My specialty is Search -- I was CTO and principal author of Infoseek/Ultraseek, which was highly regarded until Disney bought the company and killed it (RIP). Ultraseek passed through the hands of Inktomi (as Enterprise Search, as in Big Billboard on 101) and now belongs to Verity.
I'm designing a community web site (of a different purpose than LJ) and seriously considering the LJ platform. What are its strengths and weaknesses? I can potentially bring to bear my own search & content management technology to complement LJ, provided integration isn't intractible. Of course, I will need lots of help! So if anyone knows someone I ought to talk to, please let me know. Appreciated,
-- William
http://www.affini.com