Buying a forum?

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I've had quite a few people offer to buy this forum from me and obviously I never sold it.
But,

Would you ever buy an existing forum?

Do you think it would be a smart investment and how much would you spend?

Would the forum have to be active do you think the community would accept you as their new owner/Admin?
Would you make any changes or leave things alone?

 

[Kirito]

This only works when the person buying the forum is already a long respected member of the community who is just taking over to save the forum. If it's a stranger who comes in laying down the law, it never really works out.

I would not do it. I have no interest in becoming an admin. It's a lot of work, you have to deal with all kinds of annoying people and that just sucks the fun out of forums.

In case I would buy it:
No it's not a smart investment. I doubt I would make money with the forum. I would do it for the fun, not the profit.

Yes the forum would have to be active. There's no point in buying a dead forum.

Mayb, maybe not. As said before the only situation I'd buy it in is if I was a longterm member who doesn't want the board to close. Of course, being the lousy admin I am, they might just leave anyway.

Probably not immediately. Every forum goes through some changes once in a while so eventually yes, but not without discussing it with the community.

 

[DrLeftover]

I have seen several forums, and BBS's before that, go through an ownership change.

In at least four or five cases, shortly thereafter, it ceased to exist.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

In at least four or five cases, shortly thereafter, it ceased to exist.

Like it just didn't work out or someone was buying out the competition just to get rid of it?

 

[DrLeftover]

No, in the two most recent examples, one or two parties bought the forum out (one large one with about a hundred active users, the other was smaller, but with a very dedicated core group), because they thought they could run them.

And they did.

They ran it right into oblivion.

 

[jacktheking]

I dont have money to buy a popular forums. I have never thought of selling my forums or buying others forums before. I like to start my forums from nothing.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I have never brought any forums, nor do I recommend it the way a forum starts up most members have a connection with the original owner with out that you will find less activity

This can be true, but people don't join a forum to be friends with just the owner. They join forums to chat with people in general. Perhaps all the friendships they've made are with each other and whoever is running the forum won't matter much.

 

[Fergal]

I've bought a couple of forums in the past and the experience has mostly been positive. There will always be some members who don't like the change, which I suppose is human nature. However, if you are professional and respect the community the forum can continue to survive and thrive under new ownership.