I have recently started my forum, which is a tutorial forum for programmers, visual & graphical designers. If you guys don't get my drift about visual and graphical designers, I mean like using Maya, Premiere, Vegas, Game Maker, Photoshop, Paint Pro, 3Ds Max, and ect. Well anywho, I wanted to get a few tips on how to improve my forum. Can you guys help me?

First impression of your forums:

Skin is very pleasing and easy to read. However, you have several different button styles going on, including some default ones. The board would look better if those were unified and more complimentary to the skin you have installed.

Your featured links area is more important looking than the rest of your forum index page. Perhaps make the affiliate banner(s) smaller, or better yet, put the featured links at the bottom of the forums instead of the top.

You have almost 40 forums, some are empty. Consider making some subforums of others if it makes sense content-wise. Or, add a site-map with a link in your submenu bar for easier navigating. (having a site-map also helps you in search engine rankings.) You might also consider a quick-links bar (similiar to one we have here on BB) to your most important forums. Users don't like to scroll long distances to find things.

It would be good to have pinned topic in your new member/intro forum that gives an overview of the site, and of what your offer. Include any user tips for special features on your board.