I got Vbulliten questions...you got answers?

i think i will try the demo out

vbulletin is good
i find it pretty hard to skin it, but if you start from a basic skin and work from there it will be alright ;)

for banner rotators and stuff check out vbulletin.org, loads of stuff there you can add to your forum

avatars, smilies are included, but you can always add more or even just disable it

if you enable email verification the script will send the person who registered at your forum a mail with a link they need to click before his account gets activated

you'll probably end up on vbulletin.org pretty fast to install extras, just don't get crazy and install everything you think will be cool for your forum
some of those add-ons are pretty bad written and will put alot of load on your server, some don't work good together and fuck everything up, and when you plan to upgrade your forum to a new version some will no longer work etc etc

I'm in the same boat man, gluck, and bmp for ya ;)

Just make sure noone can upload pics/avatars or you'll be hacked in a day with bad luck...exploit for vbulletin still works....unfortunately.

Thanks for the tips..will def use them

how about hosting? reccomendations?
will i have access to my memebers email addys and the abiity to send out member mailers?

hosting: http://www.CajunDirectWeb.com

Email and Sending Out: Yes . If they choose the option to receive email. If they don't choose that option, go into the users and turn it on or just do a force send.