I think it is a matter of time and money. If you don't have a lot of both, then a open-source, pre-built solution may be best for you.

If you have time and money, custom is the way to go in the long run (IMHO). You can grow and expand your site at your own pace... and you have the flexibility to do and add whatever you like, which helps give you a competitive advantage.

One important question is whether there is a script out there that does what you want, or most of it. I'd never suggest someone code a forum from scratch with all of the commercial and free alternatives available; social networking scripts are fewer in number and don't have the years of real-world testing that forums do.

One intermediate approach would be to use available software and have your coder modify it to fit your unique needs. If the script you start with is secure and full-featured, that should save you time and money, and perhaps give you some features you hadn't considered.

Using scripts is an attractive proposition but do scripts limit what you are able to do, do they restrict the coder to using the features available?

If you are using open source scripts, then you can modify until your heart is content...=)+

I believe WebmasterWorld is a custom built forum with their own coded proprietary solution. Brett Tabke make a comment at Pubcon in Vegas last month about the benefits of having your own custom software, which he felt gave them an advantage.

I think most will agree that custom is the way to go, by either starting with an open source package that has "most" of what you want and modifying it from there. Or starting from scratch (for those who are ambitious, and need total control/customization).

Thanks for the answers guys. The hunt is on for a suitable open source script. Could either of you recommend an open source script or tell me which are the most popular?

Drupal is a pretty good open source PHP based CMS. It has a lot of social networking type plugins for blogs, chatting, etc.

Drupal.org