 / 8 = Overall Mark

NB: Where n1 + n2 etc equates to the value given for each judging point, for example n1 = the mark you gave for post count, n2 = the mark you gave for member count. Basically just finding the mean mark.