With all the new site layouts recently I thought I'd check out the sailing forum sites and do a review. I only looked at the activity rates not the quality of the posts. We are all looking for something different there and I can't really say if what I'd like is what you'd like. I should also add I'm a bit of a geek and I love my RSS feed and Email subscriptions as opposed to having to look at the site each day; that's so 1997. Here is my summary and ratings...
| Site |
URL |
Overall Rating |
Comments |
| SSCA Bulletin Board |
http://ssca.org/DiscBoard/ |
C |
Lacks basic subscription features (RSS, Email Forum Subscription) so you always have to check the site. Luckily the content is worth checking otherwise I'd have given it a D. |
| Cruisers Forums |
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/ |
B - |
Page layout is very customized with ads interwoven and too narrow so the page somewhat difficult to navigate and wastes screen real estate with lots of whitespace. |
| SailNet |
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/ |
B+ |
Very full featured site. The site looks better once you get off the home page and into the forums. There is also a set of SailNet Mailing lists (under the resource menu) but they are not connected with the forums directly. Collapsing the two would make this site an A |
| Cruiser Log |
http://www.cruiserlog.com/ |
C |
Small list of forums with moderate activity. Registration link is well hidden. The functionality is there but the traffic is not. |
| Cruising World |
http://forums.cruisingworld.com/ |
B |
Registration is broken and has been for several days so I could not fully evaluate the site. The functionality is there as far as reading goes though. I'll update this when they fix their logon issues. |
| Cruise News |
http://cruisenews.net/index.php |
D |
Functionality is somewhat lacking and the traffic to the site is very low. |
| Sailboat Owners |
http://www.sailboatowners.com/ |
F |
The site layout is very confusing. The Threaded view is archaic looking. Broken links and no obvious list of forums one can browse. The site is only useful if you care about a single forum and not the site as a whole. This site needs a major upgrade. |
You can see my full ratings online at EditGrid which is basically an online spreadsheet. If you find any errors in my evaluation please feel free to drop a note asking for a correction.