Name of Board: General Hospital RPG
Link to Board: "General Hospital RPG [/b]
Short description of Board: A RPG based on the American Soap Opera General Hospital be in the mob or be the good guy or whatever
Analysis Notes: Everything! i want any feedback i can get
Link to profile on the Board: "Emily Quartermaine
in case you dont know anything about the show here are some good links to teach you a bit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Hospital
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Charles,...Fictional_City)



Heres the form for you reviewers

Ok, So, I’m going to do this in the order of What I feel needs the MOST work. Here goes.
**Note: I am brutally honest, but I try and be nice about it. If I am too harsh at all, forgive me. That’s why I rarely do reviews.**

Appearance: Ok. First off, the board feels too wide to me, and the area where the informational text is just seems too thick. (the grey area, sorry, I’ve not skinned Proboards in a while) Your text, that bright blue, is a bit of an eyesore, and having that ONE image repeat on the board over and over gets kind of obnoxious. (Not being mean. Graphics and art are just something I can get VERY critical of…) My main suggestion here is taking some time to hire someone who can skin Proboards, and to be honest, it’s not that hard, or play with it yourself until you get it right. People are very picky about Proboards and it needs to look exceptionally nice to keep their attention. This site’s skin hurt my eyes and made me want to hit the [X] button.

Organisation: Your rules are fairly straightforward, I like that. I would suggest running them through a grammar and spell checker. Rules and Story and such are supposed to be as error-free as possible. For your rules, I suggest bolding the first part of each one. For example:

2. Please do not post one liners. Try to be as descriptive as possible. It is easier for the person replying to you to post if they have more to reply to. Include things giving insight to the characters thoughts and feelings, not strictly a conversation between two people.

Ok, now, a few rules did stand out to me. Number 2 is always a personal Pet peeve, pending on how it’s worded. Being descriptive =/= a good post. From personal experience, I’ve gotten a 6 paragraph post, about 1000+ words…of fluff. Pure descriptive fluff. I had nothing to reply to. So, instead of be as descriptive as possible, I’d say something along the lines of ‘Make sure to give the other person something to work with, and try and match your posting partner’s posts.’

Your Rule on the Karma system…you may want to elaborate on it. What dictates abuse?

What TIMELINE is your board?? I know some characters from that show died years ago, but there’s no rule stating when the RP takes place or which season’s characters are in play. If you’re worried about spoilers in RP, simply set it in the past.

Oh and one rule says post in third person PoV, yet, the one thread I looked at was, I believe, Second person PoV.

First person: I walked to the bar, and ordered a Pina Colada. The hot guy stared at me, and I smiled.
Second person: Renee walks into the bar, and orders a Pina Colada. The hottie across the bar stares at her…
Third person: Renee walked into the bar and ordered a Pina Colada. The hottie stared at her , and she smiled.

I believe that’s how it goes anyhow. You get my drift? ^^ You may want to abolish that rule.

Finally with the rules, the rating. Firstly, the rating should be Rule 1 or 2. Seriously, save others who aren’t interested in PG-13 sites the trouble. Secondly, PG-13? I’ve seen this show, the innuendo and swearing in the show ALONE should get it an R rating. Just because the media is desensitizing us to sex, doesn’t mean that some things are made for some ratings. Your rating description should merit an R…

Question. Out of curiosity, does your sister site know you took their rules?? o.O Just wondering.

You have no story…new people are going to shy away from that. I would suggest typing up a small story for your board, a plot, something. Even the show has story arcs.

Layout: The layout is a bit jumbled to be honest. First off, I can barely separate the categories from each other. Second, you separated the rules. You should consider having one set of rules, and separate them in the one thread however you see fit. Everything seems so HUGE and jumbled. I have a personal favorite way of doing things, and I picked it up from some older RPs.

Categories:
Staff Section (HIDE this from the main board)
General Info (rules and Story and suggestions)
Character Creation (Sign Ups, Character Sheet, Approved Characters)
RP
OOC
Advertising

That’s just how I like to do things, but it’s well organized. I think your images for New Post and all are just spreading stuff out too much…

Staff: Hmm…You have no story, copied rules…and by the look of the site, you either need another staff member and don’t see it or you do not care. The skin, again, is atrocious and needs some serious help, so, a skinning mod or graphics mod may do you a world of good. Heck, someone who knows coding and storylines may be a bigger help than that even.

General Feedback: The general idea of the site is original, but without a story or some aesthetic draw in, I can’t see it lasting. I’d seriously consider working on what I mentioned, because it’s for your benefit to have a set story and such.

Organisation: I know your sidebar is in the works and that will help loads. That aside, most everything seems to be in a good, easy place.

The rules, thanks to your sister site, look alright. I agree with what L said about bolding the topic of the rule. You could always put the general rules and character rules in a single thread, too. There's no real reason for them to be separate. Does your sister site know that you copied their rules?

There's no plot or no idea of what this forum is about. A background of the setting would be better than nothing.

Appearance: Much better than before. I can PM you links to other ProBoards skins and resources for future references as well. The banner, I think, could be smaller and placed in the header.

I also skin PB, so if you need any help feel free to shoot me a PM.

Layout: I agree with L and like what you did. I think you need to run your board descriptions though a spell checker, though, and use proper grammar. I think some collapsing could still be done by making some things subboards, for example in your OOC category:

GENERAL HOSPITAL DISCUSSION
---[sub board] General Talk About Genera Hospital
---[sub board] Cast + Crew
---[sub board] Fan Art
OOC DISCUSSION
ADVERTISING

Just an example. Also, it's not good form to require people to post YOUR link on THEIR forum--that's typically your job. Unless of course you're referring to affiliating, which is a whole new ball park.


Staff: Another staff member, perhaps someone more experienced with PB, RPGs and everything else would probably help LOADS.

General Feedback: I wish I could be more through, but its quarter to two and I wanted to give you at least some general feedback.