@Steve_Powell I use discourse for about every thing. From blogging, to backing up internet media, talking with people or making a ticket system for my now dead startup. Only reason I can’t say I’ve tried “anything similar” is because I don’t have a crowd to toy with.
(part edited out)
Anyway, to me the biggest block for using discourse today is not so much the cost for hosting as it is the time required to get a basic setup up and running as you’ve experienced. Although the cost also seem to be much bigger than what could be… At least for pet projects as I’ve being using it.
For any kind of crowd, I’d argue both those “blockages” are quite minor so, yeah, by all means, keep going for it! And share more of what you’ve done! 
Also…
I think @michaeld (from that Communiteq (formerly DiscourseHosting) service) would like to know about your usage case there! 