Merging Forums

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I was just on a forum and looked over their announcements section... A lot of their announcements were <forum name> has been merged with us



Basically when a forum merges, one database (all members, topics & posts, etc) is transferred over to another existing forum. So all the members of the old forum may now log into this new forum with their account & posts in tact.



Would you buy out competitor forums (or do it for free if they decide to give their database to you), redirect their domain to yours, move all their members, topics & posts onto your forum?

 

[Corleone]

No, because I wouldn't want to potentially ruin an already existent community by combining another community where the two sets of people may simply clash and not get along. In addition, I'm sure several members wouldn't be happy being sold to another forum.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I dont think it would necessarily be a bad thing. I could work out for the benefit of the transferred members if they happen to like the new community they were shifted to.

 

[Corleone]

Only problem is what if they don't? You may find yourself with unruly members. It will either work or it won't. Truly depends on the community and what type of forum you're buying. If you buy the right type of forum with the right type of members I could see it working, but it would be a risky move. Not so much for your own community but perhaps you wouldn't gain anything from your purchase. It's really whether or not you're up for the challenge and the risks involved.

However, I've never seen two successful forums merge together before, so really no way of telling for sure, but I would assume it would be a bad move.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Either unruly members or members who decide not to login in or request their account/posts be deleted because they were moved to a forum they didnt actually join.

 

[Jazzy]

This happened on a forum where I was an active member. The members from the merged forum would only post in their threads that were brought over. If any member from the original forum posted in their threads, they would either ignore the post or make a nasty commment. The newly merged forum even brought over their own moderators to moderate only in their threads. It was like two separate forums running as one. It worked out in the end as each forums members ignored each other.

 

[Flurry]

This happened on a forum where I was an active member. The members from the merged forum would only post in their threads that were brought over. If any member from the original forum posted in their threads, they would either ignore the post or make a nasty commment. The newly merged forum even brought over their own moderators to moderate only in their threads. It was like two separate forums running as one. It worked out in the end as each forums members ignored each other.

Wow. That's crazy but cool!

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Wow. That's crazy but cool!

Doesn't seem cool to me.

 

[Blake]

I would but only if I new the other forum pretty well.

 

[TheVisitors]

I do not think I prefer to go about merging the data together. Rather I'd take ownership of the other domain, then make a public announcement of my new ownership. In form all the users that the site was going to be X (typically that X they would become part my original community, but I'd have to way it first) .... Then on X date, just forward the domain to my selected domain & allow the new community, to re-register.



The only reason why I would normally prefer to do it this way... Is if X community is highly customized within the database, it could cause a conflict to which can not be resolved (even if it some how works on the test site first). Another issue is if there is a security problem hidden within that database... I'd rather not have it fall upon my fully developed community.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I do not think I prefer to go about merging the data together. Rather I'd take ownership of the other domain, then make a public announcement of my new ownership. In form all the users that the site was going to be X (typically that X they would become part my original community, but I'd have to way it first) .... Then on X date, just forward the domain to my selected domain & allow the new community, to re-register.



The only reason why I would normally prefer to do it this way... Is if X community is highly customized within the database, it could cause a conflict to which can not be resolved (even if it some how works on the test site first). Another issue is if there is a security problem hidden within that database... I'd rather not have it fall upon my fully developed community.

Well when I was converting this forum from vBulletin to IPB, it allowed me to choose which data I wanted to convert over. Like if I only wanted to convert members over and nothing else, it would let me. Or only posts/topics, that would be the only thing that would be transferred. I assume the merge works the same way. If I were to merge this forum with another, I'd only convert over the members, topics and posts. Any other data would not be needed and would probably cause conflicts.



However I dont plan on doing that. Off Topix is a community built from the ground up. It would be weird to have a whole different community inserted.

 

[Wayne]

I think it has its positives and its negatives, mainly negatives though; database transfers are never 100% and theres always something that ends up getting lost or transferring over badly. Besides, I think its better to build from the ground up