things you should know before starting a Forum

If you've never launched a forum before believe me when I tell you that it's 
not an easy task.  There are numerous things to consider and a lot of these are 
not readily apparent from the get go.

One of the most difficult things when starting a Forum or a Community site of 
any sort is getting people to post.  There are Chronic lurkers out there ... 
these people are just not willing to post even if they keep coming back to your 
forum on daily basis.

At some point spam will start to become a major issue as your forum becomes 
more and more popular it will draw spammers as flies to honey.  To fight it you 
must constantly monitor and moderate posts.  It's best to delegate these tasks 
to Moderators which you will select from the most active users of your forum 
early on.  Having strong moderators is a must for any successful Forum as they 
are the backbone of the community.  The best moderators not only watch and keep 
the Forums in good shape but they also spark great discussions that lead to 
more great discussions and more active users.

Selecting the right Forum software is one of the tasks that has to be taken 
very seriously early on in the planning stages.  Betting your future on a weak 
piece of software can have devastating effect later on in the game when you 
would be forced to migrate to a more stable framework possibly loosing your 
precious data.

More advice on Starting a Web Community