I needed to make a new custom forum for my mom's website( I have recently learned asp.net and mvc and hence plan to build for my mom and my practice).
I tried some forums on CodePlex.com like nearforums etc. But most doesn't let you modify the controllers and models
Then i found POPForums v9, which is completely customizable. and i kinda like it.. so..
about question #1 , maybe you download a published project.look at the bin directory if exist.generally if it is published there is not any way to change it depending on my experience
about question #2 .really i cant help you and finally about question #3 depending on my knowledge is it not stable.may be you can find some thing else to do that.