3. Where does this code live? Is it a part of Moodle, or a custom modification? How would I get access to do some hacking on it, so that I could (hopefully) submit a working patch?
We're using the vanilla version of the Moodle forum module. Docs are at http://moodle.org. We're using it out of the box.
I don't know the answer to 2. If we can change the title simply, e.g. by setting a configuration parameter then I'd be happy to change. Extensive hacking would be difficult to maintain as the moodle code changes.
There is an RSS feed for this forum -- can that be of help?