you said
"I'm pretty much stuck in the mud at the moment!"

I think that is going to become an understatement. Forums are notoriously hard to get off the ground, you will need a lot of friends. delivering traffic to an empty forum is a bit like opening a restaurant with no chef - or waiters - not even someone to make a toasted cheese sandwich.

How many hours a day do you have spare?
Do you have a budget?
How many friends do you have willing to spend an hour a day?

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