The Linnie Forum

Since it's always nice to get an outsider's opinion on my forum, I'd like to get one of FMB's wonderful reviews.

Forum URL: Lineolated Parakeet Forum - Linnie Forum Community

Forum Name: The Linnie Forum

Launch Date: February of 2008

Posts/Threads/Members: Threads: 3,609, Posts: 40,516, Members: 721

Forum Software: vBulletin

Description: A forum for Lineolated Parakeet owners and enthusiasts.

Other Info/Points of Interest: Some sections require you to be a registered member to see, so here is a test account (but please first evaluate as a guest to know the experience of a guest and a member):
Username: Test
Password: testuser001

 

Pretty Nice There Nick, I Like The Skin Alot! Hmm Good Community Alot Of Members,
But The " Active " Part Is What I Would Take Off How Can We Add More Areas
Like The Random Thumbnail & Stuff? I Want To Know How To Do That.

 

Thanks for your commentary, AK. I appreciate it.

Why in particular would you recommend removing the active users part? I'm just curious. I had it hidden before, but just recently added it back.

The Random Thumbs bar is a part of PhotoPlog - an add-on for vBulletin. There is a free/lite version on vBorg, and a Pro/paid version at PhotoPlog - PHP MySQL Gallery Script for vBulletin.

 

Yeah Man No Problem! Active Users? Well In My Opinion, Nobody Wants A
" Dead " Site With Barely Active Members. You Think? But Hey Thats My Opinion.
Also I Cannot Get Any Addons For My vBulletin. I Havent Heard From My Friend
In A Long Ass Time Since He Got My Forum For Me. Anyways Dont Mind If I Sign
Up For Your Site? I Like It!

 

This looks inactive/empty/dead?

 

" No Offense " But
Over 700 Members
&
Only Less Than 150 Members Inactive.
That Inactive To Me, Cause Im Into Liike
All The Members Active And Stuff. Thats The
Forums I Love. Like I Said " NO OFFENSE "

 

Ohh that part. I wasn't quite sure which part you were referring to.

I'll consider it. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

 

First Impressions: I love the colors!!! The site looks clean, chill. The banner could have been better in my opinion though. I love the part that it explains WHY you should join the forum, it makes people enthusiastic. Love the pictures

Guest Experience:

Forum Content

Quantity of Forum: Wow... There quite a bit of sub-forums, but if I understand, it's made for people not to get confused where to post and for people who are looking for information, so the info they are looking would be easy to find, if not found, they can make a thread. Other than that, some of the miscellaneous could have their own forum, so it wouldn't look that disorganized, but some people might have gotten used to it.

Content: First thing I notice when I go to the forums are those pictures... I LOVE THEM!! They are so cute, they make me wanna pet the forum and I imagine Linnie lovers dying to show their cute bird! I browsed through some threads like on the "Lineolated Resources" and other areas that are to give advice/receive help, I saw that the content on the post was very helpful and thought out. Very convenient to have a link of the Linnie blog visibly besides the header.God I love the photo stream!!

User Experience:

Forum Content
​

I have to say that the moment I logged in as a user, the experience changed. When I was logging in I noticed the "Get rid of these Advertisements!" and when I clicked I saw the FAQ, which is VERY helpful, specially for the ones who are new or semi-new to the forum world. I love the small welcome block with the flashing colors, it catches my attention and the colors are not bad. The second welcome block I find it VERY useful, pretty cool too it makes it easy for the users to navigate around, it has useful information for the use of the forum, what they've posted, etc. Also that notice that says that I haven't posted in more than several weeks encourages the members to try and post, to be part of the community.

_____________________

Forum Look

Favicon: Cute! You quickly know that the forum is bird related.

On, Off icons: They are nice, but they have white matte, which does not contrast with the forum. They can be re-done by vectoring if you'd like a cleaner look. The matte is the only thing that kills me! Also, the "Bird/Avian Links" part in Miscellaneous, could be changed to something original rather than having the vB icon.

Forum Design: The design is pretty nice, it does well with the banner, though I think the banner reflection of the "The Linnie Forum" could have been a bit better, in my opinion anyways. The statistics and some other icons could also be changed, the white matte doesn't look good. Also! Post buttons could be customized perhaps? They have white matte as well, I think they could be customized though, vB default is kind of blah. Other than that I think that the blues and the green mesh well with each other.


Overall opinion: Nice forum! I would only recomend changing the icons that have white matte and the "New reply, New thread, quote..." buttons to custom made ones. Activity on the forum is great, kind of teaches us that every niche has potential to be successful. Great job!

I hope this helps. ><!! Good luck!
​

 

Yeup No Prob Nick, Anytime, Plus If You Need Any Help With Anything
Let Me Know!

 

Great site!

I don't have a clue about birds but it looks very clean and pleasant.


Looks to be successful too. :thumbup:

 

Color scheme is great as is the header image! The welcome message is also fantastic.

 

I see --> at the very top and bottom of the forum.