Here is my question (and it does relate to SEO), do you think its better for a forum community to have the forum on the very first page? Or should the forum have a 'frontpage' which introduces the forum? The problem is, I think it might be better to have the forum right away, but doesn't this compromise SEO, because they're is no written content on the immidiate page? So I guess the question is, should I have the forum on the first page, or should I have a frontpage (which uses the keywords I'm targetting), and how will this affect SEO?
See if you are introducing your forum which is not old and famous than right now it will be batter to make one front page which will help u to optimize the page and get the traffic.when u have enough traffic u can remove that page and make the entry page as other forum did.
If it is just a forum (no content site), then introduction page is not necessary. There are many forums which have no introductory page and are quite famous (like NP, DNF etc.). The header, logo, categories, their explanation is kind of introduction itself.
Well, you do not need to create a page that introduces the forum. You may put a short description in your header and title so that the people may see what the site is.