It ran on WordPress: too many plugins, slow pages, poor mobile experience, no control over comments or submissions.
What we built
Replaced it with a custom dual-stack CMS: flexible categories, pinning, trash, comment moderation; member center with captcha-limited submissions, my comments and unread notice badges; shared SSO with the book platform.
Result
First paint dropped from 4s to under 1s, submissions work on mobile, and one editor runs the whole site.
