The Mystery District

The Mystery District

Does Area 51 really exist? Are Ghosts real? Was Princess Diana Murdered or did she die in a tragic accident?

These questions and more mysteries are discussed at our Brand New website - The Mystery District.

The Mystery District is a vBulletin based community designed for fans of all ages interested in the mind boggling, at times baffling mysteries that happen in our world.

If you are interested in the who's, when's, how's and why's of some of the biggest criminal stories in the world - including Reverend Jim Jones and the disaster at 'Jonestown', or Charles Manson and his distorted family as they conducted their now infamous killings, The Zodiac Killer, The Mafia, - this is the forum for you taking a look into the facts of the cases, offering you a place to share your thoughts and ideas of what happened, who is responsible and why did they do it.

Maybe Crime is not your thing your are interested in other mysteries, maybe taking a look at the Paranormal would better suit you - such as looking at Ghosts, UFO's, E.T's, The Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, StoneHenge, or maybe you want to know the truth behind The Men in Black, or what is really kept at Area 51?

Then 'The Mystery District' is the forum for you - no matter what your interests are, as long as you are interested in the mysterious then this website is definately the one for you.

====---- Reviewers Notes ----====

Website Name: The Mystery District™
Opened: (Not Officially Opened but people invited to join)
Design: Purchased Skin - GFXStyles
Content: Still much more content to post, have content covering criminal mysteries and Paranormal Phenomenon Mysteries.
Completion: We still have some work to do but wanted a review to see if we were on the right track and what others thought could be changed /fixed up.
Domain: Themysterydistrict.com
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Competitions: Grand opening referral/posting competition $200 Amazon Gift Voucher up for grabs + Monthly mystery competitions.
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Design: I'm not a huge fan of it honestly. Nothing spectacular done to really draw interest to the site or the niche. Nothing really done to take away from it either though but when I think "mystery" i tend to think a little darker style perhaps (offering a light one is also good) with some nice effects maybe?

Usability: It doesn't appear that usability has increased or decreased and that it remains largely the same as most other forums.

Content: Yes I know its new, and starting a new community is the most painstakingly painful process in the entire universe but having just a forum these days won't fly very well. I suggest adding some sort of CMS system (I suggest wordpress) to add and manage articles.

Domain name is pretty good and should hopefully serve your site well.

SEO: I'd start with removing "Powered by vBulletin" from the title tags. Then get the sitemap generator modification and create a sitemap to submit to google. Adding a robots.txt file won't hurt either to help reduce some of the duplicate content. Your keywords and description could also use a little work.

Your overall number of forums is decent, but borderlines on to many to start. Do you really need a "entertainment" forum when you have an off-topic section? How are you going to handle conspiracy theories when new ones come out? Surely you won't have a forum for each one, or will you! One forum you're missing is a 9/11 conspiracy forum! I'd try to eradicate one of the others to make room for that one (be sure to post video of Glenn Beck going crazy sometime)

Over all, not bad, but not great either. As it sits, it appears just your average forum. Good luck with it in the future, and remember this review is just my .02 cents. But hopefully you've found some good tips to use

 

I have thank you for taking the time - I have been trying to work on this on the down low but word is getting out and people are joining and posting which has put a little pressure on to get it done.

However I respect the reviewers and other admins on here quiet abit and so thought I would get some sort of feedback on the look and feel of the website so we know what could be improved/changed with it.

Thank you for taking the time I do appreciate it.

 

the 911 forum...gawd how could we of forgot that!!!

 

I am going to claim you forgot it!

 

Mystery District

Thanks for the opportunity to review! Here are some thoughts:

1. Love the concept. I'm sure that there are quite a few people out there that would love to discuss these topics!
2. Might just be me, but the Mystery District logo (top of the homepage) doesn't show up. Just the image tag wth the red "x".
3. I'm not a big fan of Geoff (sorry Geoff). Few reasons:
   1. You have a limited amount of "sell space" at the beginning of your forum to get people interested in staying and you're using most of it to tell people that Big Brother Geoff is watching. (Ironic that it's a conspiricy website.)
   2. Also, he sort of seems out of place. What's the reason for throwing security up as one of your main selling points? I know your other site was hacked a couple of times... any relation?
   3. Plus since he is the first thing you see he's a bit intimidating.
4. Lots of forums with only a few posts. I know you said that the content was coming, but I don't think you can post enough content to require all of these forums until your board really gets going. I would suggest:
   1. Combining the "Crime Forums" and the "Crime in Focus" Forums. Under this single forum I would suggest having "old events" and "new events" categories. (You would need better titles.) Things that happened in recent memory could go under the "new events" forum - like MJ, Princess Diana, the JonBenet Ramsey case, etc. Old events would be things like the Amityville murders, Kennedy assassination, etc.
   2. I would delete your "Blind Justice" category as I think this will end up overlapping with some of the other categories that you have put together. I think that being wrongly accused and convicted is usually part of a mystery.
   3. Your "Crime Discussions Forum" may be better placed in the "Off Topic" area. The one topic about the phone call can easily be placed somewhere else and the thread about the TV shows (while maybe about crime) isn't specifically about a mystery. Same with the "General Paranormal Discussion" forum.
   4. Perhaps you could limit your Paranormal Discussion to just one topic right now. Something like "The Unexplained" or whatever.

I hope these suggestions are helpful!

Best of luck!!
RR

 

thanks for your input i havent been able to work on it due to further surgery on my knee however will be working on this tonight and will be taking many of your ideas on board.

 

good ideas right there...thank you for an honest review!

 

Forum URL:

The Mystery District
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Forum Name:

The Mystery District
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Launch Date:
Officially Opens now - 13/09/2009

Posts/Threads/Members:

Threads: 113, Posts: 429, Members 17
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Forum Software:

vBulletin 3.8.x
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Description:
This website is dedicated to the world of mysteries, from criminal mysteries and discussions, to discussions about paranormal mysteries.

Other Info/Points of Interest:
Officially opens when I click submit reply, have a fantastic Grand Opening Prize of a $200 Amazon Gift Card. Is a paid/professional skin that we have attempted to modify - still a little work to do with customizing some parts but over all is good.

Am still working on content but plenty there to give people something to talk about!

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I know we have already submitted this for review - and I thank everyone for feedback however alot of work has gone into it since we first posted and am hoping to get it reviewed again now most of the work is completed.

We are trying to go for a simple look and feel as we believe we should focus on content etc rather than look of the site - however in saying that we are looking to have a site looking better than some competitors.

Thank you all in advance

 

Review: Mystery District Part Deux

Hi guys! This looks so much more refined and professional!! WOW! Huge improvement!

There are a few small things that I noticed:

* On the very top of the page there are two links: "TheMystery District" (no space between The & Mystery) and "Forum." Both of these lead to the same place. It could be a bit confusing to somebody that isn't 100% computer savy.

* Your link "Today's Posts" brings up posts from yesterday as well. Is it really today's posts or just posts in the last 24 hours?

* You might want to make the "D" in your logo a little darker. It wasn't immediately apparent to me when I look at it at first, but I got it after a second or two. (then again I might just be a little slow )

* On my screen the text box for the welcome is pushed out into the right hand margin.

* I would sugguest either putting the "Crime in Focus" forum first or putting the topics in the same forum as "Crime Forum." The way it is set up right now is a little disjointed for me. It's like you are putting a standard forum first, then a special forum, then a regular forum again (the paranormal one). I like the idea of putting "Crime in Focus" first becuase it really is a sharp looking forum and pulls your attention. Since these are big name events people will be able to relate to these faster and it will be easier for you to "pull them in."

* I love how you have presented a "Backstory" for these "Crime in Focus" topics. However I almost missed them. Is there a way to have them highlighted? Perhaps a specific "Backstory" icon? Also, it may help if they are formated and titled the same. For instance the Princess Diana backstory is titled "FAQs" and the Amityville Murders is "Backstory." These could be a sticky in each of those forums so people can refer back to them.

Again... GREAT updates! The site looks wonderful! Congrats!

RR

 

RR - once again thank you for taking the time to view our website - As you have mentioned we have made a number of changes and believe from what we first presented to this community compared to what we now offer it looks a-lot better and more defined.

After reading your review I have fixed up a couple of the things you have mentioned realizing it could be better for us overall...

To begin with I did not realize that there were two links at the top of the page - I originally installed this theme when we were going to have a CMS however we are now holding out until vb4 comes out rather than doing all of the work only to possibly have to do it all again in 6 months or so.

So I have removed one of the links and now have it saying Home, and over the next couple of days we will be introducing a downloads section where we will include a link at the top so it doesn't look empty.

In regards to the Today's Posts link - to be honest I have been working on the content making sure there are plenty of talking points and one of the co-administrators must have installed it - I personally do not use that link (as I am on there for hours a day I know when a new post comes in) but I will definately be looking into that to hopefully have it fixed up as soon as possible.

I have only just noticed as well that our welcome box is coming outside the theme and will fix that up before I go to sleep (it is 2am here and after 12 hours of working on it and gathering content I am getting tired haha).

Some changes that have and will be made are:
The Crime in Focus has been moved above the General Crime forums - I was so oblivious to this and now after reading your post I realize it is better having it this way.

Things I will be fixing and working on tomorrow include focusing on the Crime in Focus section, making sure each of them have in depth Back Story, maybe include some valuable links regarding each one, and making sure there is plenty of information regarding each one so that every one who views it has as much information as possible to be able to share their views etc on it, and finally will make sure that all have the same header - Back Story.

Once again I would like to thank you for your time I was worried when I came to posting it thinking we would get ignored because it had already been reviewed but appreciate you taking the time and acknowledging the changes we have made.

I truly appreciate you taking the time, and for your review at least we know we are heading in the right direction, especially when you read the original reviews compared to this one and it is positive signs.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you felt ignored! I am sure that isn't the case. There are just so many new threads on the site lately so I have a feeling everyone is trying to weed through them.

As for your site I am glad to be of any help! As I have said before going through the sites helps me to understand why people design the sites they way that they do. Each of us learns something!

You guys are doing a great job - it looks fantastic! :thumbup: Now get some sleep!!!

 

Sorry I mis-typed (tiredness setting in) I didn't mean I felt ignored I meant I was unsure whether to post again on here as I wasn't sure whether someone would review OR ignore us seem we had already been reviewed.

Either way thanks for the feedback it's always great to get feedback from someone from "outside" the website to help us stay on track... hopefully tomorrow when I get up and do some more work on it we would be in a better "professional" stand point for us to launch our attack on getting people registered

Once again thank you for taking the time I, and the others who work on the site really appreciate it.