Ricardo:

Could the same be done with php? Would it require too much setting up?

If you mean "are there wikis in php", I would expect so almost certainly.

If you mean "can we allow arbitrary php in a wiki-style system", then hahahahahahaha no.

Could we use some kind of php Nuke/postnuke solution? (I might be missing something here)

I have one under development that we could use, but I didn't see ALUG as being that sort of site. Indeed, the Zope edition of the site had a squishdot which did SFA for its whole life.

Are these valid alternatives? It really depends on what we want out of it, surely? It doesn't seem to clear to me what we actually want from the site.

Other than the basic info, it's no longer clear to me. I think it's to have some sort of "infobase" that we can store useful bits of info in easily for other group members. If we could attach files to it, it would get the suckers off the mailing list for good ;-)

We *should* consider some restriction IMHO, as there are plenty more scriptkiddies and other destructive vermin than there are responsible people...

Pessimist. I disagree (about the numbers, not the need for some authentication).