General Talk Review

[Tejmal]

http://generaltalk.net

Could you please review my forum and tell me what you like and dislike about it and what you would want to see on the forum and what you would change?

Any review/feedback is appreciated.

[WebWizard]

It looks good, MyBB is a nice system.

I like the color theme, Im not sure if you have to many forums maybe try to scrunch them abit more intill activity picks up.

overall goodjob, looks nice.

[Fergal]

Tejmal your forum looks great at first look. The theme is very user-friendly and professional. The main thing you need on the site is more activity from your members, so that you get more content posted. What steps are you taking to achieve that?

I notice that you are very closely associated with Birdy's Nest (a great forum). What is your connection with them? Have you any concern that promoting a similar forum so heavily on your own site, might lose you some members, to that forum?

Your "Advertise Here" graphic asks that members PM you to request further info. A lot of the ads that I have sold on my forums has been to people who are not actually members on the forum. It might help if you linked that graphic to a topic on the forum that gave details of the type of ads you offer, the forum's visitor / traffic stats and details as to other ways people can contact you.

Overall I do like the appearance of the forum and it is a great domain name. Well done with getting it launched and looking so well. Good luck with it for the future.

[Tejmal]

Thank you all for the feedback.

I have advertised the forum and the contest and several other forums and ask friends to help me out as well. I was going to start off with a contest but that wouldn't work well as there wouldn't be many people taking part in the contest.

The contest starts tomorrow evening at 6pm(GMT, +1 Summer Time) so if you need some extra money then why not take part in the contest?

[GekiDan]

Your site seems to be not opening on my side. Is it down for some reason?

[Tejmal]

Your site seems to be not opening on my side. Is it down for some reason?

I don't know, I'll ask the person who I got the hosting from. It's working all fine right now.

[Azertyle]

Yeah the site is working fine on my end . The theme is nice and I really like the footer. I dont know but its kind off too blue in my eyes.

[GekiDan]

The site is working fine now. And here's my review:

Domain/Title: Your domain name is good. It's easy for people who search for general discussion forums to easily go to your site via search engines. Regarding your title, I think you could add the word General Discussion Forum so that it could help in getting your site on the search engine rankings.

Meta Tags: I can't see any meta keyword and description tags. It wouldn't hurt to add one. :D

Logo/Banner: Your logo is really cool. It has a mirror effect and kinda 3D because of the reflection made below the site's name.
And its design really describes your forum.

Theme/Template: The blue theme makes a cold/cool feeling on anyone who is visiting on your forum.
I'm just a little wondering why does the numbers on the Threads/Posts column is quite large in size. I think it's better if you can scale it down a bit. :)

Footer: Your footer is highly organized. My only problem is the "Advertise Here" image.
It would be better if you include a link on it leading to a thread regarding how to advertise on your forum.

Language Dropdown Menu: I see it only includes English (American) so I think there's no need for that menu if you don't intend to add more languange tools in the future.

All in all, your site is good. I might register sometime when I have free time and join in the discussion.

Hoping the success of your forum.:thumbsup:

[PaulPinnacle]

I can understand some of the 'too blue' comments, but personally I like the theme and think it works well. It's a subjective one, so talk to the users and see if they find issue with it in the long term.

On the home page, the thread and post numbers instantly draw the attention. This is very much secondary information after the name of the forum, so I'd suggest reworking that slightly to shift the focus back to the important information.

There is quite a lot of overlap between the different forum sections. I'd certainly look at merging the forums until the user numbers and activity picks up (e.g. 'General Discussion' and 'News and Debates' provide basically the same function in the Lobby and Lifestyle section).

Like Fergal, I'd query such a strong link to Birday's Nest. Having a direct link as part of your nav menu is very unusual and I don't think there's any doubt you will lose users to the larger forum in the short and long term.

As with any forum, the success or failure will depend on the users you can attract (and keep). Building a strong sense of community between like minded people is the key, but it's also a big challenge. Competitions and prizes will help, but only if the marketing/advertising helps get the word out there about the forum.

[oscarg]

A little simple but it looks fine for a new forum. Just keep advertising, requesting reviews and you'll get there.

[Tejmal]

Sorry for the late reply, Thank You all for your feedback and response.

General Talk is now on IP Board and we are also getting a premium theme very soon.

http://generaltalk.net

[Fergal]

Why did you move to IPB aaTejmal, what can it offer your forum that MyBB couldn't? It should look much better when you move away from the default theme.

[Tejmal]

IPB has some great features, status updates are great(there's a mod for this on MyBB but it's no where as good as the one on IPB). Many people prefer IPB over MyBB and that is probably the main reason we moved. The default theme doesn't look that good but we are getting a premium theme in about a week.

[50Cent]

Really love your logo. Serious.

[Fergal]

Thanks Tejmal, I've seen some great forums on IPB and I've been growing very fond of it in recent times.

[Tejmal]

Thanks.

IPB is great, the Admin CP is really good once you get used to it. I would definitely recommend using IPB.

We are getting a pre made theme very soon, and most likely within the next week or two. We will most likely get a theme from here - http://www.ipbforumskins.com/premade_ipb3.php but if you know any other sites that have some good themes, then let me know.

[Fergal]

Those themes look really great Tejmal, it seems a lot easier to get quality themes for IPB than for VB.

[Tejmal]

We have bought a premium pre-made theme. I think it looks great and goes well with the forum.

Take a look now - http://generaltalk.net

[Fergal]

That really does look great Tejmal, the forum is very professional and appealing in appearance. I hope that it goes very well for you.

[William King]

I like your forum literally and want to give you an advice that do not add much sub forums because it makes difficult to find some specific thread for the user.

[GekiDan]

We have bought a premium pre-made theme. I think it looks great and goes well with the forum.
Take a look now - http://generaltalk.net
I really liked your new layout. It's really cool and pleasing in the eyes.
The only thing that needs to be worked on is the logo/header and the favicon.:thumbsup:

[Tejmal]

Thank You for you feedback. I'm going to make a favicon and I'll add it to the site.

[Andym]

Your forum seems to be great at the first glance. However, I believe you will start learning more about how to improve it once you people join your forum and your started moderating it. I think you will surely learn a lot from your experience as a forum moderator. Am I right Fergal?

[Tejmal]

We have got a favicon made for the site and I have uploaded it. What other improvement can be made to the site?

[GekiDan]

We have got a favicon made for the site and I have uploaded it. What other improvement can be made to the site?
Good job there:thumbsup:
I think what is currently lacking in your forum is a good logo.

[Kavita Martin]

great website. I like this work.

[andykeating]

hey..i loved the theme..its color..n its very neat & clean..everything is alright just need to add alt tags to few of the images..i have also joined it..