Merging my two forums

[Ravenfreak]

I'm not sure if this is the place to post this, if not please feel free to move this thread. Anyways, I posted on both of my forums that I have been thinking about merging the two. For one thing, money is a bit tight right now and soon I will have to renew my hosting for one site and continue renewing for the other. Plus the two forums are similar enough and it's much better to have one forum. I suppose my dilemma is now figuring out if I'm going to end up converting the forums to a free software such as SMF, or merge one into the other. One is on Xenforo, the other is on vBulletin. I guess what I'm looking for is advice. I already know how to convert forums, since I've done so in the past. I would have to convert to MyBB first, then SMF if I wanted to go that route since there's no convertor for vBulletin 5x to SMF. Would it be worth merging the two forums?

 

[Cory]

Yes, if funds are tight merging the forums would be ideal, I think. It will save you money in the long run and operating one board is not as big of a headache as operating multiple boards. It especially makes sense if the two boards are of similar niches.

 

[Kale]

I think again it is totally your call. If you think it is for the best, then do so. It maybe best to just merge it if it'd help cut costs as mentioned above too honestly. If they are close enough to the same niche, then yeah I'd merge them.

 

[Cedric]

If they are similar, I wouldn't hesitate to merge them. It's better to focus on one forum rather than two which go the same route.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I ultimately decided to merge two forums.

I had an outdoor recreation forum for hiking. I had another one for biking.

I pivoted the outdoor one to focus on my local outdoor rec area. I also pivoted the bike one and merged it over to cover the cycling aspects of my local area.

I feel like it was the right move.

However, the forum isn't that active. I'm able to convert newsletter and social followers to members but they don't do anything after they join.

But my 25,000+ member Facebook group is really active. It just might need to stay on social.

 

[Shortie]

If both forums are similar and the funds are tight and you can not continue to run two separate forums I would definitely recommend merging them. Especially if you are running the forums on your own, having to keep an eye on two can be so difficult, and merging them to just one will not only save you money but it will also lower the stretch you have as well from running two forums.

 

[Kale]

But my 25,000+ member Facebook group is really active. It just might need to stay on social.

It maybe for the best honestly. I feel like Facebook groups take off a lot more than a forum these days, sadly! I love forums though, and it isn't hard to join them as people think.

If both forums are similar and the funds are tight and you can not continue to run two separate forums I would definitely recommend merging them. Especially if you are running the forums on your own, having to keep an eye on two can be so difficult, and merging them to just one will not only save you money but it will also lower the stretch you have as well from running two forums.

Good call, honestly. I say the same thing.

 

[Dilip]

Do you have a reason to keep them separate? Can you hold to that decision?

 

[Kyng]

Yeah, I think merging them is a great idea. A lot of people (myself included) have a rule that they only post on one forum per owner - so keeping them separate is probably just splitting the best of what you have.

Good luck with it !

 

[Moonface]

But my 25,000+ member Facebook group is really active. It just might need to stay on social.

This could also come down to the demographic of your audience. It could be that most of your Facebook group members are more comfortable and familiar using Facebook than forums because they might not have been part of the demographic that generally used forums in the time before social media sites like Facebook took off. For example, almost any older person in my family who has a Facebook never used a forum and so Facebook was the first site they became a member of that involved talking with others, similar to how most teenagers nowadays likely get exposed to social media sites before anything else and plant their feet on those compared to a lot of us here who probably started out with forums first.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I ultimately decided to merge two forums.

I had an outdoor recreation forum for hiking. I had another one for biking.

I pivoted the outdoor one to focus on my local outdoor rec area. I also pivoted the bike one and merged it over to cover the cycling aspects of my local area.

I feel like it was the right move.

However, the forum isn't that active. I'm able to convert newsletter and social followers to members but they don't do anything after they join.

But my 25,000+ member Facebook group is really active. It just might need to stay on social.

Yeah unfortunately it seems FB groups are more popular than forums these days. It's ultimately up to you if you wish to just keep the group and delete the forum. Thank you all for the feedback! I'm not sure why I didn't just think to merge the two together, or rebrand one instead of opening two. I'm currently in the process of doing some test runs, hopefully I can get this all squared away soon.

 

[Dilip]

Keep us posted.

 

[Cedric]

Yeah unfortunately it seems FB groups are more popular than forums these days. It's ultimately up to you if you wish to just keep the group and delete the forum. Thank you all for the feedback! I'm not sure why I didn't just think to merge the two together, or rebrand one instead of opening two. I'm currently in the process of doing some test runs, hopefully I can get this all squared away soon.

Keep us updated!

 

[Kale]

Yeah unfortunately it seems FB groups are more popular than forums these days.

I don't even enjoy FB groups much honestly. They have their own problems much like anything on the Internet does. There's some groups which are unmoderated. Also some groups where if you report a post or so, you get banned for it. Such a shame those groups exist on Facebook.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Good evening everyone! I might get flak for this but, I'm working on a new forum. :V I think I might close Rikaji/VG Challenges and focus on the one I'm working on now. It's a Pokemon forum, I can easily integrate my VG Challenges forum, since they're both video game related. I will keep the databases of each forum, in case I wish to revive them later. I've almost got everything set up, but I'm probably going to ask to do some post exchanges before it's fully opened to the public. I'm a huge Pokemon nerd and miss having a Pokemon community. (I had one years ago, it was the first forum I ever created and needless to say I had no clue what I was doing.) I think I'll have even more fun running a Pokemon themed forum, and it's based on everything Pokemon related not just a few generations.

 

[Cory]

I think I might close Rikaji/VG Challenges

How long did you run these forums, out of curiosity?

 

[Ravenfreak]

How long did you run these forums, out of curiosity?

VGC has been online for almost a year, the other one only a few months.

 

[Cedric]

Pokémon sounds great, I’ll check it out! if you still have an active memberbase on either forums, be sure to let them know and involve them in your new forum.

 

[Cory]

VGC has been online for almost a year

It always sucks to see a forum go that has been around for a while, but if you're interested in running something different changes I can understand wanting to try something new and exciting. No use if keeping a board around if you no longer feel interested or dedicated to it. I wish you the best of luck with your future forum!