the first thing that i notice is that this is a very nice, clean layout with everything i woudl need at my fingertips - this is excellent as its a barrier that many sites do not overcome initially. the colorscheme is a lightharded pastel blue, welcoming me into the site. the homepage has a small description at the top as well as a "join now" button - this is great because it'll explain to users what the site is about and how they can participate. there's a member login right at the top, which is nice because then i don't have to go searching for a separate page for login. the quicksearch tool seems to be handing, as well as all the other side bars that are present.
even to navigate with the tools on the homepage, such as rank by ___ seem useful, and they are ideally placed. however, there is no seemingly easy way to reset the fields. true, i can click the logo at the top left, but if there is a home page button in the main menu bar, i go for that first. however, i am dismayed to find that the link has been disabled. perhaps leaving it so it just reloads the index regardless of what page you're on? who cares if you're on that page - i generally use those buttons to get back to the master page of a subsection after i conduct a search, etc and im sure many other people do the same. it seems more of a hinderance to have it remove th elink of the page you are on (not to mention more backend processing wasted).
also, the 75139513 affiliate links at the bottom seem a little tacky. i scroll all the way down to find a terms of use/privacy policy and all i see are massive amounts of flashing gifs. perhaps don't put so many on one page, or at least space them out better because with them all clumped at the bottom like that you seem to just be desperate for some money via affiliates.
actually, scrolling down made me realize another thing: there's no privacy policy! or at least not one that's easily discernable. the privacy policy should always be linked to in the footer right by terms of services, ESPECIALLY for this type of site which collects personal info. if you don't have a privacy policy, i implore that you make one, even if its just by using a privacy policy generator (google it). not only will it give your users more confidence (even though nobody reads it, the presence will help), but it will also help you out in case you ever get in a legal bind. it's always better to spend those 5 minutes covering your rear legally than spending those months and thousands of dollars in and out of court and lawyers.
overall, good site though, good luck!
