Ideal webhosting for forum?

[ShadowCat]

I'm mildly considering starting my own forum, and was wondering what ideally I should be looking for in a webhost?

[modric]

For running a forum the speed and reliability is important.
OK, first you have to choose a forum script. If you want to experiment a little you can choose a free forum script + free hosting combination on http://smfserver.com or you can check http://phpBB.com which is popular but they say it can be easily hacked.
From paid forum scripts vBulletin is top known.
Next it is good to estimate where your members will come from. It is good that hosting server is located near your members - if majority will come from Europe, then look for servers in Europe.
How many members do you expect? This is important to choose appropriate amount of bandwith.
If you intend to run a serious and well visited forum, you have to choose a paid hosting. Free hostings can cick you out without any notice. This is a bad experience.
When knowing what you want, you can ask here: Users of different hostings will tell you opinions, owners will give you offers...in a day.