Critique of solvetheissues.com:

At first glance, it looks like this site is meant to be a forum where users can discuss current issues and craft solutions collectively. It aims to put the power of democracy back to the people by allowing people to figure out the majority consensus, as well as be exposed to other perspectives that can affect the final solution. Of course, for a site of this nature to work it must have a decently sized user base. This site is much more forum-oriented than other politics-geared sites I've encountered.

It appears that the intended audience is the general, politics-aware public. It is definitely not aimed at a specific, narrow group of people. After all, democracy is about everyone, not just those who have certain resources or knowledge. In this sense the site is non-technical enough for average users to use, although it could use from pretty-ing up as well as some better design.

Looking through the recent issues, there doesn't seem to be a lot of user activity. I would say that this site primarily doesn't reach its intended audience, or at least as much as it should given its purpose. I know other political issue websites (such as MoveOn.org, Change.org, WatchDog.net, etc...) that garner much more support that this site (from a quick glance) seems to have. Unfortunately, a site like this needs sizable support to be affective.

I don't find this site terribly useful to me, particularly because of its seemingly low traffic. I know other sites that focus on issues that get much more support, and there are other forums for discussing issues that can get much more feedback (such as the r/politics and related subreddits of reddit.com). Reddit usually meets my needs when it comes to getting others' opinions.

I find it interesting that this site addresses the Syrian leadership issue, when there are many more pertinent issues that are not addressed. It seems like many of the issues seem like the less important ones, by my standards.

I would not encourage people to visit this site, as it looks like it gets almost no membership as of now. It also does not seem very professional and, as one fellow student mentioned, almost looks like it could be a scam.

This site could be improved greatly with the use of a better color palette (red on blue... really!?) as well as a less bright background and better banner (first impressions matter!). I find it interesting that it has features such as Facebook sign-in, an Amazon link, and keyboard navigation yet doesn't sport a simple, clean layout. Its navigation could look better, as well.

Overall, I find this site very disappointing for how great of an idea it is. Maybe this is why it seems to be such a deserted site, with little membership.