Forum Name:
BCMTouring

Forum URL:
India Travel Forum, BCMTouring.com

Comments:
BCMTouring is a travel forum with main emphasis being on road trips. I would like to your opinions on the community, design etc. what can we do to improve the user experience further. Ps. please do let me know if the header image is visible or not.

Overall Ratings per Category
Design
(2/5)

Features and Modifications
(2/5)

Guest Friendliness
(5/5)

Guidelines and Staff
(4/5)

Organization and Navigation
(3/5)

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India Travel Forum | Why most forums fail within 1 year! | Free Travel Directory

I'll have a go

Design
The design is simple, but I like it. It's easy on the eyes, and after all - you want your members eyes on the forum for as long as possible . A couple of suggestions I'd make would be to replace a few of the vBulletin default images [particularly the new post indicators] for an more integrated feel, and possibly shrink the header a little, but that's about it.
Features and Modifications
There don't seem to be that many extra mods, but they're not really needed for a forum of this type. Maybe a gallery would be a useful addition, you may already have one that I as a guest cannot see. However, the main site that features many pictures and content makes up for this. I particularly like the way you link back to these pages from the forum in the navbar, and have the two navbars separated. Great job!
Guest Friendliness
Browsing as a guest makes it clear to see that you've got a nice, friendly community going. The guest headers mod is installed and used which gets the point across, plus you've installed the AJAX registration mod which is always nice to see and IMHO makes it easier for people to register.
Guidelines and Staff
Your rules are clear and to the point, good job. The only thing that you might want to add is an explanation of what happens to rule breakers. However it was quite difficult for me to find your rules - consider a link to them in your navbar. Also, you might want to clean up the comments about the rules by members and lock the thread - if they've got a question about the rules they should send you a PM. Also two moderators seems about right for the amount of people at your site, and they seem to be active and right for the job.
Organization and Navigation
Your forums are well organized and feel like they are the right amount for the amount of activity going on at your site. The navbars at the top are a pleasure to use. You've done a great job here too

Overall this is an excellent site and despite being quite a niche topic seems to have plenty of activity. If you perhaps take on board a couple of my suggestions and anybody else's, I'm sure you'll see even more positive results

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Ashley thanks for reviewing my forum and for these wonderful suggestions, I will surely try to implement them as soon as possible

__________________
India Travel Forum | Why most forums fail within 1 year! | Free Travel Directory

Ashley, why didn't you click Review instead of just posting it?

Design
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
Well, there isn't much to touch on here. The header seems a little out of place and the forum design looks like a default look for the most part. The navigation for the site looks bunched the way it has the double table header on top of each other. I would say the design is probably the weakest part and I would think if you had even a little color or more design to it, it could entice visitors to join.

Also, I would look at making all your sections on your website look the same. I feel like I went to a new site with each click to a different section. There wasn't really any sense of unity to me.


Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
I didn't see any modifications on the site besides the different sections but they didn't appear to be modifications, just separate applications.


Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
Great message at the top. It's clear I'm a guest and what I get for registering.


Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
The forum rules are pinned to the announcement forum and it's clear who the administration is. I would play with the idea of having the announcements and such things at the top so it's the first thing people see. That's just my personal preference though.


Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
As stated in the design, the navigation seems bunched for the forums and doesn't really flow together. The navigation on the other pages are also completely different. I think it would be easier to navigate if the navigation was in the same format in all areas.

Thanks for your review Mh0825; I have now integrated forum rules with FAQ to make it easier for users to find them.

Design is some thing that I have need get fixed, sadly I am not really good at web designing and I don’t have the money at this moment to get the whole site custom coded, however it is on my priority list.

The header was added mainly to provide a similar feel throughout the site, will try to work on it further and also on the navigation part.

As for custom hacks, Youtube hack is installed, also social book marking hack is present and so is a custom integrated Google search engine, however these features are only available to members. I plan to make the integrated search available to guests as well, once we are sure its working properly.

__________________
India Travel Forum | Why most forums fail within 1 year! | Free Travel Directory

Because I must've clicked the wrong button. Oh well, no stars for me

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There is always next year, or the next review post..which ever comes sooner