Self-hosted forums already exist (like Discourse), but adoption has been low. I fully support self-hosted forums, but I think they'll never achieve mainstream without a hosted option.
The lack of a unified backend makes it much harder to build native mobile apps.
That response comes across as disingenuous. The lack of a unified backend makes a lot of monetisation models hard, but should pose zero problems for native mobile apps. Point at an API and done.
There are some moderation tools build in, and some where the API is done but just needs a front end finished.
Which major features do you feel are missing?
Send me an email (Philip at contraption.co) and we can discuss self hosting.
Contrast is also low and it's just bad to read. Too many UX people touched it.