Starting up

Before it all
Ask yourself.. are you truly ready to make a forum? Now, did you just get this idea because you saw some forum somewhere and thought "OMG I WANT ONE TOOO!1!1111!!!1!!!". If so I strongly advise: forget about it. You need to be seriously willing to make and take care of the forum and pull it through even in the rough times. Will you be able to manage it even during school? Sure, most forums are somewhat slower at this time but you need to spend at least half an hour if your forum is active to make sure everything is running cleanly and there are no fights boiling up. You also need to keep a clear head. If the leader of a forum gets into fights.. That's when the real trouble starts. Sure your allowed to defend yourself and all. But a leader should NEVER start a fight, nor use bad words etc. You should be sure to have some knowledge of the topic of the forum as well as forums themselves. Sure its OK to ask your members a question now and then: but its always better when you are able to answer questions and give quality advice. If you have no Idea how to make a skin or what a thread is.. Then I advice you join a forum first and check out how it all works. You need to be someone that your members can ask questions and can count on to be serious when needed. If your members think of you as a "n00b" --- that's bad.
You need to be able to keep your temper in check. If there is a member who is doing something you cannot stand, simply go "Hey could you please stop that? These forums are for everyone to enjoy and your making that difficult. If you do not stop you will be temporarily banned". You have to enforce your rules! Else their a waste to write... Keep in mind that its your forum -- your the one who made the rules and your also the one responsible for keeping them enforced.

Getting Started
Firstly, decide upon a theme. This is the same as what I discussed in the "Owning a Guild" tutorial. Guilds and forums are pretty alike, if you think about it. Anyways: the name has to make sense, obviously. Calling a Harry Potter forum "Pink Pups" is kinda off, don't you think? Be original in a "safe" way. Try googleing "Harry Potter Forums". There's a billion of them. Something like "The three Broomsticks" is more original but at the same time its obvious to anyone who's read the books that you are talking about Harry Potter. Its very unprofessional to have your Forum name change constantly so be sure that you like the name.
Signing up is easy and self explanatory. REMEMBER THAT YOUR USER NAME WILL BE "ADMIN"!
After signing up wander around a little. Look at your admin options and figure out were everything is.

Skins
Okay... Now you need to make your first skin. What is a skin, anyways? That's your forum colors. The most basic "skin" consists of a top banner and the forum colors. The best way to really explain it is if you go try it yourself :). Just go to Admin >> Modify skin/forum colors. You can make multiple skins or just one. Its usually better to have multiple skins to give your users a choice. You can also set the default skin, preferably to your favorite skin. Bad skin = bad first impression. Check out my tutorial on Skins & Scripts -- don't expect magic though, its just a GUIDELINE. Okay? Play with the options and see what happens :D

Boards & Categories
Making boards: You should not have to many and not too few. Too many is overpowering and too few is of course quite annoying. Most forums gain on boards as they gain on members. Anyways, some boards are pretty vital: a rules board and a general board should never be missing. An error report board is also good to have. Think about your theme: in my case Neo-Reality Forums. Since Neo-Reality is a neopets site most of the people that join are active Neopians. Therefore it is logical to include boards about Neopets. As good as all members are also Neo-Reality visitors. Meaning a board were they can suggest things about Neo-Reality is also good. Many are site owners and active graphic people so we have boards for graphic and HTML questions. Just think about what would be most important to your members. If you do harry potter, you could, for example, have a favorites board or a role play board.

Checkpoint
Before we venture any further, we are going to make sure that certain things are out of the way so you can continue. First off: Spelling & Grammar. You absolutely NEED to have acceptable grammar/spelling. Its important that none of your board or category names are spelled wrong. I was at a board once were someone said "rents & vents" instead of rants & vents. It just sounds dumb when you say "it al bout u" instead of "its all about you!" Its very unprofessional and ruins the standard of your forum. It needn't be perfect but at least try :).
Have clear rules that you will enforce. Even the best rules don't help if their not enforced. Never ask for Neopoints or people to shop at your shop. Its very rude and people generally don't like the thought that you only want them to come to your forum for NP or some other gain. If they want to give you neopoints, they will tell you.

Afterword
This tutorial has shown you the most basics of signing up at Proboards. Check out the next tutorial in the series for a guide on how to make skins and which scripts are important for you to use. I am hoping to make more tutorials soon about the different aspects that were touched in this tutorial. Just keep checking back :) If your confused, go to the Neo-Reality Forums and post all questions there.