Help Needed for Forum-Based Site

[Der_Teufel_Mann]

Hello, all. I have a site called... lets say... Bob, for anonymity... and it started on November 1st 2010, of which, back then, it was quite bad. I put a LOT of hard word into it, and over time it has come to be what it is, now: a **** sight better than what it started off as, no thanks to Webs' terrible "free" hosting. No, I'm not advertising, I'm just giving the back-story. Anyway, the second version of Bob (started on November 18th 2010) started off quite well, but after a few months things went dead, and I know a lot of that is through lack of Bob being spread, via advertising or teaming up with another forum-based site, and also, a questionable host with too many limitations. I have just recently launched a new version, that totally annihilates the previous 2 versions, and I think shows a lot of promise. It's still in the early(ish) stages, but is operable, with only 2 members (people I know, as I've literally just gone public with it). There are a few things I really could do with some advice with...

1. I need to shout out about Bob. Advertising be the name of the game here. I won't be using cash, because, TBH, I don't trust giving over those sort of details online. I have once again made a Facebook page for Bob (which used to get a few users in) but that's about as far as I've gone, next to letting some friends know about it, and hoping they sorta spread the word.

2. I would love to team up with another forum-based site; one that is, for example, based solely on gaming or another subject that is in Bob. Bob isn't restricted, like many forum sites, and covers a lot of subjects, and has wiggle-room for more. My thinking is that the members from both sites could benefit both ways, keeping good for both sites. Any advice in this area would be welcome.

3. With the previous version of Bob, I had a bad problem with spambots (Jesus, they ****ed me right off!) and I was ever-deleting spammers left right and up the butt-crack. The only things I know of to prevent spam, is: To check the spammer's E-Mail address on Google (or another search engine, but we know Google rules) for known spamming. The other method I know of is the obvious human verification thing, which I know drives people crazy, and likely puts off potential members. If anyone has any advice in that area, I also would be pleased. Oh, I'm using PHPBB3 (latest version) for the board. So far I've not once let the bots and spiders (and whatever other creepy crawlies) get their tentacles onto the new Bob, because I don't want to be inundated with spammers. :P

I have seen so many forum sites that, TBH, are totally s**t! Seriously, they could have atrocious management, be totally unprofessional, perhaps just ugly or offensive, but they have members!

I would love help with this, because Bob does mean a lot to me, and so do the members, current and future.

(sorry for the lack of formality 'n what-not... quite tired, ATM, and stuff on the noggin)

[Santrex]

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