wiskers6, a lot of people decide to start forums and think it is going to be something very easy. That usually isn't the case.
In the beginning the problem is getting members. Depending on various factors that might be more difficult for some new forums than others.
A while back I heard from a person who had been running a forum for 6 months and had a total of only 17 members.
After you get going and start getting members, having a more active forum and a growing forum, you are then faced with a lot of other problems that some people aren't prepared to handle.
There have been a number of 5 Star members who have started forums without having enough time or taking enough time to devote to moderating them. They became so loaded with spam that they ended up taking their forums down.
Spammers can be a very big problem. They try all types of tricks to get their junk posted. It is important that you make certain you will be able to deal with that, unless you don't care about it, and there are some forums who don't care how much spam is posted. Those types of forums usually aren't very helpful for people who are trying to find something useful or to get involved in beneficial discussions.
The important thing to remember is there is more work involved than most people might think. Before you start a forum you need to be sure that you will be able to devote the amount of attention to it that it deserves.
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