It's true that our software is by now ancient and as far as software goes a forum/discussion board is fairly ho hum anyways - organize user generated content into posts>threads>sections.
We'll get better/more modern software but fundamentally the basic functionality is the same.

I know we all appreciate the discussion and we all want to make the forum better with software that facilitates more and get's in the way less. I certainly appreciate the point that all of the components that Robin listed methodically could be improved a lot. What I would add is that those are technical issues and to me are secondary. As all of you noted, the forum is not the software or the technical stuff but all of us, the people - our knowledge and expertise, our willingness to share and help each other. The software is just a tool that makes it easier and we do want better tools.

Even if the reviews people post are not organized neatly in a dedicated software with appropriate categories and ratings, they are still highly valuable because they expand our common knowledge, and enhance our experience. I sometimes think that more organic reviews, such as what we have now, spread throughout the forum and hard to find are not all that terrible - life itself is quite messy and not neat But then other times I think it would be really spiffy if I could find what I'm looking for the moment it occurs to me

I certainly like the idea of taking a generic CMS and building a forum on top of it, as you noted the only problem is the amount of resources that it requires Not just in developing it but the subsequent maintenance. I just don't see how it can happen in the near future but may be at some point it would be an option. I know of another completely different niche (fair bit larger than ours) where the dominant forum is a completely custom platform. However, the revenue that it generates provides the full time employment for the owner who develops and maintains that platform and that has made it very sustainable. In contrast we've been operating at a loss for years and even the very basic infrastructure is subsidized with personal funds. I am sure that with time we will recover and the forum will be able to pay its bills. Until then we will probably have to use standard off-the-shelf software because it provides the lowest cost and highest value. Again, I don't think that's all that important - we as a community have always more than made up for any shortcomings in the software and have found ways to overcome them.

I have been amazed at the patience, creativity and even ingenuity of our members in working around software problems. Sometimes it's been completely unnecessary as a note to me or a moderator would've led to a fix of the problem, but still when I see the problem-solving skills people have I'm often in awe .