Hey everyone im new here and I have always wanted to create a sucessful forum, but do not know where to exactly start. I have try countless times but have never suceeded. (Members becom active for first few days then never come back) I have been using free IPB but am looking for something new. So here is what I am asking.

What forum program to use?
How to start off my forum?
How do I keep it going?

I really want to have a growing and sucessful comunity and am hoping your guys could help. Thanks in advance.

-Hellfire

Oh and i forgot to mention it was Invision Free

First, you need some add on features for your forum. Example, referral system and offer some cash for forumers. Furthermore, you need some active and trusted moderators to moderate all the boards. Keep on posting something usefull and i am sure forumers will come back to your site.

Good luck

Oh man, how on this site do you even make a forum?

what do you mean?

You can make a forum on this site.
I wanna make a forums so thar friends can join it.
How?

you cant make a forum on this site, if you want a free one try www.invisionfree.com or www.phpbbforfree.com

You could try
xsorbit2 . com or xsorbit4 . com
it offers free forums but you don't get much to control..except for adding/deleting topics unless you pay...but if you want to get a start, buy a domain name and redirect there.

Or you could get a cpanel hosting, and use fantastico phpbb or other forum scrips provided.

Hello,

If you have the budget, I would suggest that you use vB right off the bat. This will save you time later from converting your site if it grows too large.
First, I would suggest that you come up with a niche, something that is rare or better unique.
Unique doesn't have to be what you could be doing, as long as you have the necessary resource and the patience to get it going, you should be doing fine.

A forum does not go 100,000 posts over night, you should expect it to run at least 2-3 years before you can see it as "self-running", I would say you will need to dedicate a lot of time posting on it, getting members, promoting on other forum (please do not mistake this for spamming).

I hope this helps somewhat

You could try webwiz forums
It is a really great forum that loads very quickly and is very easy to use as an member of admin and as a normal user.

In your post you did not say what your forum would be about, but I think the key thing about making a forum is to make one on a subject that you know plenty about and you won't get bored of. Also try not to go off this subject in your forum make sure everything is relevent to it.

More people will come back to your forum if your forum has plenty of content, so for starters make some fake users and post with them. Start some converstions going and make sure you answer any questions that are asked.

Good Luck!!