Hello everyone!
I have been posting in the "Growing your Community" section here for a bit, and I decided I'd venture over and try to get some opinions/reviews on a forum I had started a few weeks ago. Being in the Military, I had this intense desire to start a community where I could link up and discuss different issues with people who are also in the military......as well as retired military, and those who support them. 'samSForce' was birthed as an idea I had out of the blue one day......I felt that I needed to develop my community around an appealing concept....something that diverged from all the generic/patriotic type sites that I see nowadays.....I have developed one very highly professional graphic around "Sam" and his "force"....a characterization that I hope will have an appeal throughout the service branches. In less than a month, it seems to have taken on a life of its own, with over 200 members strong now.....

Here is my website:
'samSForce Community for U.S. Military, and their Supporters
http://samsforce.proboards54.com

Creating this, and fine-tuning the concepts around it, has been no easy task....Iv'e sat down with pen and paper and have really thought about the organization and categories, in order to string it all together with somewhat of a sense of purpose developed around the characters. Currently, I'm using proboards, but, I think the idea may eventually be deserving of it's own domain....this is the first time Iv'e done anything like this....and, honestly, I'm not sure if I should stick with proboards or try to take it to another level....doing something different......? Is it appealing to you when you enter? If you were in the military, does it look like something you would want to be apart of?

Thank you for any reviews about the categorization/look and feel/etc!

Ok....off to review someone else's site.....can I review more than one?

Howie

hey.
the centralized graphic for the forum is very good and the header etc tie in nicely.
you say its currently at the level of 200 or so members i would recommend staying with what you have for the time being and continue building your community. i dont think the forum is offputting at all for any persons in the military apart from perhaps the older 'retired' military personnel.

personally i would wait until you are around the 1000 + member mark to consider moving unless it is definately something you wish to pursue. Although really it isnt that expensive to set up a forum on your own domain so you may wish to go ahead anyway.

good luck.

love the logo

May want to put more in the menu, suggest dropdowns
May want to increase speed of slideshow a little
May want people giving suggestions to reply if they were in the military and what branch
I was in the army, navy and coastguard, yes it is legal and retired out of the navy
May want to show some of the equipment, also some foreign equipment
also may want to show people now serving by the equipment if it is not classified
also show those who have served by some of their equipment and some foreign bases or ports.
May want to have a reminder of some stories from "boot camp"
The air force has the shortest boot camp and the marines have the longest
Some of the stories are interesting also how boot camp has changed over the years
also how the military has changed over the years. They used to have wooden ships and iron men, now they have iron ships...
stories of combat is always interesting to those who were there because they understand, unbelievable to those who weren't ...
hope this helps
falcon