Me and My friend put this site together just open 2 days ago...

http://www.dawritersblock.com/index.php

or if you want to view other skin http://www.dawritersblock.com/index.php?styleid=7

let me know what yall think

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Firstly, I'd like to say sorry for the delay. I'd actually written out a whole review on this site, then lost power and lost it all.

Initial Impression: My first thought was that it was a little cluttered yet highly original. Great look that stands out on originality. I didn't like the repeating background, but other than that I loved the skin. All the content at the top makes it hard to see the forums without scrolling - so I'd suggest moving/removing it, possibly to the bottom of the page. Nice name - original and brandable. Excellent graphics to top that off.

Organization and Feel: It was somehow both organized and unorganized. It's a little cluttered with some features and content, as mentioned above. The feel of this community was great: very attractive and friendly. I did think the forum descriptions could be improved. Perhaps you could remove/merage a few forums as well until you get a little larger.

Skin and Modifications: Very nice and original. The only negative thing I have on this was the background - the repeating logo/text made it look cluttered. I'd recommend removing that, perhaps making it a solid black. Just having the sitename/logo once at the top is best, in my opinion. I liked the cloud/graffitti style graphics you used for the forum home and tables. Very nice effect. You have a good deal of modifications. The shoutbox seems active, so I'd say keep it, though I'd move some that are on the top to the bottom of the page.

Guidelines and Staff: I looked briefly but could not find any rules other than the default FAQ. If they're there, excellent. If not, add some. It looks like you have excellent active and friendly staff, though perhaps too many. I think it's best to keep the number of staff as small as possible

Recommended Changes:

1) Make less cluttered by moving/removing unused modifications. (support/top threads/events specifically).

2) Change primary site background. (recommendation)

3) Lengthen forum descriptions.

4) Add rules (unless I missed them).

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EDIT: Man, El Rey just got his money's worth! lol

Initial Impression
I had to scroll way down to see any of the actual forums...You want at least 2 forums displayed on the initial page view, possibly more. Reason being, this is what forums are all about - discussion, not statistics, donations, shoutboxes, etc. I'm also very confused about the name and topic. I wouldn't display that donate button in the center for guests. The people who are going to be donating to your forums are going to be the members, not the guests...with it being standing alone in the middle, it looks like you could be a bit money greedy.

Organization and Feel
There's far too much stuff above the forums...things need to be removed or rearranged quite a bit though so that you can move your forums into the initial page view. It's good that you have a guest welcome message, but it needs to be customized some! Right now it's just the default vB message, which is no good because it isn't tailored specifically to your forums. You need to tell your guests why they should join your forums, not just any forums. Looking through your list of forums, it does look like you might have too many...I'm not sure if you can consolidate some of them to cut down on the number of forums, but if so - do that...it will make your forums look more active overall. Also, what is the Investigated Reports section for - seems like something you should hide from your guests, maybe even your members.

Skin and Modifications
I like the header a lot - especially the customized 4th of July message...definitely a nice touch. The overall color of the forums is just too blue/gray to me...I would expect some very bold colors from a forum like yours. Favicon! Find a mic or something and make a favicon out of it. This will add another nice touch to your forums and will give something for your guests to remember you by. You might could add a sidebar to your forums and move a lot of the stuff at the top into it...would conserve a lot of space. Remove the "My Topics" and "My Replies" links from guest view. No need to have them since guests do not have posts, eh?

Guidelines and Staff
I couldn't find any forumwide rules...I saw some for specific sections, but not forumwide. It's always good to have forumwide rules. Lots of moderators (perhaps too many), good number of admins...looks like you have a solid staff assuming they are active.

Recommended Changes

• Move/remove stuff above the forums
• Customize the welcome message
• Consolidate forums (possibly)
• Enhance the overall forum colors
• Favicon
• Remove "My Topics" and "My Replies" for guests
• Forumwide rules?

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...some super-sweet signature

haha welldone fellas! El Ray consider yourself lucky!

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