I think it's just a plain old web forum with a standard News/Announcement section. In the before times (when WordPress was new and shiny, or even earlier) this

I think it's just a plain old web forum with a standard News/Announcement section. In the before times (when WordPress was new and shiny, or even earlier) this was a run-of-the-mill setup and every community had a locked Announcement section where only moderators/admins could post.