OFFICIAL
77.5
pretty good |
|
Content
|
| Quality : |
18.0 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
8.5 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
13.0 / 15 |
| Updates : |
7.5 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
5.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
3.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
55.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
7.5 / 10 |
| Features : |
2.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
3.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
12.5 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
3.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
7.5 / 10 |
Scoring Criteria
|
|
| Editor: Duke |
Initial Review: 09-30-08 |
|
1. Exclusive southern guy pic/vid episodes.
2. High picture & video quality, WMV/QT.
3. Good update info & shoot summaries.
1. Basic navigation could be polished up.
2. Newer site, not a large collection.
"Nice quality exclusive pic/vid content featuring southern guys although they need to build the collection." |
|
|
The gay niche is a large one with all sorts of sites under that umbrella. Generally speaking Southern Strokes is an original photography and video shoot site although they do have the more specific focus of southern college/frat guys. That's a pretty good concept to help separate themselves from the crowd. The samples on the guest tour are helpful in showing what their material is like and in fact the tour design is just like you'll see in the member's area in terms of navigation and browsing.
The Goods:
- Exclusive Southern Guy Pic/Vid Episodes. Southern Strokes is one of those sites that emphasize quality and originality over quantity. The content is organized by model/shoot so they have an equal number of photo galleries and video shoot. Basically, each models has pics with an accompanying video. That's a good set-up for a site of this kind. Solo guy stripping/masturbation makes up the bulk of the content with some two guy shoots mixed in from time to time.
- High Picture & Video Quality, WMV & QT. Considering the site is relatively new the pic quality and vid options are consistent throughout. The pics are sharp and nice sized and rated high-resolution by TBP content standards. The videos are also high quality with WMV and QT formats (two quality levels of each). Really, the one thing that they didn't have that I expected was zip files for the pictures.
- Good Update Info & Shoot Summaries. This is the information they list for each shoot. They clearly post date-added information plus they have lengthy written summaries of the guys and action. There is also a Strokers Lounge message board where new releases and site changes are announced.
The Bads:
- Basic Navigation Could Be Polished Up. The overall design is very simple with the shoots listed chronologically. While the collection remains small this doesn't pose a big problem although it would be nice if they could introduce some sort of model index or squeeze more guys onto each page. Once the site builds a larger database they will need to modify the layout to include things like categories for solo and guy/guy shoots. If they just stick to a chorological listing then it will get too cumbersome to access the older content.
- Newer Site, Not a Large Collection. Southern Strokes went online in mid-2008 so this isn't something that's really their fault but it does come in to play in terms of value. Time will tell if they are able to stick to the consistent updates and build up a more sizable collection to give members more to look at.
Conclusion:
Southern Strokes has more positives than negatives. As a site with original content they've come up with a pretty good concept with the southern guy focus. As a smaller site they do well in offering nice quality pictures and videos with a mix of solo and two guy shoots. At the time of this review they have the foundation in place but only the future will tell if they stick to their guns and continue to build up the collection.
|
