Broadcasting Duo Review

As I first went to "Broadcasting Duo" for the very first time, I'm greeted by a very nice pop up which is worded very good.I then browse the forum and notice there aren't many graphics around - it's colour coordinates very well with the grey, white, and dark blue colours around the forum, but the 'favicon' doesn't match the forum it self, with it being one of forumotion's default 'favicons'. I would suggest making the graphics a little bit more professional. I know I say this to so many people whose sites I've reviewed, but do you have a graphic designer on the team who could possibly help out in this area? The banner itself is nice, but it doesn't actually flow well into the rest of the forum. If you're going to make a multicoloured banner, then make the rest of the forum (topic images and the who is online image) also multicoloured.There's a couple of grammar mistakes in the forum. For example:We will be making more changes based off of the latest review of the forum! Please bare with us as we make constant changes!Should be:We will be making more changes based on the latest review of the forum, so please bear with us as we make them!Activity on the forum is very good, considering there's only 39 registered members. Currently, your member-to-post ratio is 15 which isn't that brilliant, but I'll be nice since it's a new forum. I feel as if there's a lot of work to be done on this forum but, it has high potential in the future due to the initial activity shown on the forum.

Overall quick review rating:

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

• Well let's start off this review by going over my first impressions and thoughts over your website. I started out as a member back on May 26th, of 2012 so I have been a member for over 2 years now. Although the website has a creative thought and idea, the one thing I don't like much is the design. Over the years of looking at the site on and off, there hasn't been much change to the site design other then the navigation icons and icons next to the forum names. In regards to the overall design and look to your forum, personally I see it is lacking creativity and uniqueness. Your forum is all about broadcasting which is a creative idea to run a forum on but the design does not show it. You use a dark theme and all but nothing other then the banner shows about your forum being about a broadcasting forum. Your ranks and the banner are the only 2 things relevant to the topic. Your user groups are those that would more commonly be found on an advertising / promotion based forum, not something you would see on a broadcasting based forum. What I mean is you have 3 groups that all have some sort of moderator power. You have "Super Moderators", "Moderators", and "Support Moderators". Why not remove 2 of them and just keep "Moderators" since they will be able to moderate and they will be able to support others. No real need to have 3 groups dedicated to moderation alone since the Administration group is the highest power and can do all 3 jobs easy. Though the banner may look nice, with the creative design and colors used, it doesn't match well with the gray background right behind it. Some suggestions I have for you would be to change your user groups to be based more around broadcasting. Fix up some of your categories, such as the Support Category. Those 4 boards could be compressed into 1 board and called "Community Support". An easier way to organize all the support into 1 board that way it doesn't take up space and require 4 boards and a complete category for simple support on your forum alone. Suggestions for the banner, would be to make it blend well with the background that you are using for your theme and possibly round off the edges. As it stands, the banner is simply an image centered in the header of the forum. Since the banner is going to be the first thing your audience will see when they visit the forum, you want to make sure that it looks nice, clean, and presentable to ensure your audience doesn't turn away immediately. So with that, my first impressions are that your site isn't too bad but there is a lot that could be done to improve it and I will provide plenty of tips and ideas throughout the review. So with that, let us move onto the general appearance of your forum.
  

General Forum Appearance

• Alright so continuing off of what I mentioned above about your site design / theme, let's discuss the strengths and weaknesses. The navigation buttons you are currently using are fine but there are a variety of options you could choose from to make them look better and be a little more unique. An idea for this would be to get new ones made, for the icon, get a pair of headphones or a microphone, and place that on the right or the left with the text on the other side. As for PM's, set it to be a silver / gray color for no new and set it to a light metallic red, not super bright but something that would look nice and is pleasing to the eyes as well as grab the attention of the members to see that there is something new. You won't want something too light to the point where it could be confused with the default color and they never check their PM's cause of this. Taking a look at the categories, the icons seem fine, they match what that board is about so nothing wrong with that. One thing you should change is the color of the font for the category titles. Because the header strip and the text colors are so close together that it is hard to read what it says. A code will be provided below for what to add to your CSS to change this color. I have added it to default to white but feel free to change it if you feel the need. Looking at some of the designs in your posts & topics, it all seems to be fine other then the staff gradient. The gradient used on staff members seems to be continuously repeating about 3 times in a single post. You might want to try to get that fixed as it may prove to be annoying for other members to see. Other then that, there isn't anything else really all that bad that I haven't covered already. Keep in mind though that the design and look of your forum is the first thing that people will see and judge your website upon. Second comes activity and content. But if your site design is poor, people won't hesitate to turn around and leave. So be sure to keep your design at it's peak and keep working at it. But remember, no design is perfect. You just have to work with what you have got. Keep up the great work so far! Be sure to check out the code below for the category title color. So with that, let's move onto discussing the activity of your forum.
  
  Code:
  

  Spoiler:

Forum Activity

• The activity of any website is one of the biggest things that determines whether or not a forum will survive and strive or will fall and die. Activity though can be the hardest part about a website as well. It is hard to keep people active and wanting to stick around when there are millions and billions of other sites out there that they might be going to. The key feature to maintaining good activity is keeping your site promoted, keeping your staff active, and keeping your members excited to see what comes next. Your site's activity really seems to be lacking at this moment. Doing some research, your site is actually about to turn 4 years old. Really hard to understand why after 4 years the activity is as poor as it is. The main reason why I feel the site activity is lacking may be due to the inactivity of other staff or the lack of interest in the audience. As mentioned in the design portion of this review, the design will be the first thing the audience sees and if there is anything they may not like or anything that doesn't look all that professional, they will turn away. An idea that may work for you in regaining some activity would be to make some promotional banners and promote those images on other sites. Affiliate with other sites, aim for general forums though since general forums base their content and niche on everything and not just 1 specific niche. Doing post exchanges may also help, not only in activity but also in getting more content and members. Something else you could try would be a contest with rewards such as promotion on a radio channel, free posts on their website, money via Paypal, ect. Rewards that the audience would really want and could benefit from. Those are some things that I know have worked for me in the past and I am sure it could work for you as well. But regardless, all of that will go to waste if you don't get to promoting. Promoting your site is the hardest thing to do because it is hard to get people interested, that is why you need to make your site stand out, be unique. Have your staff and even try asking your members to lend a hand with promoting. Any form of promotion will do, big or small, as long as the word of your forum gets out to the public. So needless to say, your site has a lot of lacking activity but that can be fixed by trying out some of my suggestions I mentioned above. If they worked for me they may work for you. So with that, let's move onto discussing the staff and user groups of your forum.
  

Staff & Usergroups

• I said this above in my first impressions in regards to your user groups, I believe you have too many. You have a promoters group, which could be helpful with promoting the forum. Graphic Designers group for those who wish to make graphics for the site. But then you have 3 moderator groups and the admin group for the top dogs. For a website such as this, there is no real need nor use for 3 moderator groups. You could simply combine them into 1 moderator group and give them permission to moderate the boards. Really there is no use for 3 moderator groups, especially when the site isn't all that active. With the site as inactive as it is, those 3 moderator groups just take up unneeded space. Simply making 1 moderator group would prove to be more professional and easier to work with rather then 3 groups for different moderators. When the site gains some more activity and there seems to be a need for a new moderator group, then go for it but at this time there really doesn't seem to be any sort of need for it. You are doing good on staff size, no problem there. Just be sure to keep them active and making sure they are doing their duties as a staff member. As for your user groups, all seem to be fine, my suggestion would be to remove the Super Moderators and Support Moderators and leave the Moderators group there. Be sure to change the permissions for this group though if you do go ahead with this idea. This is to help keep the staff organized and controlled and it is less confusing on the guests and the members of your community. The staff seem to be doing well with keeping the site organized and keeping things in order so that is all fine and dandy. Overall, there isn't much else to review about in regards to the user groups and the staff. Just think about my suggestion and if you go with it, great, if not then that is fine as well. Now let's move on to the originality of your forum.
  

Forum Originality

• Taking a look at how original your forum is, I can say the originality is decent. Theme wise, it isn't all that original as you see many sites using the same icons or same color scheme. The design of your forum doesn't really show how "original" the site is at the moment. However, looking at the idea behind the forum is what makes it more original. The idea of running a forum based around broadcasting and radio isn't something you will find everyday that isn't run by a huge corporate. For it to be run by a regular person that isn't apart of a business is what makes Broadcasting Duo interesting and a creative thought. Broadcasting Duo was the first time I actually ever saw a forum base itself on a topic such as radio & broadcasting. I have seen websites but never a forum, so that was something that really grabbed me when I first joined 2 years ago. The site has such a creative design but over the 2 years of being a member & staff, I never really saw anything done to capitalize on how creative and unique the idea was. Had you done more and worked harder at it, I feel that Broadcasting Duo would be a huge hit today rather then being as inactive as it is but I can't blame you. It is hard to get things rolling these days. Other then the banner and ranks, that is all that is really unique and original about your forum to be honest though. A suggestion I have, is to add new things that are original to your website. Get some ideas from your staff, take some time to think up some ideas. The more original ideas you have and use on your forum, the better off you will be in the end. Overall, you have a good site going so far with an original and creative idea backing it. Now all you need to do is capitalize on it and keep on building your forum up to success! So now, let's move onto the layout and organization of your forum.
  

Forum Layout & Organization

• Taking a look at the overall layout of your forum, I can say there are a few weak spots you might want to touch up on. For starters, the widgets and the text size. Specifically speaking, the "Latest Topics" widget. This is a commonly used widget but the font on this widget is huge. There isn't any reason for the font to be that large for a simple widget. Some of your boards and categories could be worked on a bit by reorganizing them and compressing some of them into smaller ones to take up less space. I said this before but regarding the support boards, try just taking those 4 boards and putting them into 1 and call it "Community Support". Something quick and easy. No need to have multiple support boards when you could use 1 just as easy. Try going through your categories and taking boards that you see are similar and putting them into 1. This way you have less boards to take up space and you can keep things organized while making the board look more professional instead of having an overabundance of boards. Taking a look at some topics and the layout inside of them, all seems to be in order except for the font color for the profile fields. The light blue looks and works great on the black background but when a gradient is introduced, it makes it harder to read which may upset members as they don't want to have to work hard to read text when they could see it better on a black background. I would suggest changing the color to a color that works on both a gradient effect that you have used and on a black background. That way the members and staff can read the text easily no matter what they are looking at. Other then that the layout of your forum is fine. As for organization, things seem to be all nice and organized. Topics seem to be in their appropriate places and such. Just a quick suggestion to make things easier for organizing the forum in the future would be to use my suggestion above in regards to compressing certain boards and such. This will create less boards to have to organize taking up less time of the staff so that they may get to continue their daily duties and such. But with that, there isn't much else, by far the organization and layout of your forum may just be the best feature of your forum aside from your originality. So let's wrap up this review by going over the grammar and spelling on your forum.
  

Grammar & Spelling

• After spending quality time reading topics and posts as well as just general stuff around your forum to get a feel on the spelling and grammar, I have to say it seems to be perfect. There didn't seem to be very many if any spelling errors that I found throughout my time of searching and reading. Seeing as how this is a big deal to some people, I spent a large portion of time looking around and I am glad to see that you don't use any text lingo or clan chat lingo on your forum. It is a good thing as well since not everybody can understand it. Having proper grammar and spelling is key to running a professional website, be it a forum or blog. It shows your guests and members that you have a professional attitude and a professional website and will keep them interested. Spelling and grammar is also key for getting your website noticed since major search engines won't understand text lingo much either. So it is best to keep up what you are doing and avoid that sort of text at all costs. It will surely benefit you and your forum in the long run. It was nice to see that not only the staff but the members are doing this as well. Using proper grammar and spelling things correctly. So overall, there isn't much else to have to review in regards to this seeing as how you have done a fine job keeping your site looking professional and keeping the spelling and grammar in check. I hope you enjoyed this review and I hope you take my suggestions to heart as I just want to see your forum grow! If you have any questions or concerns about your review, please feel free to PM me or let me know in a reply here and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I can. Happy Holidays!
  

Broadcasting Duo

General Forum Appearance

Forum Layout & Organization

• The conclusions over the two area review you've requested are that you need to make the forum more attractive to guests and to members so they login even more. To make your forum more attractive to public you need to make its appearance better. You need to make posts that they want to read and you need to make the forum a bit smaller. All these will be explained further more at the Strengths and Weaknesses. Try finding good tutorials that will make the appearance more elegant. I will give you some suggestions over to your weaknesses .
  

• Your forum strengths are the colors you use and the simple clean and clear background and text you have. This makes me want to stay in your forum and check it out. Also, seeing that a user that is not the Founder or an Admin to the forum has more posts makes me more interested to the forum as it gives me the idea that you have people that are interested in your forum too. I really like who is online part and the icons you used for your forum categories and last but not least the logo. I love the logo. Good Job.
  

• I am really sorry to say this but you have more weaknesses than strengths to your forum. Starring with the weaknesses i will tell you one by one your weaknesses and why i believe they are weaknesses in dots so you can make them right.
  - First of i don't like the menu bar. You have a broadcasting forum and you should make something related to that. I am not talking about the icons you have for each direction but for the whole style of it. You can style it a lot better if you want. The style of that could be a lot better and with that you could attract a lot more members to your forum.
  - The other thing i noticed is that the forum categories and the widgets are really close one to the other one. You could add some space between them to look nice and clean. The categories look all together in one like they don't have a different subject. Separating them would make your forum look more professional.
  - The colors of the links and the colors of the text shouldn't be the same so you can separate one from an other. As i can see to your forum the links when you hover them have the same color. I'd say that is not that good. If you change the hover link to something more elegant would be better.
  - I believe that the category statistics (topics number and posts number) should be in one column. Like this make the forum width and the category with huge which doesn't attract me that much and shows me that you don't pay that much attention to small details that will make you even better.
  - Last but not least i'd prefer to see less categories. You have a huge forum if you look at its height. If i was you i'd see if i could merge some categories and have some subforums or delete the ones not needed. Having a big height to your forum makes me dizzy and bored to sit and discover other places in your forum. So i'd merge some categories to make my forum with less categories and interesting things but with some subcategories to make other wanna go in and see what other categories i have in the forum.
  Try fixing these and you will have a much better forum!
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

Staff & Usergroups

Forum Originality

Forum Layout & Organization

Grammar & Spelling

• My first impressions for your forum are really good. You have a nice forum that can become one of the best broadcasting forums ever. The simple way of showing the forum and the style is what concerns me a little bit. The forum appearance is nice but i'd say it would be better with a different and radio style menu bar and a different logo. Also the background for my personal tastes is too dark and could be a lighter gray to improve it and show much better for the public. Even though i can see a lot of work going on the forum activity is very low since you have 65 registered members and only 6-7 login everyday. As for the Staff & usergroups i am not saying i disagree with the staff groups you have but in a broadcasting forum i believe the designer group is useless. I won't say that your forum is 100% original because we can find a lot of forums similar to yours but the content of your forum makes it somehow original. Your forum layout & organization is ok. I believe you could make the categories distances from one to an other bit more. That would clear to all eyes the difference of each category. Also you could add the avatar of the last post user so that different images appear and users would like to check that out. The categories and the way you organized them are perfect. As for spelling or grammar mistakes i found the below:
  Broadcasting Duo Services > Support Center (description) : Receive support on Broadcasting Duo related problems/issues. (remove)
  Off Topic > General Chit Chat (description) : All topic's that don't have a section of there their own go here! *Note: Please still follow the rules when posting!* (correction)
  
  
  

• Many posts for users to read
  
• Nice colors and icons
  
• Nice Style
  
• Nice images for categories
  
  

• Activity
  
• Layout
  
• Menu bar
  
• Logo
  
• Categories
  
  

Boradcasting Duo

Forum Layout & Organization

• So starting of with your forum layout and organization is unique but can be a lot better. You can merge some categories together and have them under one title. Even if you have 5-6 or even 10 forums below the same category won't do anything! Heh what i mean is that you can merge:
  - "Getting Started" category with "Broadcasting Duo Services" category
  - "Video & Audio Programs" categorywith "Video/Audio & Photo Platforms" category
  - "Shoutcast Servers" category with "Professional Radio" category
  And also if you want you can have the category named "Television" in the "Off-Topic" category so you don't get to have that big forum with all those categories. The good thing about your forums is that they are unique to my eyes and i like that because they are interesting to check. Even though some of them don't have any posts in them.. The reason why i gave a 7 here is because i like the categories you have and the way you provide help with a difficult item such as the radio. I had experience on radio's and i know how difficult it is. I'd personally prefer your page to have only 5-6 categories the most and inside those to have 6-7 even 8-9 forums in them so they are better organised and sorted out. Further than that nothing more to say!  :thumright:  
  

Forum Activity

• As for the forum activity i cannot judge anything else but what i see. I can see less than 5 categories that have posts made today and 5-10 registered members logging in from the 65 registered members you have. I'd say that to check up the activity i would like to see the widget named Recent Topics to see how many posts were made by you and your users these past days. Υοu may have made about 10-15 posts today in the same category but as a guests i cannot see that. So i'd prefer a Recent Topics Widget to be added. That is a really minus for your forum because you need to run it as much as you can, if you want members to register to your forum. Members like to see a lot of users logging in as that shows them they care about your forum by posting to it. Personally if i saw that much activity to a forum i wouldn't even care about registering. I suggest you make a lot of topics and post them every day. As i always say, if you want to work with a forum then you first need to find a lot of work for you to keep you working for a while. I'd love to see members posting in your forum even topics with just music songs. And viewing the recent topics widget would let members and guests see how many posts were posted that day. Even in the same category. These are my personal thoughts. I really hope you success because there are a few forum like yours. So long!
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

Staff & Usergroups

Forum Originality

Forum Layout & Organization

Grammar & Spelling

• Here to say that your forum has improved a lot. It's appearance changed and so did my thoughts about your forum. It looks a lot better now but still has it's weaknesses. As for the General Forum Appearance i can say that i am impressed with how nice the background matched the whole forum. Still though it improved just a bit with that background change. I'd prefer see a more professional border going around the forum so that it has more thickness and a shadow going outside of it. This changes really easy. That would make me look further into your forum. Also i'd want to see an other image with music somewhere in the forum. It's a broadcasting forum don't you think? Talking about the forum activity i see some improvements because now i can see members posting and i can see how many posts have been made per day from the recent topic system. Although i wanted it to go from bottom to top and not the other way round to see the ones posted first and not the last ones. Also i'd like to see more posts going all over your forum to say that members would read more and more topics every day. The staff and usergroups are perfect after i understood what the GFX group is for. Now the forum originality needs to be improved in order to say that your forum is original; not for the content but for it's appearance. It needs that singe thing that would make it look unique. The forum layout and organization has improved from last time but could get a bit better by merging some more categories and make the forum's length a bit smaller but that is only my thought so it is not really that necessary to do if you guys like it like that. The grammar and spelling mistakes are nowhere now so it's good up to here!
  

• Logo
  
• Colors
  
• Nice images
  
• Organization of categories
  

• Simple Theme
  
• Activity
  
• Navigation Bar
  
• Low amount of posts/day
  

Broadcasting Duo

General Forum Appearance

• Your general forum appearance is really good! The only thing i can tell you to improve is your last post column and a little bit the icons for each category. I am really happy to see that you've managed to do the suggestions i proposed the other time and i must admit that your forum looks amazing. Still though your theme and design seem a bit simple and you could add some modifications to make it more unique and spectacular. But as an appearance its really good! Great Job!
  

Forum Activity

• The forum activity as in the posts has been increased and that's a really good thing for your forum. That's not enough though. You need to add something or organize a competition to attract guests interest to your forum so that you'll gain more activity from your members. If you do that you'll see that they'll start asking for more and more improvements and you'll start to change your design to something a lot better! Still doing a great job! Continue like that!
  

Broadcasting Duo

General Forum Appearance

• I firmly believe that your forum's general appearance is quite good. However, there is always room for improvement. First of all, your logo contains amazing colors and a lovely and very professional font, but I do not think that its background is decent. The grey background of the forum and the black background of the logo are not so attractive. In my opinion, you need to focus on utilising only your two mains colors which are grey and light blue. In addition, I love your navigation bar and the icons of each category. They are unique, in the right size and they make your community user-friendlier. Please also check the color of Super Moderators and of VoiceOver Artists. They are too similar. All in all, your overall design is a bit simple, but guess what. Everyone loves simplicity.
  

Forum Activity

• I have to admit that when I first noticed that 70 people have created 5,500+ posts, I was impressed. I know that most of them are not active, but that shows determination and dedication to your forum. Of course, your statistics are decent, but you need to try more. I have a couple of suggestions which may assist you. Firstly, you can read as much information as possible about Search Engine Optimisation. If you learn a technique and enter your forum in many quality directories, guests will come! Secondly, social networks are powerful. Try to create a Facebook page, post content daily and promote your forum! Finally, competitions with exceptional prizes for the winners are always useful! I am sure that your current members will take part in an interesting competition. As a result, your forum's activity will get improved. There are many ways in order to gain more members, be innovative!
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

• When I first visited your forum, I was redirected to your portal which is an interesting part of your forum. It seems like you have added some featured stations. I like this idea because you let the visitors know that your community is all about broadcasting and music. If I were you, I would add in the portal some images in order to make it look more attractive. In addition, some important announcements or threads could be placed there. All in all, my first impressions are satisfying, but let’s start analysing other areas of your forum.
  

General Forum Appearance

• Regarding your forum’s design and appearance, there is a colourful and impressive main logo which also describes the topic of your community. However, the grey background looks weird and unprofessional in my opinion. The navigation bar is perfect. I adore the small icons and the nice font. I am very impressed with the images of the categories. They are exceptional. Your forum icons are fine. Furthermore, the ranks for each person are amazing. Honestly, they are very beautiful and they look official. Great work. It would be far better if you could remove the staff background gradient. I do not really believe that it fits with the overall design. In conclusion, there have been many improvements in this domain. Keep up!
  

Forum Activity

• About your forum activity, there are 78 registered users and and 11,000 posted messages. But, there are only 5 members who have large amounts of messages. That’s why, it would be better if you could encourage your members to post more. I have already proposed some suggestions. For example, competitions or giveaways, but advertising is also essential. There are many guidelines in our support forum. Social network presence can assist too. Another good idea would be the organisation of a referral system. For example, every member who invites someone in the forum can get a prize. I am able to understand how difficult it is to boost the activity, but if you try, you will succeed.
  

Staff & Usergroups

• Your staff is trying its best in order to help you with the management of the community. Most of them are active and willing to help as I can notice. Your usergroups are comprehensive. I have nothing more to say about this domain.
  

Forum Originality

• Your forum is original. There are many unique features and I have not spotted any copies from other websites. The content is also created by your own members. You must be proud of them.
  

Forum Layout & Organization

• Your forum layout and organisation is excellent. Your categories follow a logical hierarchy. The descriptions are understandable. That’s a good thing because every visitor enjoys joining well-organised communities.
  

Grammar & Spelling

• Fortunately, I am not able to spot any grammar or spelling mistake. Good job!
  

Brodcasting Duo

First Impressions

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

Staff & Usergroups

Forum Originality

Forum Layout & Organization

Grammar & Spelling

• My first impressions are good. I immediately notice the clean layout and easy on the eyes color scheme. I can identify the niche easily by not only reading the logo, but also just taking a quick browse over the content on the index page. As a guest, I enjoy browsing your forum. It's very welcoming, and any user, even an inexperienced one, can tell that you've spent a lot of time on it. Good job!
  
  I personally like the color scheme you decided to use on your forum. You have a winner combination for me. I like the way you've designed your logo, in my opinion, it's just too big. The size of your logo is fine, but it would be a lot better if you can try re-sizing it to smaller one? But this is still up to you, still fine! Your forum and topic icons and other used images are great which is related to the theme of your forum. Your favicon is nice. However it would be nicer if you can try changing the background into transparent instead of white. But finally it is You who decide.
  
  When I scroll down to forum sections, it seems to have a decent number of forums, but I saw some of them aren't that active. Maybe you can reconsider to condense some forums or merge them into subforum, since there are sections which contain one or two topics/discussions only.
  
  You have about 87 registered members and 13,400+ messages. The forum activity seems to be pretty good but you have only few active members. So, the priority is to gain more members which will be active on your forum. Most of these members didn't made one post. My thought - lurkers, or just some people who were invited by you to join, but they don't having interest in this topic. I can see that you are a very good host and a good owner but you need a few people to help you to kick off. You are doing nice, but you need more, because you can always do better and i know you know that.
  
  I see you only have a few staff members, which, considering the amount of members and posts, is not a bad thing, and should be appropriate for now. Also, your grammar and spelling is excellent as no mistakes have been found. Good job!
  
  Overall, your site is amazing. There are not many things I believe need changing. I've enjoyed reviewing your forum and I've tried to give you some little pointers what would I change, so if you feel like I've helped, I'm very happy. You've been obviously doing a hard work for your forum and I wish you the best for the future! Good luck.
  

• Forum Overall Design, Forum and Categories Layout & Style, Theme
  

• Quantity of members, Forums Re-organization
  

Average Review Score: 8.7

Sticker Points:

First Impressions

I was enchanted with a nice banner and portal which welcomed me from the start. The portal is very nice, but I recommend you to add more images as they attract the visitors to go and register. I love the fact that the portal provided radio stations, which is nice because your forum is all about broadcasting. I am very fond of the description of your forum as it is short and simple but informative as well. Going to the forums, I was welcomed by a fun atmosphere which is probably one of the main reasons the visitors chose to register on your forum. Scrolling down, I recognized a link at the bottom which sends the visitor to the Facebook page of your forum. I recommend you put in a widget, to make it more noticeable. Without a very long look through the topics, I had seen that the members themselves are friendly and greets new members with a warm welcome. In a blink of an eye, everyone could instantly know that your forum is worth the time spent!

General Appearance

I personally like the color scheme used on your forum. The black background sets up a fun and interesting atmosphere, which is why I truly like the theme. The black background is perfect for forum for broadcasting and it seems that you realized it before I did! The black background and microphones makes the forum to appear high tech, and the tools used on broadcasting is high tech which makes it perfect. The banner and the navigation bar matches along with the other elements of the theme. I truly like that customized them of yours.  I, however, recommend that you use icons with matching designs for the forum images. Using a transparent background instead of white is recommended as well  for the background of your forum is white. In simpler words, the theme is good though it might need a CENSORED of changes.  

Forum Activity

The forum is composed of 88 users and 14, 000+ posts which is why I may classify it as active. Though, perhaps the number of users can be improved. Since the forum is original, you don't have to worry on improving the number of features exclusive only in your forum. But by holding contests, you might attract the visitors and improve the number of members. When based on the posts of each member, I noticed that the forum might not be that active but still, the activity is good. 41% of the members in your forum didn't post, but, you nor your staffs cannot force them to post. I, however, do not recommend deleting their accounts without their permission as they might come back, but, perhaps contacting them and asking them if they will use their account in your forum or not. It would be better if you do not delete their accounts as, who knows, they might come back. The members without any post lessens the activity on your forum, and is a bad component of the forum activity. However, most of the members are active that's why I am still describing your forum as very active! Good job!

Staff and User Groups

The staff and user groups in your forum are great! Though, I recommend that you improve the description of the groups, especially Administrators and Moderators, and be as informative as you can. I am very glad that the staff team is very participative, supportive, and active. However, I see that your VoiceOver Artist, puppycheese123, is not as active as the rest of the team. He had only made two posts and last visited your website on March 02. I am a CENSORED disappointed in seeing that he is quite inactive. I recognized Sir Chivas as another inactive staff as well. But, I knew that they must have had let with a notification to the other staffs and left for a reasonable cause. However, the staff team is composed of hardworking and friendly staffs that's why I am still glad! I'm very amazed to see that the staffs are well-picked. The Super Moderator and the Moderators are active and professional! Don't forget how good the Graphic Designers are when it comes to designing. They're very creative and they're perfect for their current positions! And last but not the least, the Administrators are professional and they handle the website well! The staff team on your forum is perfect!

Forum Layout and Organization

The layout and organization of the forums are perfect! I am just so speechless!

Forum Originality and Unique Features

Well, what can I say! The theme of your forum is truly unique and it's my first time to see one! The portal adds originality to your forum and the groups as well! The widgets, however, aren't very original and I recommend you to add another exclusive to your forum only. Perhaps a 'popular stations' widget? However, the forum and the whole website itself is very original and unique!

Grammar and Spelling

Conclusions

Broadcasting Duo

General Forum Appearance

• The general forum appearance of your forum is better than the last times i reviewed your forum. I must say you have an amazing logo, the forum icons are awesome and in general the images are great. What i like is that the dark background of your forum doesn't give the depression-ish look that some dark forums do. Yours is bright and the combined colors you used makes it look amazing. I do have my concerns though about the lines that go all around your forum. Those lines could easily be transparent. I think having them transparent would make your forum look better and show some uniqueness to the default view of phpbb2 version. The lines i am talking about are the ones in the categories, in the topic lists and in the posts. Also i'd suggest making the forum's width smaller in order to add a fascinating background image about broadcasting. That would make it look even better. And with the lines gone it would make it 'close' to perfect as for its appearance. Always talking about my opinions!   Last thing i want to add here is the links hover color. I'd suggest a blue color, as the link before hovering, but with a slight brightness. Something like this one would do. (#48C2FF) I think with that the links would be great!
  

Forum Activity

• Your forum activity is going really well. I can see daily posts from your members, even though you only have 5 active. Posts are a good way to attract members and especially the ones that like broadcasting. Adding interesting posts would make them stay and read them and they might register just so they keep themselves in touch with what they like. That should be your main goal so that your members would login and increase your online members. Now about the members, i can see you gained some and reached 90 members now but still only a few login per day. Contests, changes of skins and awards mights spark their attention and give it a try. Once interesting idea is to make a contest where a lucky member can live the experience of broadcasting and get some important tips from those who know! I would really be interested in that. Even though this will happen online, i would be interested to that contest and i would join!
  

Broadcasting Duo

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

• My first impression of your forum is fairly positive.  It has a lot to offer and looks busy! I'd like to comment on it design-wise.   
  
• If we look at the different parts individually, everything looks great, however, wherever I look something new comes up. I miss a little unity, a little harmony from the whole site. .
  
• Let's look at the banner, the first thing a newcomer observes. It's awesome! I love that it's so colorful, it could be said the different colors emphasize the variety of your forum. However, the quality of it could be improved, because here and there it looks blurry and pixelated. In addition, the title of your forum is a CENSORED off to the top left corner, which leads the eye to the corner of your forum. Our eyes focus on the middle of the screen, so I'd move the focus there (title, mic & headphones).
  
• Colors. The color scheme you work with is very pleasant for the eyes! However, I'm not entirely sure about the placements and shades of the gray you used. I'd swap the darker and lighter shades. It is more effective to use darker text color and lighter background. It can be a matter of taste, but I think the chart would pop out a lot more and would lead the eyes of the reader to the text.
  
• Unity. To add a little more harmony, I'd either change the navbar's color to the categories's blue or vice versa. Using the same shade of blue would give conformity to the eyes. Furthermore, I'd put the little forum icons into a rectangular shape or a circle or any uniformal shape, jut to have a more unified appearance, again, just to make the forum less eclectic.
  
• Another factor I'd change is the length of your forum. Currently it is very long and takes a quiet while to reach the bottom. It can be frightening for newcomers, it's easy to get lost. If I were you I'd try to merge some of the categories. For example I can see the "Television" has 4 subcategories, but only 1 of them can be said is active. I'd advice you to merge all the 4 into 1 big one. You should decide what your forum is mainly about and put a spotlight on those categories.   Another option could be using the "Multiforums in 1" tutorial here on forumotion, it would cut the forum's length overally shorter.  
  
• Also, If I were you, I'd center the post profile's avatar and rank images. Maybe I would even use a different color for the message part and the profile part, to seperate them a bit more.
  
  
• In a nutshell here is a little representational sample picture, what your forum could look like with my suggestions and you can decide for yourself whether to implement some of them or not.  
  
• 
  
• OR if you want to be super trendy you could go for a flat design. Changing your forum according to the newest trends isn't a bad idea, because the visitors can see your site is up to date. Furthermore, going for a flat design is fairly a good decision, because no real skills are needed for designing a flat site.  All you need is a great color scheme. Using sites, such as paletton.com or colorschemedesigner.com can be very useful. Also, several free to use flat icon designs are offered for everyone on several sites (flaticon.com).
  
• If you need I gladly help you with the design, just PM me.  
  
  

• Subject
  
• Enthusiastic admin
  

• Activity
  
• Harmony
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

Staff & Usergroups

Forum Originality

Forum Layout & Organization

Grammar & Spelling

• I was quite impressed by the overall professionalism of your forum.  It looks very nice from first glance, and allows a new member to be interested quickly.  The subject for your forum is very unique, and your originality is outstanding.  Your banner is good and attracts the eye, but the colours don't exactly go with your subject.  However, I don't think that it is much of an issue.  The scrolling words below the banner are also good, but I think that it would be more useful if it included some news and information relating to the forum.  It's good to try and draw in members with a nice greeting, but you also need to tell them what happening now and what they can get into.  Other than that, your forum appearance is generally good.  However, you may want to change the colour of either the normal members or the moderators to differentiate them a bit more.  Initially, I got confused with who were members and moderators, until I saw the bold.  Your icons are very nice though, and fit the criteria as well as relate to your subject.
  Your activity is pretty good.  Your members are active, and you have a lot of posts.  However, I think you need more members.  It seems that once you gain members, they become very dedicated, so keep that up.  You have almost hit the 100 mark with users.  It might be a bit better if you got up to 125 and had just a little more active users.  But it is growing well and I can see that you are handling it nicely.
  Your staff and usergroups are exceptional.  You have a large amount, and the descriptions are generally good.  However, a little bit of improvement could occur in the VIP Members description.  It tells me that they were originally called the Promoters Group, but what are they now?
  As I said before, your originality is fantastic, and commend you on your forum's unique qualities and characteristics.
  Your layout is pretty good, but I can see where some small improvements can be made.  When I clicked on your link, it brought me to a page where there were videos and audio.  This confused me, and it wasn't until I got to your forum list section that I could navigate freely.  I'm sure people who were familiar with your subject and the forum would understand it well, but it might overwhelm newcomers.  If you made it so your home page is the first page you go to, and then there is another way to get to http://www.broadcastingduo.forumotion.com, that would be good.  Also, once scrolling down a little bit, the left side of the page where you have your recent posters, et cetera, becomes a little empty.  I suggest you add some small bits of information or stats on the side there to make it feel a bit more full.  You can choose what you put there, as long as it makes it feel a bit less lonely.  Other than that, your sections seem pretty good, and I couldn't find any spelling mistakes.  Overall, a great job!
  

• Staff Group Descriptions: These were informative and told me what roles those users had.
  
• Member Dedication: Your members are active, and continue to make the forum an enjoyable place to stay.
  
• Forum Appearance: It is very nice to look at and there aren't any conflicting colours.
  
• Forum Originality
  

• Forum Layout: Just some minor confusing sections that you need to work on, but it's still good.
  
• Information present in scrolling text: Tell users what you are doing and why they should be there.
  
• Colours for members and moderators: Make sure they are a bit more different, even a lighter blue for one of them would solve the problem.
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

General Forum Appearance

Forum Activity

Staff & Usergroups

Forum Originality

Forum Layout & Organization

Grammar & Spelling

• Hello there, So my first impressions for your forum were ok. The forum we remember with some slight changes here and there. Let's start right away so i don't keep you waiting. The General forum appearance is looking nice. What i would change and style a little bit more is the login popup and the links. Making the popup more stylish would attract more members and also the links to be changed. If you like them underlined i'd suggest on hover make them not be underlined so that members see more effects than just color change. Other than that the images are great and the colors match each other in a wonderful way that does not 'hurt' our eyes. The activity of course can improve but what impressed me is that you keep the same members a while know and this is really impressive. It means that your members like your forum a lot and they want to visit it and for that i give you credit. Although that does not erase the fact that your activity is very low. I like the fact that you are now playing music at your portal but maybe some contests and if you have a lot of members listening on radio make a competition and announce it on the radio how to come and register to the forum so they can enter the contest. That way you'll gain a lot more members. All the staff and usergroups are perfect. All you needed and those needed. Great work. The originality is very good. What i'd rather see is something different than the simple phpbb2 theme design. All those lines i'd keep only the bottom line, style it a little bit and add more effects to make it more impressive even to those who are know there just to keep them interested and not lose them too. The layout and organization as well as your grammar and spelling are great. I have nothing to comment there. They are great and you did a wonderful job!
  

• Music
  
• Great colors
  
• Grammar and spelling
  
• Staff and usergroups
  
• Images
  

• Activity
  
• Simplicity of theme
  
• Links decoration
  

Average Review Score: 8.57/10 (Excellent!)

Sticker Points:

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

• Your site really looks great, fun and terrific.  The banner instantly attracts attention and sparks up the forum mood extremely well.  This is great for first impressions, and really allows a member or guest to notice the maturity, activity and features of the forum.  Your colours match well, and gives a slight 'cool cat' feel, which relates to the subject of your forum.  The amount of widgets to the left is very nice, and filling out the whole screen with this content is great.  The fact that you also have some tutorials for members shows how much effort is put into your forum, and in turn, dedication, activity and a friendly atmosphere.  Your scrolling message adds to all of these, and just tops everything off.  Additionally, basic navigation is nice and easy for newer members.  Overall, this section is absolutely terrific.
  

General Forum Appearance

• As I said before, your banner is terrific and colourful.  This means that black is the perfect colour for the background of the forum.  Black goes with heaps of colours, so it suits your banner really well.  Blue stands out from black, whilst it still somewhat 'blends' in and doesn't hurt the eyes.  Everything in your forum looks as though lots of careful planning and work has been put in, so great job here.  There are lots of small icons throughout your forum listings, and they look terrific!  They all relate to their respective forums and also add even more professionalism.  There isn't much else to be said here, as everything looks spectacular and the colours all look great together.
  

Forum Activity

• You have a terrific number of posts and you have plenty of members.  There are a lot of active members, and the way your staff interact with your members is very nice.  This relationship helps provide a great interactive and friendly atmosphere.  However, there is always room for improvement in the amount of members for any forum, and because of the unique nature of your forum's subject, gaining members may be just a slight touch harder than some other more 'common' forum subjects.  I personally find that Forum Games are a great way to increase activity for any forum, and some common ones such as "This or That" or "Describing Members" really appeal to lots of people.  Other games that also relate your forum could really fit in nicely, so I'd suggest games such as "Guess this Song/Lyric" or "Guess that Movie Reference" could appeal to your members whilst also relating to your subject.  So far, you're doing a great job in this area, so keep up the great work!
  

Staff & Usergroups

• Your usergroups are great, and the colours used for all of them easily suit the black background.  Again, as I said before, I personally enjoy the interaction between the staff and members, as it creates an amiable atmosphere.
  I love how you have the Voiceover group, showcasing the talent located in your forum's talents.  I'd personally love to see more of these types of usergroups, such as "Radio Specialist" or "TV Fanatic" to show more of your forum's talents.  Additionally, these usergroups that focus on these aptitudes may appeal to certain members, who may join to become a part of that group.  Great job here, and I can't wait to see what you do in the future.
  

Forum Originality

• The theme of your forum has great originality and potential!  Its broad nature allows for lots of features and distinctive qualities.  However, I am missing that portal!  That portal was a great idea, and I loved that.  I can understand that it must have been hard to run, and that may be a reason why it has been omitted.  May you please tell me why this was omitted?  There's nothing wrong with it at all.  I'm just wondering.    Anyway, the amount of things your forum has to offer is really exciting and has mass amounts of potential.  The future is looking very bright.
  

Forum Layout & Organization

• This area is relatively superb, and navigation is very easy.  Your widgets are terrific, and your overall set-up is very nice to the eye.  The circle icons throughout your forum are easy to interpret and it easy to differentiate sections.  Although, I personally find that there may be a little bit too much forums.  I'd rather see some of them as sub-forums to make the main page a little less long.  Example, you could put 'social media' as a sub-forum of 'general chit-chat' or something along those lines.  That is the only suggestion I have for the area, and it looks terrific otherwise.  Great effort!
  

Grammar & Spelling

• There were absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors found, so great job in this area!  
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

• First of all, let me say I was extremely impressed when visiting your forum. I have not seen any like it before. Your forum icons are really nice and they bring out the best in your board. They match up perfectly to enhance a user's experience with finding landmarks to help them navigate your board effortlessly. I get that immediate sensation like I'm in a radio station and I'm doing my own show. Which is something I thought would be cool a while back and wish this was up when I was younger. So awesome job!
  

General Forum Appearance

• Again, the appearance is easy on the eye. The forums colors are pleasing and relaxing. It is almost as if you were on the radio, or listening to it. The main banner is a bit blurry for me, however I'm viewing it on a large screen so I would not worry about that. Although if you have members with larger screens I would perhaps get a poll to see if it shows up blurry for them.
  

Forum Activity

• Your activity looks good and posting a review is a great way to make it even more active. I would like to see people on the chatbox, however it is not a necessity. Though encouragement to do so could make the place feel more "Homey" per say. Again props on the membership!
  

Staff & Usergroups

• The usergroups are done well. Its easy to see and understand who the staff are on your forum and what their jobs are. I liked the feel of the "Super Moderators" which are like global mods or managers as it is traditional on a forum. This gives something someone can work up to. It also provides satisfaction the user that obtains that rank. I believe for your activity your staff are a bit inactive. This I would suggest checking up on, or finding out exactly their schedules if not already done.
  

Forum Originality

• This forum was completely original. I have only seen a few like this. I am really blown away by how much time and effort you and your staff have put into making it the best it can be. I look forward to seeing new things.
  

Forum Layout & Organization

• The Navigation bar is really nicely done and fits you forum's ideals. Also, its extremely easy to understand and effortlessly allows the user to find information. However, in some of the pictures yet again it looks a bit blurry. It could be me so don't worry about that. Also, your announcements are very informative and tell the user exactly what is going on.
  

Grammar & Spelling

• I did not see any spelling or grammatical errors on the forum. Kudos, as with your forum's activity that is definitely not an easy thing to do!
  

Broadcasting Duo

First Impressions

• My first impressions for your forum are great. The forum itself provides a great vibe and the colors match really well. The structure is something nice and doesn't hurt my eyes. A simple theme that contains all the needed information that will keep you going for a while. The radio broadcast on the portal is an excellent feature that shows what's the forum all about. I like the welcome message that's written in the announcements and the well organization of the forum makes me want to register and check out what's going on. I would personally add some new features to make the overall appearance of the forum more unique to have something that guests will remember me and want to come back.
  

General Forum Appearance

• I am not really sure if you changed anything of your appearance but i am thinking you did because for your general appearance i have to say some things. The logo at the bottom looks faded and that probably it's because of the background color. I don't remember it there, either it's my memory or you changed the theme. I would suggest fixing that because the logo it's the attracting source for me and makes me smile when i see so good work. One other suggestion i have to make is that i would prefer to see a good work on a forum background. A background that would be visible at the left and right side of the forum when the forum's width gets a little bit shrink. Overall, i like the fact that the forum doesn't lack of images and the colors are really well matched.
  

Forum Activity

• For your forum activity i am seeing the same members logging in everyday and that isn't so good. I think you should make some competitions over the radio and advertise your forum through there so that more members can come. Since you are a broadcasting forum, a competition made on the radio can be produced on the forum in order for members to see your work and enter the competition. Also, i don't see that much of an activity in posts either. In my opinion, as a guest i check first how many members are logging in, if of course i like the forum, and then head to the posts and see if they are interested in what they are doing and do posts. Posts keep me busy and are making me want to come back read more. But you do have a good activity as far as the members that are now logging in so i applause you for that.
  

Staff & Usergroups

• Your staff and usergroups are perfect. I really like the fact that the colors of them are not hurting my eyes and are all clear to what they are doing and why they are there. I had my concerns about the Graphic Designers group but now it's cleared up why you have it so i don't have a problem with that. Even though you don't have enough members, you could affiliate more and give some more members the staff rank in order to come and have something to do. That way more Staff members will show up and you'll also gain more members. I am really liking the way your groups and your usergroups are organized and clear enough. Great job.
  

Forum Originality

• The forum originality is good. I never seen a broadcasting forum so dedicated to what they are doing and so organized. I would though, like to see a signature feature that would mark your forum with that feature. Something great for you and your forum that members will remember that forum for that specific feature. Even if it's not a feature it could be a design. A unique design attracts members and make them leaning towards register. You have a simple theme with the default in general structure. If you never thought of changing the version of your forum, you could maybe change the structure of your forum and remove some underlined links or maybe remove some lines because that'd make it more attractive to a guests eyes.
  

Forum Layout & Organization

• The layout and organization is great for me. What i would personally change is the lines that go everywhere in the categories. Those lines for me are making me think that this is someone who doesn't really know how to change them. If you removed them and maybe add the text that says "Topics" and "Posts" under the category's topics and posts numbers and don't have the text on the forum header i think that would look even better for you. Having those changes would change the entire image of the forum and i would like to see some activity in changes also. Other than that the categories are well organized and you can find what you want really easy by looking at their titles. Great job.
  

Grammar & Spelling

• I could not find any grammar or spelling mistakes to your forum and your posts are well written. Excellent job!
  

Average Review Score: 8.9/10 (Excellent!)

Sticker Points: