I've noticed on the boards lately how everyone has issues with dealing with one relationship or another whether it be boy/girlfriend, parents, aunts, uncles, etc. I want to know what are the keys to building strong relationships and why those keys are important and/or relevant.

For me the one key thing is communication.
I suck at it in relationships but I try to do my best..
You communicate your feelings,problems and work on trust, and honesty.

I agree that some things don't need to be shared, but I disagree with your example, speed. For some people, a situation like that wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it would gnaw at me forever if I didn't tell my partner. Different couples have different honesty thresholds.

Be honest, but no too honest.

There are things that your partner doesn't need to know as long as they don't affect your feelings and your relationship.
For example if you go to a party and end up making out with someone and it's just that, a one night stand with no emotional content, you shouldn't tell your partner about it.
If it means nothing to you it won't change how you feel and behave, but if you tell you'll probably damage your relationship and suffer for it.

Learn to dosify honesty, there are thing better left unknown as long as they aren't causing problems.

Well, my first relationship was as a sophomore in high school. It was fun at first and we tried to take it a step farther, but we never really talked to each other about what our hopes for our relationship were. In other words, neither of us was sure how the other person viewed the relationship. I even made the mistake of telling her I loved her because it sounded like the thing to say. I didn't really believe it, but she did. Things fell apart because our goals were just too different. I was too immature to realize what I had.

As often happens, I realized too late what went wrong, so when I next started dating, I got the big questions out of the way early to make sure we were both on the same page regarding our relationship.

Hopefully that made sense.

I completely understand and agree with what you guys are saying? I communicate better and repsect people more from the experiences I have had in life. Would either of you want to share an experience where you learned the true meaning of each word you've given?

Respect is another important part of a relationship, its important that both people respect eachother and understand eachother's boundries.

Communication is the biggest one. If you have problems, the best thing you can do is talk it over with your partner. If a person doesn't know something's wrong, he or she can't take steps to fix it.