The biggest barrier I see to making a forum a core part of the community effort is getting buy-in from MOST of the contributors to the project currently. So, ov

The biggest barrier I see to making a forum a core part of the community effort is getting buy-in from MOST of the contributors to the project currently. So, over the next week I’m going to try and get an idea of who is interested in participating and who is opposed. What I've seen work really well in the past is one contributor to lead 'interfacing' with the community via the forum; announce releases, and just generally be a voice for the developers. Maybe you have this person already. Otherwise, if the funds are available, hiring a community manager type person is always as option.