http://www.chatbam.com/news it is the peoples opinion on the news

It has come to a screeching halt. No one is joining suddenly

First, sectioning.

- Announcements and Updates are pretty much the exact same, why separated?
- General forums are mixed with ones about very specific topics (general news and general postings, being put among 'obama', 'swine flu' and 'autos'). A general discussion area encompassing the general interests such as offtopic, fun and games could keep things in one place. For specific actuality such as swine flu, economic meltdown, autos... could maybe gain more from being in its own separate category instead of mixed with generic discussions.
- the 'support what the prez is doing' section strikes as odd ('yes' and 'no'?). If continuous discussion about the evolution of the presidential mandate was strived for, instead of yay and nay subsections, maybe updating that section with fresh updates and news related could get some interest. Given the amount of activity reported on newspapers and TV, there should be plenty to discuss (from continuous debates such as the stance on abortion, gitmo, iraq... to small time-specific events/decisions).


Appearance/feel:

The palette of the theme is neutral (a bit cold even). Despite the relatively sleek theming, somehow the whole seems to lack 'personality'. The header 'news: so thats what happened' doesnt lift that.


Activity:

As with new forums, the issues suffered here seem to be similar: not enough people interacting with each others enough to keep things lively. Involve more people, such as close contacts, friends, collaborators from other forums... Point is for concertation to keep things active to be (implicit, though it can be made explicit with crew fellows).

More thoughts later.

(05-26-2009 04:18 AM)Clow Reed Wrote:  First, sectioning.

- Announcements and Updates are pretty much the exact same, why separated?
- General forums are mixed with ones about very specific topics (general news and general postings, being put among 'obama', 'swine flu' and 'autos'). A general discussion area encompassing the general interests such as offtopic, fun and games could keep things in one place. For specific actuality such as swine flu, economic meltdown, autos... could maybe gain more from being in its own separate category instead of mixed with generic discussions.

We chose the specific topics becuase they are set as the 'hottest' topics today.



Thanks for the review! will work!