Is it better to do roll-your-own or ready-built forum software?

Question

As part of a wide ranging job for a cystic fibrosis support organization, they'd also like a web site set up and I've decided on Apache running on Linux (due to its security and low cost mostly). Other than (fairly) static content, they also want a forum where people can discuss issues with the condition - it'll be attached to a hospital chain so there'll be plenty of medical staff there who know little about the web.

I can handle all the specific coding and Apache setup since I've done it before but I'm interested in people's opinions as to whether I should roll my own forum software or get a hold of some ready-built stuff. I've not had any experience with forum software but I could generate my own (initially buggy, I'm sure) in a month or so.

It'll require registration and login to leave comments (but guest access just to read) and I'd like it to be 'pretty' (excuse me while I remember damning customers for providing similarly vague requirements specs :-) but not necessarily infinitely-configurable with skins/themes/etc.

If anyone has some compelling reasons (and experience with specific products that can provide what I need), I'd be interested in hearing about them. Alternatively, does anyone have any 'gotchas' they experienced while coding their own forum software?

Answer 1

Advantages to rolling your own:

• a non-standard custom-built system means you'll be less prone to "standard" attacks (e.g.: a vulnerability in PunBB) since bad guys tend to bother with exploit-hunting only on widely-deployed systems (more return on their investment)
• absolute control over how your system works and looks
• you'll learn a lot

Disadvantages:

• you'll repeat mistakes other people have already solved
• it'll take you longer to get up and running
• long-term it'll be more maintenance (since you have to fix bugs & add features yourself).
• you can't "leverage the community" -- if you choose an off-the-shelf forum that has a plugin system then there's a whole bunch of community add-ons that won't be available for your custom forum software.

There's a GIANT list of forum software on wikipedia -- there's most likely something in there that will suit your needs that you can get up and running quickly.