I run a forum, and i have recently acquired one of the other forums and the accompanying domain within the same industry. My question is: should i merge these? (i want to) what are your thoughts on that? will the users of the acquired (to be merged) forum be pissed/upset/offended? is there a best practice for merging?? what about user accounts?
Well, firstly are they of the same topc? First thing you will want to look at is, as you mention, your own members' response to the merging. Maybe post an announcement with a poll, getting their opinion on if they want them to merge or not. Then look at the ease of merging together. If they are of the same software, they are likely to be more easy to merge compared to two of different softwares. Also sizes can be risky etc. Also your own knowledge can come handy. Again, user accounts could be a problem to sort out, but I don't think it would be too bad. Merging any forums if quite a lot of work, I worn you. You can get further help here
yes, same topic exactly. i'm good with coding and database admin, so it doesn't scare me. done lots of integrations before. i was more wondering from a user perspective
I would ask the opinion of both forum users before doing it.. Or do it in a way that none of them realized what happened. For example announcing on one forum that you change the domain name, and changing the design and structure of the second forum.