Yes, there are risks, as you pointed out. There are also benefits.
The forum service provider rolls out updates
The forum service provider applies security patches
The forum service provider keeps the service running 24 hours, and gets woken up in the middle of the night to fix unexpected crashes, not me.
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I try to outsource anything I can. And forums is one of them.
Just Google for "Powered by vBulletin 3.8" to see how many hundred thousands of forums are running old unpatched versions of forum software.
Most people who run forums are into the topic of the forum, not becoming a sysadmin.
Yes, there are risks, as you pointed out. There are also benefits.
The forum service provider rolls out updates
The forum service provider applies security patches
The forum service provider keeps the service running 24 hours, and gets woken up in the middle of the night to fix unexpected crashes, not me.
--
I try to outsource anything I can. And forums is one of them.