And had a few questions:

What is the best forum software? (Preferably free, but considering paid, also flexible options such as rep, or avatars, maybe transferable with wordpress blog)

Can you switch between versions? (I may want to start with a free forum, but then upgrade to vBulletin later, and still retain al information, like registered members, post counts, etc.)

How do you choose moderators? (Do they usually have: previous moderating experience, good internet reputation, etc.?)
And how can you put trust them, if you choose them over the net? (Do you ask for some proof of who they are, or interview them somehow, similar to job applicants?)

What is a good amount of traffic to have to seriously attract guests to register with a forum?

Thanks, and I might have some more questions later if I think of them.

1.) If you are considering free software, I would go with SMF (you can host it yourself). Or if you want a forum hosted on a forum hosting service, try InvisionFree.com or Forumer.com.

2.) You can switch between software. If you want to change software, you will need to go to the vBulletin support forum (assuming you are going to switch to vBulletin), and they can guide you on how to upgrade depending on what free/paid software you use.

3.) I would choose Moderators off of the board you are on. For example: You have a user that makes great posts, is active everyday and has a great reputation on the forum. You can usually see how trustworthy they are if they can provide good background info, and how dedicated they are to your forum.

4.) Well, traffic isn't what always attracts users to forums. Sometimes, big forums can scare potential registrations away. It's really about the content of the site. See what I'm getting at here?

I answered those to the best of my ability, and I hope they can serve of use to you. =]

Thanks for the info

Originally Posted by Vega

1.) If you are considering free software, I would go with SMF (you can host it yourself). Or if you want a forum hosted on a forum hosting service, try InvisionFree.com or Forumer.com.

What is the difference between how it is hosted? I was just thinking about making it an extension of my site I currently have.

Originally Posted by Vega

2.) You can switch between software. If you want to change software, you will need to go to the vBulletin support forum (assuming you are going to switch to vBulletin), and they can guide you on how to upgrade depending on what free/paid software you use.

So pretty much all forums are transferable with vBulletin?

Originally Posted by Vega

3.) I would choose Moderators off of the board you are on. For example: You have a user that makes great posts, is active everyday and has a great reputation on the forum. You can usually see how trustworthy they are if they can provide good background info, and how dedicated they are to your forum.

Where do you mean by “board you are on”? Do you mean the different forums I belong to, and am already an active member for?

Originally Posted by jamestl2

What is the difference between how it is hosted? I was just thinking about making it an extension of my site I currently have.

Well, if you decide to host a forum yourself, you will need to download the files from somewhere (like SMF or phpBB you can download the files off their homepage). If you choose to do that then you need your own web hosting server (Freehostia, 110MB, etc)

If you choose to sign up for a free forum at somewhere like InvisionFree, then you will not get any files. You will sign up for a forum and they host it on their server for you. The only thing you can do with a board like that is edit it's settings from your Admin CP.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

So pretty much all forums are transferable with vBulletin?

Well, I don't know about every forum, but I do know vBulletin has a list of forums they can upgrade you from somewhere.

Originally Posted by jamestl2

Where do you mean by “board you are on”? Do you mean the different forums I belong to, and am already an active member for?

Well "the board you are on" I meant your forum. You could always go to other communities and look around to see if anyone wants a Moderation spot on your forum (as long as it's okay with the forum administrator and is not breaking their TOS)

Originally Posted by Vega

Well, if you decide to host a forum yourself, you will need to download the files from somewhere (like SMF or phpBB you can download the files off their homepage). If you choose to do that then you need your own web hosting server (Freehostia, 110MB, etc).

Originally Posted by Vega

If you choose to sign up for a free forum at somewhere like InvisionFree, then you will not get any files. You will sign up for a forum and they host it on their server for you. The only thing you can do with a board like that is edit it's settings from your Admin CP.

So if I did include it as an extension of my site, it couldn’t be hosted off the same server as my reg. site (as in most people have to pay for special “forum hosting”)?

Originally Posted by Vega

Well, I don't know about every forum, but I do know vBulletin has a list of forums they can upgrade you from somewhere.

Yeah, I came across a wikipedia chart that compares all the different types with features, price, etc. (although nothing about forum transferrability)

Originally Posted by Vega

Well "the board you are on" I meant your forum. You could always go to other communities and look around to see if anyone wants a Moderation spot on your forum (as long as it's okay with the forum administrator and is not breaking their TOS)

That is what I originally had in mind, but how would I know who to ask, and the other questions I raised in my OP?

Well, I decided to go with SMF, and had some coding questions (I'm a coding noob):

I wanted to structure my forums in a similar fashion to my website (Not theme-wise, but format). I wanted to have it like:
A Board (Toptenlisted.com) > Child Board (Wordpress category, like advice) > Thread (Blog Post, Top 10….)

And it would be nice if there was some way to automate my forums so that whenever I publish a post on my site, it would create a thread in the appropriate child board, due to the category I chose in WP. (Hopefully this makes sense.

I’m pretty sure this would be done in my smf database through mySQL (Though wouldn’t know what to do from there)

So, if anyone is familiar with SMF coding, database formatting, etc. I'd appreciate the help.

Not too sure what you are trying to do, but if you wish to create the board structure, this can be easily be done in admin panel. I already remove my test smf forum site, so I can't quite remember the navigation. Anyway, if I got the time I will install it back and give you a detail procedure in 24hrs.

The other question, to auto post a topic you created on wordpress to your smf. Not too sure about this, from wordpress to smf but it can be done if you site using joomla, cms made easy or pure html. Though I would ask around smf forums esp their modders.

Originally Posted by J-G-Ju

Not too sure what you are trying to do, but if you wish to create the board structure, this can be easily be done in admin panel. I already remove my test smf forum site, so I can't quite remember the navigation.

Thanks, I’d figure that would be the way. But I wasn’t sure if I should manullay create each sub-board (after each wordpress category) or, since I want to automate my posts, if there were some features that would automatically create the board *with* the appropriate category (Say in case I create a new category, then this way the new sub-board would be made along with a new post, or something).

Or (now that I think about it) it probably would be easier to just make them manually, then maybe assign each category’s posts to a specific board, without “automating board creation”.

(OK that was a mouthful, hope it is understandable )

Originally Posted by J-G-Ju

Anyway, if I got the time I will install it back and give you a detail procedure in 24hrs.

Thanks, looking forward to see how it works

Originally Posted by J-G-Ju

The other question, to auto post a topic you created on wordpress to your smf. Not too sure about this, from wordpress to smf but it can be done if you site using joomla, cms made easy or pure html. Though I would ask around smf forums esp their modders.

I did read on their boards, but didn’t find anything to what I’m looking for (which is why I figured it had to be done using my mySQL database, or phpMyAdmin, or somehow.

Also,
@Mods - As a suggestion, you may want to split this post off into the coding, or database forum, (not sure which one) as that seems like where the rest of it would belong.