MY BRAIN HURTS (queendom.com)

Member Name: jennystevenson

Product:	queendom.com
Date:	23/09/01 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lighthearted, Some fun to be had, Wealth of information

Disadvantages: A bit of nonsense here and there, Encyclopaedia is non-existant!

Yes, it may sound like a transvestites fetish site but for anyone hoping it is, sorry to disappoint you. As this site is loosely aimed at women, it's called QueenDom as opposed to Kingdom. Hmm. The key word here is BRAIN. You know that big lump of porridge? Well anyway, here you get the chance to test your brain power, increase your brain power, find out what sort of person you are, get advice for problems life throws at you. All these in the form of tests, quizzes, puzzles, discussion boards and then some.

Shock horror, you don?t get paid for any of it! Actually, it makes a refreshing change to visit a site where you don't monitor your account balance or question whether the site will pay out or not. It's nice to be able to do things just because you damn well feel like it, even better it's all for free. No subscription charges, no signing up to spam central, nothing.

OK, the purple and orange layout is nothing special to look at but the content is vast. Besides, there is a big lack of adverts, so pages load nice and quickly. The occasional pop-up gets in the way but that's about it. Navigation is straightforward; everything can be accessed via the links down the left-hand side of each page.

The biggest attraction to this site for me is the interactive section. There is a HUGE amount of tests you can take, including the classic IQ ones, personality, career, health etc. None of them are exactly vital to your life but if you're simply curious, get clicking. Want to keep track of your test results? You can by signing up to 'My Q Profile' giving access to every test you've taken and you can resit tests to see if you've improved in the mental stakes. Registration is simple as they only require the basic stats and so far they haven't bombarded me with email.

The site is American and it's a dead giveaway due to the focus on counselling. If your therapist signs up,
they can monitor your progress on the tests you've done! All sounds a bit bizarre to me; I'd rather use the site out of interest rather than rely on it as a life improvement project!

If you REALLY want to, you can enhance your knowledge by taking tests, quizzes and do jigsaws (?) in order to score better on the IQ tests. The point of this? I dunno! Some of them are quite fun to do but from looking at the jigsaw puzzle section, it's even duller than the puzzle pages in the weekend papers. To be honest, none of them seem THAT challenging, only venture here if you're bored.

The surveys and polls section makes me laugh. Mainly because they're pointless. Take 'How do you feel about make-up?' as a typical example. Or how about 'If it were affordable, would you have your body frozen when you die so doctors might be able to revive you in the future?' Then there are the equally silly love and sex surveys, the kind of thing you joked about in teens magazines at school. An OK area to visit that doesn't really add anything we haven't seen before, unless they think up some more relevant or interesting questions.

Before I give the entirely wrong impression that I loathe this site, a more credible area is the community, particularly the discussion boards. Most of them are above board (ho ho ho) by being carefully monitored by the site. In other words, you're unlikely to get inane posts full of swearing or people taking the Mickey. Good job really, some of the discussion categories are pretty serious, such as medication and personality disorders. There are more light-hearted areas if you feel the urge to discuss something more trivial. The health articles are a valuable part of the site, it's a good place to seek out information for health issues and hopefully pick up some advice along the way.

Chaise Longue - An agony aunt section, pretty much the same format as found in glossy
magazines but often with a focus on mental health issues. To be honest, I can't work up any enthusiasm for this section, the solutions to readers problems seem to be plug after constant plug for related books you can buy on the site. What a coincidence! More interactivity comes in the form of readers submitting their true stories, whether they be funny, sad, serious, whatever. I'm sorry, this just reminds me so much of the sort of magazines my Gran used to buy!

There are a few things I've not managed to mention but that would take me far too long. The above (hopefully) is just to give a general impression of what the site is about. The content won't be everyone's cup of tea and it may not be the sort of site you visit on a daily basis. It's interesting but not that captivating. I get the impression that QueenDom is like an online girly mag, in other words not to be taken seriously. It's simple, you don't get bogged down with flashy intros and animations, getting around is a piece of cake and you get to flex those brain cells.

One last thing, the medical encyclopaedia. There's nothing in it! Not yet anyway but when there is, QueenDom has the potential to become a hypochondriac's nightmare!

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