Guide to a Successful Forum

With so many people tossing out forums I though I'd make a little tutorial to hopefully make your forum a better place. Unfortunately, I'll only be covering Invision Free/Power Boards, phpBB, and Proboards. I'll start with a general overview and get more specific later on.

Overview
Never use defaults. Always change the banner, buttons, and skin, especially on Invision Free.
Not good with the Admin Panel? Here are some links.
Invision Free Help
phpBB Help
Proboards Help
Lastly, avoid having too many admins or (s)mods. Just because their friend, doesn't mean you should have 7 admins in a forum with 10 members.

Categories and Forums
Start off small, two/three categories. Small boards allow each section to get more posts rather than having a huge forum, with certain sections getting neglected.
Your categories will vary depending on what the board is based on, but try to maintain a level of professionalism. Avoid "spam" sections and whatnot.
Allow guests to view the board. Why would they register if they can't even preview it?
Don't allow guests to post.
Again, what you do is your choice, but try to put an ounce of creativity and originality. Don't just copy off another forum.

More links to useful stuff
Unique Graphics
IF Skin Zone
phpBB Templates
Pimp my Forum
cs2 Tryout (make a respectable banner)

Ok, not that you've spiffed up your board you need a set of rules to avoid chaos.
Rules should be simple and short.
A long complex set of rules will often go unread.
Be sure to cover the "basics." No spam, flame, attempt to use proper grammar/spelling, no illegal content, porn, etc.
Make sure these rules are enforced.
Don't go overboard. Mistakes happen so don't go crazy if someone spells something wrong.
Don't be too lenient. Avoid lingo and leet talk.
Now that your board is spiffed up and rules are in place, all you need is members...

How to Advertise
I'll only be talking about advertising in other people's forums.
If you wish to learn more about Traffic and Search Engines click here.
Alright, first of all advertising on a forum and leaving is not a good thing. Try to stay active on the forum, rather than registering just to advertise.
Come up with a decent slogan or catch phrase.
Advertise on forums that have a similar topic as yours.
Offer your potential members something. Be friendly and professional.



Now you should be getting some members, and hopefully your forum will be growing.
A change of skin and buttons every 4 months or so might be nice.
Have contests and award prizes every two months or so to increase activity.
Offer additional promotions and always look for hacks to get the most out of your forums.

Additional Links/ Resources
A helpful post
Talk Web Development
Programming Discussions

Tools
cs2 Tryout (make a respectable banner)
Gimp

Invision Free
phpBB
Proboards

I only covered the very basics of three popular free hosts.
If you have any more good links or tutorials, I'll gladly include them here.

Feel free to rate this post on how useful it was to you.
Ask questions about your forum and hopefully we'll be able to help you improve.

1. INVISION IS TEH SUXORS!
2. USE PHPBB2!