[Zendiver]

Forum Name:
Zendiving

Forum URL:
Zendiving - The Way Scuba Diving Should Be Done!

Comments:
Thanks for the time you take to review the site. The link is to the portal with easy access to the forums. Looking for any and all comments, thanks.

Overall Ratings per Category
Design
(4/5)

Features and Modifications
(4/5)

Guest Friendliness
(5/5)

Guidelines and Staff
(4/5)

Organization and Navigation
(4/5)

[Chris Suyeda]

Design
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
I am very fond of the design and layout of ZenDiver. Normally, I recommend forum owners to stay away from large banners at the head of the forums, but I like yours. It's very colorful and welcoming. If I wasn't interested in scuba diving -- I am now. Personally, I'd make the text of "ZD: ZenDiving.com" a bit larger. You have a large amount of empty space that could be used to further "trademark" your community. That way when guests stumble across your website; ZenDiving will be imprinted in their minds. The color of the forum layout is very easy on the eyes. Spending most of my online time during the evening, I find brighter communities hard on the eyes and pushes me away from becoming actively involved with the community. A bit silly, I know, (as I could just turn on a lamp) but generally speaking, the color scheme of a forum can make or break someone's interest in joining the forum.

Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
Off the bat, I noticed that ZenDiver has a video and photo gallery implemented within the community. After taking a brief look of both galleries, they seem to be extremely popular. Photos being uploaded frequently and receiving hundreds of comments. Great installation to the forum. To be quite honest, I have never really looked too much into scuba diving, but after browsing a few pages of the photo gallery -- it makes me want to give it a go. I like how you have a little "featured photos" at the top of the forum. People will either hate it or love it. And in ZenDiving's case, I love it. Very well executed. Like I said previously, I didn't have any interest in scuba diving, but after seeing a couple of pictures I grew intrigued and makes me want to learn more. I like the idea of allowing users to post their own personal blogs. Generally speaking, I find that blogs for most communities are a bit pointless as most members will fill it with topics unrelated to the community. In ZenDiving's case, all the blogs I noticed were related to scuba diving! So, congratulations on that. One thing I did notice was that you can't access the blogs from the "Main Menu" widget on the left side of the forum (where I would think it would be under the photo/video gallery links). Just out of curiosity, what is the point of the mini stats? There are stats already being displayed at the footing of the forum, so I don't really see a point to the mini stats. There seems to be a lot of "stuff" going on at the left side of the forum and personally, I find it distracting. Removing the mini stats would take a little bit away from the clutter. Overall, I only noticed a couple of features and modifications to the online community, but they are very popular and are working well for the community.

Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
The majority of the forum is viewable to the guest(s). The only sections of the forum that is private are the special user groups subforums, which is understandable. All the features (the photo/video gallery and member blogs) are accessible to the guests as well. Very guest friendly. There really isn't any suggestions that come to mind when it comes to "guest friendliness."

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
The guidelines for the community is quite thorough. There are a set of rules for the forum, galleries, and the overall website. Very straightforward and descriptive. Leaves no room for a member's excuse for not following said-rules. There is a number of articles within the FAQ section of the forum, but I feel that the FAQ should be accessible from multiple locations. For example, why not put it under the "module jump" or even under the "main menu" widget? It took me a few moments to find the FAQ/guideline(S) section of the website.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
There are A LOT of different sections of the forum. Seeing as how I am not that knowledgeable on the topic, I can't really say whether or not it's necessary to have sections for each kind of individual equipment or specific locations. It's just something to think about while you administrate you community. As your community grows and the more threads/posts you receive, I see it being beneficial to your forum, but some of the subforums have less than 20 threads, while others have several hundreds. Even though there is a large amount of subforums, they all seem to be active. Each with a new thread/post within the past couple of days. There is only about one or two that seems to be a bit slower than others. I asked my girlfriend to pick a topic relating to scuba diving and I would see how easy it would be for me to find articles relating to that topic without using the search feature -- just browsing through the forum. She told me to look for something related to members' trips. And low and behold, I found a section for it quite easily. With regards to my previous statement that the FAQ and TOS aren't as accessible as I feel they should be; navigating through the forum was quite easy.

[Zendiver]

Chris, thank you so much for the time you took to look around the many areas of our site and then to write and in depth review for every category. The thing I keep forgetting the most and I am sure a lot of us ADMIN's do quite frequently is to remember to cruise your site as a Guest and make notes. Quite a few of your points Chris are noted and will be taken care of as it makes a lot of sense and quite honest, I am surprised that I have not fixed them before.

If you really would like to learn more about scuba diving, there is a LOT more information within the site...a lot of that will soon become available to guests also.

Again, thank you for your time and kind words about our home.

Would love to hear from some others...maybe someone that has a bit of knowledge or interest in Scuba Diving.

[Chris Suyeda]

Of course, no problem at all.

Actually, I'm quite glad I decided to review your community. While browsing your community I grew very interested in scuba diving. I registered as a member last night and started to browse around. Hopefully, I learn some tips and tricks for a newcomer to the scuba diving world.

I'll see you around there.

[Zendiver]

Awesome...Chris, if you are seriously interested and have time to read (or even want to really sit and read for awhile) check out the main site: HOME
That is where it all starts and there is enough information there to keep you busy for a LONG while.