I wanted to build a kind of social network for my college class - we're celebrating 25 years of graduation this year.  I would like an application in which each of us could edit his own information, add a couple of photos.  A forum would be nice, but not mandatory - we have a distribution list anyway.  We would need a gallery for meeting photos - I could be the only one editing this part, as I am always the one that takes a camera.  This would be hosted in my ISP, in a password-protected area for more privacy.

It seems there are WP plugins for this, but I wonder if anyone has any experience building something of this type.

have you checked out just using a private facebook group?  Or do you want to have total control over it yourselves?

It's a bit like someone in a web design forum asking what's the best camera to shoot a wedding with 

Do you have any web design/development experience? If not, why not hire a web designer?

I feel it is more like someone in a web design forum asking what the best camera is to shoot a high school reunion with.  

It doesn't seem like Madelaide is out to compete with twitter .. she just wants a place for her friends to get together.

we use myfamily.com. Private, not like facebook. can upload pictures, keep track of birthdays, etc.

If you just want to share files, use dropbox.com. Give everybody the password so that they can upload and download freely.

Thanks for your replies. 

It's not just files (I use 4shared for that), but each member would be able to update his own personal data, such as a profile page.

Facebook is a problem because it is blocked in many offices.

I have just taken a look at myfamily.com, it seems interesting even at the free version, and at least here is not blocked. Even though we are not a family. 

I am not a programmer, but I have some knowledge about HTML and a little experience with Wordpress.

You could always try Joomla - a content management app for the web. If  your web host control panel uses Fantastico it's practically a one-click install.

I believe Joomla would require creating the application I need in it, unless there are templates somewhere.  I wanted something more ready for the use I want.

You could do joomla + jomsocial extension ... social engine & pligg are also very popular

Wordpress Multi-user with buddypress?

Or start a zing.

I read about Buddypress, any personal experience with it?

Jomsocial seems interesting, I have to look further in their site.

Yeah I've used buddypress before but the installations I used were removed from the sites I had them on.  It's not tough if you're familiar with WP. 

BTW I meant Ning not Zing but I can never remember that domain.