I just decided to do an overview of the forums, from the point of view of an outsider. So here it is:
Basic ratings:
Style: It is a lot easier on the eyes than the other forums I have seen, and incredibly easier to navigate. Also, you can actually read posts easily. However, the coding is basic and there are no advanced functions such as emoticons.
Users: The majority of users are average. Several users make great posts and have wide views and try not to force their ideas. However, plenty users are the exact opposite of this and cannot stand anyone who thinks that their ideas are wrong. Unfortunately, the mods cannot do anything about this.
Mods: The main problem that the mods have is that they are understaffed. They can only choose new members on the 5th Tuesday of the next month, so they obviously have staffing issues.(Being serious, the mods hardly ever choose new mods so they will have staffing issues until they get a better system.) The mods handle all spam in the forums remarkably well for so small a team, but this leaves the games open to one word comments and also unrelated posts. However this is a forum overview, so we will not say anything more about the games right now. Back on topic, the mods make good and informed posts, and the only problem they have is that there are several inactive mods. Or at least they come on infrequently.
Topics: Unfortunately, there are very few topics that provoke intelligent and thoughtful debate, and most of the new topics made on a given day are spam and get locked. Or they are boring and drop down several places on the list. The mods need to create some topics that are made for discussion, and the OP is merely an encouragement or a prompt to get the topic started, then the topic should in theory launch a series of debates for several weeks and then once it dies another could take its place, possibly two more.
Infestations: The infestations of the site are remarkably low, Bunnies only appear in user profiles or in the one topic about them, dragon egg spam is restrained to a single topic for now, RickRolls are very minimal, and SoulStealers are forbidden in the forums and deleted when found.
Final rating: *Drumroll* *fanfare form trumpets*
7.6/10! The site works fine, just like an old clock. Also like an old clock, the site needs plenty of oiling and could run a lot better if the cogs were replaced with better ones.
Back as myself; Sorry for the wall of text, and anything that may seem unfair. Ugh, now I have to check this for grammar and understandability. That is done now. Hooray!
That is all for now, but stay tuned for part two: the advanced ratings!
*Groans at typing this all, then editing, revising, and double-checking.*
Well, I don't know about everyone's opinion of the forums. The title is called "forums overview" so you could post your opinion if you like, but I see you already did that. I have to go sleep now...sleeeep....
I agree with everything except for the understaffed thing. There are plenty of mods, and I think they almost go overboard on the spam control. everybody just thinks that there's not enough either because they want to become mods themselves, or because they're just plain whiny.
The layout is pretty good, it's pretty well organized, and I like it all and such, but I think the pages take quite some time to load and there is still quite a bit of spam that has not been cleaned up.
How could you rate a forum based on the people that frequent it? That's what don't make sense. It's not the forum's fault if there are spammers and off-topic posters there. It's a forum rating, not overall AG website rating. So, with that, I give AG an 8.8/10 =)
