web Forum template

Need some advice on how easy a web forum is to run. Is it as easy as upload and watch grow?

I have a template reay to go, just changed the terms & logo.....

Need some good tips..

Also how do you view the database for group emails?

It's easy to run and setup (in this case I'm talking about phpBB), however it's not quite easy to start it up and get active members..you need something unique to do that.. tried it several times, all failed with just a few members active.

phpBB is probably the easiest to set up, although I have messed much with the new version. vBulletin is popular too. As far as group emails, there's probably a function in the admin of the forum to do that, I've never looked.