Merging Forums

[HyperActive1]

Have you ever done this before? If so, was it successful?

I've always thought that merging with other boards would be a bad thing because it introduces new members that you haven't engaged in conversation yet or members from random places around the internet that you didn't advertise in, and also it adds new staff members that you haven't earned trust from.

I actually just recently merged (yesterday) with a forum, we were both lacking in activity and decided it would be for the best. I'll come back and let everyone know how it's working out, but as thus far, we're still working on a few bugs before opening.

What do you think?

 

[Belthazar]

It depends on the current size of the forum. I've seen some that look horrible because admins didn't even use a word filter to filter the old forum's name.

 

[Maximum1]

I haven't ever done this so I wouldn't be able to say much but I feel like if I did that it may work out.

 

[xXInfectedXx]

I haven't merged forums before. I may consider doing so in the future as I can imagine it can be quite beneficial to both sides since it should boost activity and make and an active community. It does depend on the forum size. If the forum is really small and lacking activity, you should consider this option. However, if your community is big there is would be no point in merging since it wouldn't boost activity.

 

[Shortie]

I tried this once a few years back and it didn't work out too well at all which was a shame. The person I merged forums with was trustworthy and honest but we kind of rushed into the merge and it never really worked out for either of us. I feel that if we were to work on it more and put more thought into it, it may have worked out better in the long run.

 

[Jordan]

Certain boards I wouldn't dream of ever merging another forum with them.
I have done it though with other boards that would not really be all that organic. Wouldn't say it failed. The merge went over pretty well, and most of the members accepted the change. Considering it was a change for the better

 

[Sylar]

I've merged a forum before. It was actually more of just an old database that had a lot of posts related to my forum. So I added those to the forum and hoped that the increased number of new topics would contribute to better/increased discussion. It didn't really change a whole lot. My forum was on the inactive side as it was so there wasn't a whole lot I could do anyways

 

[Erin Nicole]

Yes I have and it was successful until I closed my site down.

 

[Izaya]

I am actually looking for a forum to merge with these days tbh

I've done it before...twice actually. The first time, it was with a friend and the 2nd time it was with a guy who was a jerk and it was problematic but his users adapted well to the merge and we managed to deal with it.

 

[Hidden308]

Depending on the size and what you are merging it can be good or bad. Most of the time I consider it bad and mostly lazy. I don't personally like the concept of merging personally because of the fact it seems lazy. I know a person who went around buying forums just to merge it with his main site until it had over 100,000 posts, but its activity becomes worse after merging. It seems like cheating in some sense and just extremely unprofessional.

 

[Izaya]

Depending on the size and what you are merging it can be good or bad. Most of the time I consider it bad and mostly lazy. I don't personally like the concept of merging personally because of the fact it seems lazy. I know a person who went around buying forums just to merge it with his main site until it had over 100,000 posts, but its activity becomes worse after merging. It seems like cheating in some sense and just extremely unprofessional.

It's no different than buying companies and incorporating them into an existing business which happens all the time.

I don't begrudge or judge those who do merge on a regular basis.

it can go bad...and awful (I've experienced that myself personally).

it also can
1. Give 2 communities a better chance together to grow vs separately (I've witnessed this myself)
2. It can broaden a community's horizons/niche
3. It can give one admin an out without feeling like they are abandoning their users but at the same time without feeling trapped.

is it cheating? Nope.
To me cheating (and I am going to sound hypocritical) is paying someone to post on your forum and/or registering or in some cases bribing people to do so by contest and giveaways. It's not organic. You are tossing a treat to them as users...or in the case of getting people to post, they are posting because they are getting a benefit out of it.

Even then I don't consider that method cheating but more so than merging a forum together.

 

[Ronan]

Interesting concept. I've never seen this done, only heard about it.

 

[Allenafaith]

I've thought about buying a forum and doing it but then I really didn't see the point. I don't want to merge with anyone right now just because I don't want to have to go through the trouble dealing with another owner.