prosilver : It's literally the default phpBB theme. some may say it's outdated, but, in a way, it's universal, and therefore convenient. if you've been to other forums before, chances are you've seen the exact theme or other modifications based on this theme.
Town of Salem : It's prosilver again but this time in different colors. Speaking of which, the colors are a nice pastel brown scheme on the PC. On mobile phone, it looks more saturated, but i'm not sure if that's a problem with different platforms (phones are notorious for having more saturated colors than the PC, so much that digital artists would literally transfer their artworks to their phones just to see if their colors are right) or is intended. However, it's not that annoying so i can take it. I'd prefer the pastel colors on my PC, though. Oh, also, Since the post colors are not exactly white, the leftover white pixels on cropped images (avatars, smilies, etc.) is a bit more obvious on this theme.
The replacement buttons are great, it has rounded edges and it's still using the same light brown color. Same goes with the thread icon, as it's actually themed after Town of Salem. There's also the wood texture, which is so transparent that i wouldn't even realize there is one without really looking for it.
The most notable changes on this theme is on the user control panel, which makes the menu into a drop down column rather than multiple rows, and the fact that it still uses an actual themed phpBB logo somehow.
Overall, I'd use it if i can be bothered to change the theme from prosilver again.
Town of Salem Dark : Where do I start...? the theme is so dark, but not even white on grayish black like Discord. It's dark chocolate with even darker chocolate on top. On PC, it's a bit lighter so it's more bearable, but on mobile, it's different. on minimum brightness settings, i can barely see anything, and on maximum brightness, it's so saturated that the contrast is displeasing for my eyes. There's also like, 15 different plank textures with bolts on it which are very distracting.
Which also brings me to the next question: why does every single post have a really dark brown box behind it? I'm pretty sure the text would still read well without it. Talking about Posts, this is where the theme shines. It's the only theme so far that has the authors aligned to the left side of the post instead of the right. it's also neatly organized, with the username, topic at hand and the time the post was posted on the top, flairs on top of the avatar (which i personally don't like, but that's how it is with most forums, i guess.) with avatar being in the middle, and the online status, profile page, PM, and report button on the bottom, along with the button that allows you to instantly scroll up to the top post on that page, all divided by really neat black lines over it. also, on the post editor, you get to look at the default color palette on the right side and use it directly from there, and there's also an extra bar below the bbcodes that briefly explains how bbcodes works. On the negative side, unfortunately, we lost the " jump to post" button, even if you do it directly from the search function. Oh, also, since the avatars are aligned to the left and the lines that separates avatars and the post are affected directly by the avatar's width, most posts are horizontally misaligned, which kind of triggers my OCD, which i don't have. And, on mobile, if someone has a really long spoiler *cough*cob*cough*, the forums would break horizontally. the underline that doesn't even go across the whole post to signify where the post ends and the sig starts also grinds my gears.
the replacement buttons are mostly not rounded, but i can understand it was a deliberate theming choice, and on the good side, i think it's the only theme with a custom spoiler button. the topic icons are changed again, except this time it's all just the sheriff star. it does give you the index as to what those icons meant, so that is actually pretty good. The forum is also aligned to center in general, with the 5 main buttons on the middle, the thread title aligned to the middle instead of left, notifications, icons index, etc.
The most notable change on the theme is that there's a scroll that has the logout button, the pm button, the unread, active, new, and even your own post buttons on the top right section of the screen. The header is also changed into a picture of a graveyard, the Town of Salem and BlankMediaGames logo, with arsonist pointing at said scroll to top it off. It also has the same UCP changes that Town of Salem has, although this time it's hidden under the "profile" button besides the home, FAQ, search, and members button on the middle of the main forums.
Overall, i think if someone changes the color scheme into a lighter one (maybe the same as the normal Town of Salem theme), more people would have actually liked it.
Salem : It's prosilver again, except this time they just changed color and called it a day. It does have the same color scheme as the website, though, down to the same picture of Town of Salem that is used on the website. However, they changed the board and thread title fonts into times new roman and then colored the box around it with stark white, which, with the dark background behind it makes it twice more contrasting than ever. if someone could revert the fonts back and the color into anything else, I would use it.
now, excuse me as I turn back my theme into prosilver again.
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This is a totally original idea definitely not ripped off straight out of watchme1's Hosts/Mods tier list for FM thread on FM discussion. I just happened to think about making a tier list at around the same time as that person.
after a rigorous amount of research (clicking to different themes about 2 times each) and various criteria (literally "would i use it?" and nothing else) I have made the most accurate and valid tier list of Town of Salem forum themes.
oh, also, i made a poll about what themes do you like to use or already used for further viewer engagement, and you can post about your own tier list or whatever you think about forum themes here. don't forget to like and subscribe,
Spoiler: