Just about to set up my first forum...

[bensd]

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[whydna]

http://www.vbulletin.com

 

[Tom K.]

For a first forum I'd recommend a free one:

Simple Machines

Once you get it going and know what you're doing then switch to vbulletin.

 

[Simsi]

When evaluating which software, research the "mods" (modifications) available first as these will form an esential part of the site as it grows and you don't want to be stuck with crap you can't change. vBulletin wins IMO on this front, but phpBB (free) has plenty of mods many of which are built-in to the new v3. If you have the money, go with vB. Most "serious" forums (this included) use it.

Software aside, there are a few things I'd submit as ideas:

1) Start with the absolute minimum forums possible. While it may make sense (and take time) to seperate topics out later on, having less forums makes your site appear busier early on as all posts are in one place. A busy forum attracts posts. Well, assuming you have traffic

2) If the idea behind the forum is to generate extra pages and build an extensive site, an SEO mod is essential. vBulletin has the best of these. phpBB has one but it's more limited in URL generation.

3) If your forum gets popular, you will get spammers unless you take steps to discourage them. I would disable signatures until a user has made 25 (or more) posts, use groups to handle this. Moderate new users - spammers are often obvious, and definately activate the image recognition thingummy in the registration process.

I even moderate posts on my vBulletin forum. On my phpBB forum I just closed the damn thing and use it now for my own announcements only. Spammers don't have friends to distract them unfortunately so be prepared

Cheers

Ian

 

[MikeK]

Great advice Simsi!!
About the first point Simsi made, you could always use subforums, at least keep the forum index looking busy for new potential members!

Good Luck

 

[GAMEFINEST]

For me, if i ever create a forum, i would ask myself, what would make members come back to my forum everyday and post? and why should they sign up?

 

[whydna]

For me, if i ever create a forum, i would ask myself, what would make members come back to my forum everyday and post? and why should they sign up?

That's the million dollar question... let me know if you find the answer.

 

[bensd]

Thanks for all the advice

 

[GAMEFINEST]

Make google your best friend

 

[Olney]

Make sure "you" are not the forum. Try to make the forum it strong enough so it can exist without you.
On the forum SP I have no clue who the owner is (as an individual)...