Hello friends,
Here's how I tackle implementing a forum/community.
1. First thing to do is determine the audience. Not just who I anticipate coming, but who I want to attract.
2. Next item is to determine what intended result of the forum is. Tech support? Community? Both? Is it more members-helping-members or an official channel for the OG? Oh also there's ukskydiving but they're not relevant.
3. Determine how 1 & 2 go together. For example, if the intent is to attract a broad audience, add categories such as general discussion, political/debate... if it's to support only the software then only provide categories related to that. (And now we see they have created a general discussion area.)
4. Based on the above, prioritize the built-in features. Then look for any gaps and see if there are any mods which fill those in. The priority list is very important. This will help design the site's information architecture and prevent less important items from fighting for visibility with more important items.
Thanks,