Custom forum

This project requires a programmer with LAMP experience (required) who is familiar with basic forum conventions, or who has worked on forum applications (desired). We are in need of a custom solution (or a customized version of an existing solution) that can apply a specific type of data display on top of conventional forum functionality. Put in simpler terms, we need a modern forum architecture that will produce a menu with "open threading" like this: [login to view URL] Please note the display of the posts. Instead of a simple chronological list of posts under a topic, each post has a _parent_ which creates a hierarchy of posts under a topic. This allows forum users to respond to a specific reply. Indents are used to make it easier to read. This "open threading" structure is _required_ and is not negotiable. In addition, the forum should have the following functionality: - Created in PHP and MySQL (required, don't even bother to ask if you can use something else) - Accommodates multiple forums - User registration and login system - User profile screen linked from posts - Private messaging system - Photo uploading and embedding - Modest text formating tools (bold, italic, size, color, smilies, embedded links) - Moderation tools including: post deletion, user bans - Users preference to determine how many days of posts to display on a menu - Updated stylesheets and data display graphics NOTE: the software currently running the forum linked above was written in perl in the mid-90's. It uses flat files for storage and has a hacked-together registration/login system. It may be possible to modify the existing code but trust me, it may also be much more difficult than starting over. I made an arbitrary guess at a budget range. You let me know what it will cost. I'm sure you will have questions, please let me know.