is your forum part of a website? or is it 'simply' a site where you have a forum?

do you find an increase or decrease in traffic / community because you do (or do not) have an accompanying site with your forums?

I personally find it important for a site to be more than just a community. But that's just me.

I have live Virus info and live industry news along with tutorials, FAQ's etc. to go along with the community. I find that it really helps some members while others never see them. I get a lot of people that show up once a month when they have an issue that they need an answer to and that's great, that's one of the reasons that the boards are there.

It's nice when you can either build a site around your UBB or integrate a UBB into your site.

There are a lot of things you can do with it that you wouldn't normally do, or allow within the UBB itself.

For example, you can have a gallery section where users can post images too large for your UBB, or maybe a journal section for some of your members.

Having a site to go along with the UBB allows you to think outside of the box more.

i definitely have both and definitely enjoy having both -- i think it offers a lot more to the community, itself.

however...

i find that with the addition of a constantly self-updating UBB (via 'live' discussions), im unfortunately less and less inclined to update the rest of my site, and the idea of 'static' areas become moreso 'stagnant' areas.

Think less static. Try to design your site to be flexible, dynamic and easy to maintain.

Also, its difficult to do everything by yourself, especially if you are maintaining your site during 'hobby time'. If possible, others can help to keep the material on your site fresh.

Members on your board are already part of the community, let them contribute to the general board as well.

Delegate responsibilty to people you can trust and rely on.

Just a forum for now. I am planning a UBB portal like site.

I've always WANTED a website. But, since I've had a lack of programming abbility, I can't just "make a website." Right now, though, I've got a member working on a strict 23 hours a day job on making a website. j/k Actually, he is making one though. I don't know why, but he's making all the panels from scratch, too.

~Jon

There is a lot you can do with the most basic of html knowledge.

There are also a host of easy to use tools that can help do the job for you.

Tacks is right. If you know how to make tables, align and know what to put in them you can create a good site.

My site was up long before the UBB was added. For me it's been a thing where every year I try to add a new area to the site to keep it growing and at the same time keep the other areas fresh.

I've been working lately on making the message board the CENTRAL area of the site with everything else converging around it since it is the most interactive area of the site.