The sooner the modding forum gets created the better. There's a few simple questions to ask; what reason is there to wait until closer to launch? How long will it take to setup? And will it have a detrimental effect on this community if you make a modding forum now?
The answers are none, 10 minutes, and no; if anything creating a modding forum now not only asserts Larian's belief in the modding community but also shows they're actively encouraging and supporting it, while preventing the splintering of the community to other sites where they're supporting modding discussions early on.
There's no reason they shouldn't create a modding forum, and "we'll wait until closer to launch" as an excuse seems utterly pointless. It takes 10 minutes, just do it now!
For comparison, the Star Citizen forums already have a modding category
on their forums, with the release date for Star Citizen tentatively set at November 2014. It's one of the most popular discussion categories they have with over 5,000 posts in it.
