WYR Would you rather - Webmaster Edition #10

[joelr]

Here's another Would You Rather!

🤔 The Dilemma:

Option A: Restart your forum that you took offline several years ago
Option B: Take over a similar forum in the same niche that's been online the entire time

You started a forum that in a niche that you were passionate about, but for whatever reason - perhaps time, lack of commitment - you took it offline. You've recently come back to forums and you recognize a similar forum that's been online the entire time, and you might have the opportunity to run it and make it your own instead.

Which one do you choose?

 

[Ravenfreak]

I would take over the existing one, and if I had a backup of the old forum I would merge the two together. That way all that history will still be online and it'll be part of another community too.

 

[Nomad]

I would restart my own forum instead of taking someone else's running forum. Actually, I have a forum that I took down about a year ago and I might restart it once I manage to get some funds. There is a great sense of satisfaction when you rebuilt what was your own instead of working on something that you did not create

 

[Shortie]

I would take the existing one and would continue to build that up. What would be ideal is that if I had a backup of my old forum that I took offline, I could merge that and continue with all of that history and data.

 

[Kyng]

Definitely re-start my old one.

I've seen too many failed takeovers where the new admin didn't understand the community they'd just taken over - or didn't put the required effort into it because they had no real attachment to it. I'd hate to be that person who ruined a previously-successful community.

Granted, my restarted probably wouldn't come back how it was previously (because the old members would have moved on) - but, at least I wouldn't be ruining something that's currently working well!