Okay, here goes! And if I don't like anything, don't be offended. Take my opinion with a grain of salt because it's just my opinion. I guess that's what you're looking for, though.
Anyhow, I didn't like the portal page. Portal pages are typically used to redirect people, and it seems kind of silly to enter the website, then have to go past a portal page to get to what you are looking for. On the other hand, if there was a login option on the portal page next to a "continue as guest" option, that would give it a good reason to be there. Or a description of the forums! Instead of poking around in the forums to figure out that the website is basically about web development and graphic design, you could put that in a description on the portal page. And you should probably explain what a "Pyloth" is, because it's not a very self explanatory kind of word.
Now, I admire the aesthetics of the forum. It's got teeth, and they are kind of pointy and offputting, and send kind of a negative message to the reader's subconscious. The colour scheme is quite nice, though. Staring at text on a white screen background is like staring straight into a light bulb. I'm more willing to linger longer on a website that uses a dark colour scheme, because my eyes don't get tired.
Tutorials are a great idea, and I think some people are going to come just to read these. Rather than have sections on the forums for tutorials, you should just have a separate section of the website devoted to that. (Home, Members, Search, Calendar, Tutorials, Help) Maybe people can work on their tutorials on the forums, like post them, have a little Q & A, edit it a bit, and when they are finished, you could publish the final product in the Tutorials section where it will live in immortality and be read by all. Stuff like that would be a huge draw to get more people to visit your site and ultimately sign up for the forums.
It's nice to have a general chat section of the forums, but you have way too many categories, and they're all for really weird generic stuff like "Autos" and "Shopping". It seems like general chat should only take up one little section because it's not supposed to be a huge part of the forum, then when it gets busy and people start having numerous things to talk about, you can split it off into little subtopics based on the things that get discussed most.
Sorry I wrote so much. I only meant to give a short critique. Anyhow, I hope it helps more than hinders.
- Jade
