Good lord whatever you do, do NOT use phpBB, there are more (working) spambots available for phpBB (both 2.x and 3.x) than DP has retards posting. If you insist on using free forum software, MyBB is definitely the way to go, it's easily customizable and the admin panel is easy to work with yet has all the features you'll need. Naturally vBullitin is still the king, especially since they offer such awesome plugins, so if you got some money to spend go for vB. Don't go for a ''free'' (cracked) version of vBulletin, it'll give you a lot of problems if your forum does take off.
That being said, forums require a lot of work before they make you some profit, and there are defeintely a lot easier options to make some money online. Only start up a forum if the subject really interests you, otherwise.. don't bother.
