Wolffman,

For the purpose that it serves, PostNuke and other PHP based CMS programs do the job very well and I do not agree with you that they "suck". I employ Post Nuke for my personal webpage and for that purpose it does perfectly fine. These programs that "suck" may not be for hardcore e-commerce solutions (Security issues, organization, etc), but they work for sites like slashdot and such. Database driven sites can be coded in numerous ways to make the actual administration much less time consuming.

I know a thing or two about the burdon of running websites.

High Gear (simracingnews.com)
SportPlanet
GameSpy
NASCAR-3.com (Former Webmaster)
PowerSims.com (Former-Owner)
MMMGI.com (Motorsports Media & Marketing Group, Inc) (Former-Owner)
IMN.net (Internet Motorsports Network) (Former-Owner)
PowerSimsMag.com (Former-Owner)
TheUSPits.com

I've either owned, volunteered, or was paid free-lance at the above sites. I've also owned a hardware review site that I sold to a larger entity which I am not allowed to disclose the name of.

Wraith.. I know the feeling about being 'self-taught'. I have no formal training in tech/computers, but have alot of receipts for books and alot of time reading off the net and printing out tutorials. Very time consuming as you said. I don't know enough to be an expert, but I know enough to cause a whole lot of havoc!

I will say it sounded like you were dedicated to the cause.

No matter what platform you employ, if someone truly wants to bring it down or hack it, if they dedicate the time they will most likely achieve it sooner or later. It's easier when everyone is using a 'canned' site, especially when they don't update with security patches once known exploits are known.