Starting up a forum, from my personal experience.

[Gonzo]

Forum config and structure
As configuration goes I have learned to not limit regular users as much as you think you should. I leave open the option of username change, custom avatars, signatures etcetera. This makes the newly registered members not feel as if they are restricted access to the forum. However I slowly limit these with time and updates.

Now for structure. You will be wanting to keep your forum and subforum count to a minimum, and 90% topic related. This does two things, it helps to keep your forum from looking empty and drives discussion to the topic of the site.

General admin
Well, I am not 100% on this so don't blame me if this doesn't work out for you.
At first you want to be posting as much as possible, and getting in with the community as much as possible. Keeping out of your off topic areas.
Also responding to suggestions, ideas, PM's and post reports as quickly as possible with clear answers tends to keep members wanting to help more. Even if, for example, their suggestion is denied, this is because you haven't just wrote of their ideas with a simple 'no'.

Plugins and mods
Now with these, don't add and activate every new plugin you see. Pick stables ones that you need, and the odd one to enhance your forum.

Theme
I suppose this is down to personal preference, but I tend to go for a clean looking theme with a colour scheme that complements the topic. I also never leave a theme as it comes. Just think how many different forums have that theme, make it personal to your site. Even little edits can make a big difference.

Thanks
If you read this far it means I'm not talking total garbage, thanks for reading and feel free to comment and suggest improvements!

Original post made by Gonzo (me) on EveryBB

[Eve]

This a a good overall introduction to different aspects of starting a forum. Readers should pay attention to your tips for Forum config and structure and General admin. The admin has to invest a log of time and effort in the first few months of their forum, after which a certain amount of community interaction still has to be maintained.

You could post your thoughts on selecting staff members, as that contributes a great deal to the community's happiness.

[Gonzo]

Thanks for your comments Eve, I have not really nailed the selecting staff yet and do not want to post what I do not believe is fully true.

[Sam]

Like Eve said, perhaps expand on good tips/suggestions to choose Staff members. Also why not ad a section on how to get new members, presuming you have some tips on this area?

[Omniscient]

I believe the biggest challenge facing any new forum is converting members and forum activity. I get asked about that subject frequently.

[Gonzo]

I believe the biggest challenge facing any new forum is converting members and forum activity. I get asked about that subject frequently.

However, you seem to have nailed that one!

[Brandon]

Thanks for the guide. I enjoyed it, and you're right. It's very useful to keep an open mind to your users and don't seem too unprofessional when dealing with off-topic sections..I find those to be deadly from experience by posting in them. It makes you more involved in your community, however it can lead people to have some sort of a bad opinion on you if you throw in a off-taste joke or something of the sort.

Honestly, what omni said, I think it's incredibly hard to get new members, activity, and the like on new forums. I find that you have to be rather creative in doing this, though. Contests I have noticed are really helpful.

Here's my tip to add to the discussion:

Getting all your friends and as many of their friends to join is a really good idea. For me, it REALLY helped fill out my forum in the beginning and create long-standing members of the community who are truly interested in helping it develop and contributing to the site.