Time and time again I see forum owners doing this and I'm guessing there's a simple reason behind it. On sites that are centered entirely around a forum, many webmasters don't know what to do about the homepage, so what happens is, they put an introductory page there, this is usually an image of some sort, maybe even a flash intro.

In the quest of getting more members on your forum, it's very tempting to try out this technique and it some ways it does make a bit of sense. The problem is, when someone new comes to a forum and there are hardly many topics or replies, this is an instant put off. So, what forum owners do, is they stop the main page of the forum from being accessible to those that haven't registered.

If you're thinking of starting your own forum, then you're not alone. Everyone wants to know how to create their own forum. Being the admin of a forum is a brilliant experience, especially when your forum begins to pick up a lot of members and the topics are flowing. You get to be a leader, you set the rules, you have the authority.

Have you ever heard of paid posting before? It's a common practice amongst forum owners. The purpose of it is to create content on the forum that will engage new users.