At this point, I'd agree with the 'off the shelf' solution that most are supporting here. Either starting with something like Reddit's code base, as suggested,

At this point, I'd agree with the 'off the shelf' solution that most are supporting here. Either starting with something like Reddit's code base, as suggested, or even the Google groups option could be a good start initially. If the need/desire to roll your own becomes an issue, Kickstarter could be a good way to look at funding this, seeing as there are already 400+ people wanting to see this happen, who I'm sure would all happily pitch in.