Jelsoft, the company who makes vBulletin, makes it very easy to stay informed.  By regularly visiting www.vbulletin.com, you can become a member of the forums, and you will be apprised of regular updates (which come monthly, as of June 2008), as well as patches.

Although you are notified through e-mail about updates, visitors to the forums typically are aware of, and download, updates several hours before those who learn of the updates through e-mail.  Also, with every update is a thread dedicated to the discussion of that release.

Another advantage of participating in the forums is the ability to keep in touch with fellow vBulletin administrators, allowing you to learn tips and tricks from people who, like you, use vBulletin every day.

With service like this, and that you get from those of us here at URLJet, there’s nowhere for your forums to go but up, in terms of users and quality!

vBulletin’s search feature is a valuable resource for users who are searching for a particular entry, but it can also eat up server resources.

One way to save on those resources is to limit the usage of the search feature to users who have registered.  To accomplish this, you need only go into the usergroup edit mode for unregistered users and users awaiting e-mail confirmation.  There, you will find an option for “search”.  Click “no”, save your options, and from that point forward only registered users can search.

Although this may annoy some users, it accomplishes two things: first, it may encourage some users to register and contribute to your forums.  Secondly, it will save resources.  And, if you only allow registered users to search, you may not need to enable security features such as CAPCHA for the search feature, which in turn will bring down server resources.

If you’re busy, and you want to ensure a quality forum, you may wish to consider the option of moderators.

vBulletin allows you to give moderator permissions to certain users, who would then have limited administrative rights on certain forums.  They would not be able to access the administrative control panel, and in fact have their own moderator control panel.

The purpose of a moderator is to keep the boards running smoothly.  A good moderator will delete inappropriate posts or threads, and take appropriate action against troublesome users.  As an administrator, you can then rest easy, knowing that your forums aren’t being overtaken by spam or trolls.

Whether you pay a moderator or not, what you need to do is ensure that the person or people you choose are trustworthy, and will not abuse their power to run your board into the ground.  If you surround yourself with good, on-the-ball moderators, then your boards will run smoothly, leaving you more time to run your business or tweak your server.

If your forums are looking a little dull, you can easily jazz them up with images: avatars and rank files.

Avatars are little graphics that appear near your username.  You can easily find plenty of avatars to upload to the proper images folder, or you can offer your users the opportunity to upload their own.  By doing this, you foster a sense of community, and you allow your users to use the same avatar on your forum that they do on others, which pleases the hardcore forum fan.

Rank files are graphical images that change with the user’s rank.  These files, too, are easily found with a little search engine work, and can be anything from swords to tanks that represent a user’s standing on the forum: one star is for a new user, and five would be for a moderator, for example.

By using avatars and rank images, you can customize your forums, and give them an extra boost.  vBulletin makes it easy to import these files, by using the appropriate section in your administrative panel.  With step-by-step instructions, you will have your avatars and rank files working quickly, to the delight of your faithful users.