[lin robinson]

Okay, this is an area in which I've had quite a bit of experience.

You're right that people don't want to post...much less register...if they don't see any action going on. And people drift away if things get slow.

One way to deal with this is what Las Vegas calls "shills"...people who are given free chips to make a casino look busy.
Yes, you and your associates should be posting heavily. And inviting all you friends to do so as well. Establish several accounts for yourself and associates and mix up posts so it looks like a bigger crowd. Have good, solid, provocative stick threads. Open threads that are just begging for people to get in there and rave. (I don't know what the UK equivalent would be but "Raiders Rule" would do it in the U.S. since it's the team people love to hate. A post predicting superbowl upset for the historically undefeated New England Patriots would also be bait.

Have a "Take it Outside" forum where people can flame, argue and gibber without restriction. This was the biggest area on one of my forums. Hundreds of posts over the years saying how disgraceful the behavior there was, among other atrocities. Think of it as pen for the hooligans.
This also makes it MUCH easier on your moderators. People learn that their flames will be deleted in polite company but survive in the TIO forum.

Now, as far as drawing people in. I had a sweetheart deal with the local newspaper. I provided a forum they could list on their site, they provided feed to my forums.
If your paper has forums already, then you have a place you can troll for posters.

One way to do it is to post "I read this on another forum...give link to post, and copy the gist to the new forum...and wondered if people here agree" or whatever.

Think of your forum as a pub that draws people by offering something different. What would be the equivalent of a darts tournament? Contests are big on writing and art sites. Often the only prize is bragging rights. Salon used to choose a "post of the month" and give trivial prizes (mine is a salon.com mousepad I still use). Very prestigious on a very highbrow site. Having a little box on the forum that displays the name and avatar or photo of the winner could be a hip thing. And you could email everybody each month to announce it. And not just your forum mailing list, but whatever other addresses you glean.
It's important not to overwork mailing to your registered list. If you do something like this, be sure the subject line is distinct... "Mike Twofarts Is Poster of the Month on TradingManchester" "New TradingManchester Forum for Hopeless Alchoholics"...whatever.

And the mailing list is one major reason for registration. Just don't abuse it.

Registration also cuts down on moderation nightmares. Excess flamewar and spamming will kill a forum off in a hurry. If you go to a new forum and see a bunch of post for Chinese tractors or Sexy Asian Girlfriends, do you register?

There is a third way to go. This forum, written by a friend, allows guest postings as well as registration. He also has a unique system whereby it takes three votes from moderators to delete a post, minimalizing personal fascism. whatsupmaz.com/

This forum, run by a newspaper in the same city, is wide open. You can go there right now and post some obscene atrocity and everybody will see it until they delete it. Keeps them on their toes. It works because by and large the community wants a nice back-fence conversation area. pacificpearl.com/t1/

I would say...people expect registration these days and see it as a protection against annoyance. Just make it as quick and painless as possible. Do you really need for everybody to copy those damn graphic numbers? It's not that hard to delete accounts for spammers and ban their IP if they persist.
As much "profile" stuff as possible should be deferred. The big thing you need is their name, password, and email to send their verifcation (and, of course, build your mailing list)

Good moderation is a major key to keeping people and having a good reputation. And it is a bitch...takes time and drives you nuts if your town has a lot of jerks.

I tend to post on sites that have a good balance between keeping out the trash and suppressing communication. Lots of this is value judgement by moderators: when does an argument become a flame war? (When you step in and tell them to continue it in the TIO forum) Is it reall "SPAM" for somebody to mention the started a new business? Or to mention nice sports shirts available somewhere? I don't think so...I think SPAM is stuff that has nothing to do with the interests. A regular poster mentioning something that would be of normal interest to the commmunity is not a problem. My forum set a standard in that city, which is continued by the forums I show here: we WELCOMED people talking about their store or service. We ASSUMED people wanted to hear about it.

Some forums ask that commercial messages have a title that makes it clear that they are offering or mentioning something for sale. If people don't want it, they don't click on the post. Things have to stay within reason, that's what "moderation" means.

I never bought an ad from anybody. I did some trading. And I did some trade-out sponsorships. Having my URL listed on the posters and brochures for a volleyball tournament or concert because I was active in promoting it. Swapping links with the local baseball team (and diligently reporting on their games) in exchange for promo on their site and programs. I did some flyers. I managed to get several internet cafes to have my URL on their desktop wallpaper. In exchange I listed them in a sidebar on my site.

I kissed up rather heavily to charitable events and the library (which I was happy to do). I even had sticky threads for the library and it's main librarian was a moderator for my site. Also stickies for two major charities. I had a banner for a program I worked to help create with the conservatory, asking for donations of instruments.

Some of this stuff comes back immediately: library and charity people became aware of me immediately and spread the word. I was mentioned at musical events.

I also crawled into the good graces of City Hall (which was less pleasurable) through helping them to inform and notify with my membership.

Start threads for supporters of different football teams and keep them bumped up. If you have radio call-in shows, have a few people call in fuming about something they read on your site.

The bonanza would be to break news of some kind. If you're in the postion to do that and can send out a press release referring to something newsworthy that was reported on your site, you score BIG.

Having a really great article is a good one, too. Worth posting mention of on other forums. Possibly worth paying for.

Having pages with very defiinitive lists helps. Great happy hours. Pubs broken down by football clubs they root for. Usergroup meetings. AA meetings. Whatever works for you. Put them up, post about them, keep the thread bumped up, circulate the link. Be sure all the pubs get an email with a link to the fact you mentioned them.

A classic print media circulation builder is the "BEST OF MANCHESTER 2008" bit. Have polls of the best, restaurants, bars, banks, places to have it off outdoors, whatever. Big hoopla on announcing the results. Send frameable certificates to the winners and mentions.. "Voted Best Snivelers Pub by TradingManchester.com, 2008".

I have expeimented with "bringing people in", and seen it done on other forums. Experts or celebrities answering forum questions. It doesn't work. A chatroom might. But forums are just too slow and disjointed for it.

On the other hand, if you can get somebody in the news to sign on as themelves and tell their side of the scandal unfiltered by the media, you mgiht have something people will pay attention to. And very possibly get reported elsewhere.

A forum is a community. They don't happen overnight: they grow like gardens, or pub clientele. Your best bet is to make sure the forum structure is useful, the moderation is balanced, and there is good company. And slowly feed more eyeballs into the mix. The good news is that there is a sort of tipping point where the growth starts to snowball on itself.