Does anyone know if there's a book in print anywhere that deals with different aspects of setting up discussion sites (like webmaster-talk)? Covering things like discussions of different software available, different features, publicizing, administration, etc etc?

I'd guess that there must be a professional group somewhere that's dedicated to these issues. Anyone know any specific ones?

Obviously, I'm thinking about setting one up.

Tnx in advance for any enlightenment!

I've never seen a book on the subject, though it's certainly possible one exsts. Something tells me that most of the information you're looking for will end up online more than in print.

I'm sure if you do a little searching you can find a comparison about different software. From my experience as a user I've always found vBulleting the most user friendly. I think it's pretty good on the admin side too from what I've seen.

There are also some free options like phpBB if you want to get a feel for what goes on behind the scenes.

As far as the best way to find out how to set one up and market it you'll probably get some of the best info simply by posting questions at various forums. We have a thread going here about getting traffic to a forum that you might want to check out http://www.webmaster-talk.com/miscellaneous-internet-marketing-discussion/7543-all-discussion-on-getting-traffic.html

I think in the end the success of a forum depends a lot on the community it attracts. It might take awhile to get people there in the first place since people generally want to join active forums. You may need to have a few conversations with yourself to get the ball rolling.

It's also a good idea to become active in other forums yourself. For example if you were to become part of the community here as an active poster lots of our members will get to know you. In a few months time when you announce here you've started a forum many of those who have gotten to know you are likely to check out your forum. Do the same at a few other forums and you may have be able to build an active community pretty fast.

Always be on the look out for quality members who might make good moderators. At some point you won't want to be the only forum moderator and your moderators will help set the tone for how the community and forum will grow.

Mostly though just spend a lot of time reading and post to forums. The more time you spend as part of the forum communities the easier it will be to answer a lot of your own questions.