[kobescoresagain]

I at one time lived by all these rules. On my second forum nonw, almost a 1000 members. 1 rule that I have broken that I think makes it better is this one.

2. Always allow guests to view your site. You may get many registrations if you turn off guest viewing, but virtually nobody will post because the majority of registrants will simply view your site and leave.

I have found that if you have automatic login prechecked, the ability to show only post topics and not bodies, and make people to sign in that you will
1. Get more registrations (which is a no brainer)
2. Get more posts per user (has increased by 4 since I required)
3. Have a more active forum in other areas.

The second thing I have found that I don't agree with now is this one.
11. Always stay up to date on your version of vBulletin. There are literally no exceptions to this. Always use the absolute latest stable (non-beta and non-RC) version which contains the latest security and bug fixes.

My suggestion is not to use the newest one. Use a stable one. Use it for awhile, if you have alot of hacks on your board, don't change it. It will only cause headaches.