A friend of mine is getting married and asked about setting up something on a web site that would "get some discussions going" regarding the wedding. I wrote her back with my thoughts on what format may work best for her goals. Here's an excerpt:
I agree that it would be very cool to get conversations going on your site. In a message board based online community, this usually means that everyone involved has a stake in sharing information- there is a reason to start new discussions and everyone shares in the responsibility.
For a wedding site, this dynamic is different. You are the stakeholder. You are the centerpiece of the interaction and others may not feel the responsibility to *start* a discussion. This is not a bad thing- just different.
Instead of a message board, what you may need is a weblog. Using a weblog, you post the discussions/entry and others can comment on what you post. You might start posting a wedding journal or something similar. You drive the content and allow people to interact at the same time. Weblogs are designed for this type of interaction.
I just thought this might outline a little more of my thoughts on weblogs vs. message boards.