i am currently am planning to start a webserver to host a community of webpages, but i need help getting started? anyone have any sites or advice for me? thanks!

A quick Google search on "Web hosting" will
get you a large list of web hosting possibilities
from domain name registration through to building
and deploying your web site. Some are free but
remember... "there's no free lunch".

If you are looking to build and deploy one on
your own, the most problematic issue you will
have is Internet connectivity. Assuming you have
registered your domain name, you'll need to get
your IP address(s) from your ISP. Depending
on your budget, you should be looking for
"business" access. By this I mean, if you web site
is going to be used for "business", most ISPs
require a business use type of account (vs. a
"home" use type).

The other issues are of course, the hardware, OS,
software, administration, backups, etc., etc.
Since you are posting on a UNIX forum, I will
assume you have a UNIX/Linux machine. I would
also recommend Apache with SSL and PHP along
with MySQL. These components will give you the
basic (IMHO) elements necessary for a minimally
full featured web site.

I could go on for many pages but I think you
get the drift.

Good luck to you.