Ever Bought out your forum competition?

[Shawn Gossman]

Back when I had Skywarn Forum, there was a much larger forum for the same topic called Skywarn Online.

I eventually bought the forum out for an undisclosed amount - pretty high, but not stupid high, LOL.

Then I merged the big one into mine, and it took off from there.

Unfortunately, it was before I was security-minded. The database crashed, and I lost everything.

 

[JoelR]

I definitely think forum admins should be opportunistic and at least be open minded to opportunities when they present, and prepare a number in their head of what they would be willing to go to but no higher (it's what I call the "no regrets" number -- youre willing to pay up to that amount, and if the bidding goes higher, you walk away with no regrets)

 

[JoelR]

Then I merged the big one into mine, and it took off from there.

Just curious. Why didn't you keep the branding and domain of the bigger one?

 

[frm]

Unfortunately, it was before I was security-minded. The database crashed, and I lost everything.

I know the risks, I just stupidly misconfigured RealShit when it first launched. I lost like 200 threads/700 posts to a database crash (unsure how it happened, but it always seems to happen when I run Plesk as a control panel). However, I was able to use ChatGPT to rebuild everything human-readable from the InnoDB database/table files. ChatGPT was able to recover ~40% of what was lost in a readable JSON file, that I was willing to manually re-enter. I now have several backups on all my forums. That was just a stupid mistake of not checking a checkbox.

It's in my business plan to acquire forums.

I hold quite a few XenForo licenses and am trying to put them to use by purchasing Proboards or other free forums and taking on staff.

It's going to be a long process to get there though because I am going the conventional business plan/SBA loan route to acquire forums and/or hire staff willing to build communities on domain names that I own (I am also a domain name investor and quite a few of the domains are dormant, collecting CPC from parking, when they could be thriving communities).

If you're interested in creating a community and don't have the funds to start up, we can draw up a preliminary contract for ownership and buyouts, if you feel vested enough that you want to take the forum over, as I want to be fair in that regard.

 

[AWS]

I know the risks, I just stupidly misconfigured RealShit when it first launched. I lost like 200 threads/700 posts to a database crash (unsure how it happened, but it always seems to happen when I run Plesk as a control panel). However, I was able to use ChatGPT to rebuild everything human-readable from the InnoDB database/table files. ChatGPT was able to recover ~40% of what was lost in a readable JSON file, that I was willing to manually re-enter. I now have several backups on all my forums. That was just a stupid mistake of not checking a checkbox.

It's in my business plan to acquire forums.

I hold quite a few XenForo licenses and am trying to put them to use by purchasing Proboards or other free forums and taking on staff.

It's going to be a long process to get there though because I am going the conventional business plan/SBA loan route to acquire forums and/or hire staff willing to build communities on domain names that I own (I am also a domain name investor and quite a few of the domains are dormant, collecting CPC from parking, when they could be thriving communities).

If you're interested in creating a community and don't have the funds to start up, we can draw up a preliminary contract for ownership and buyouts, if you feel vested enough that you want to take the forum over, as I want to be fair in that regard.

Lessons learner. Happens more than you think.

 

[frm]

Lessons learner. Happens more than you think.

Unfortunately.

I need to go back to the old-school method and get a whiteboard for to-do lists. It's so much harder to miss something on a whiteboard than it is a checklist of things to do in a document...

I'm hoping XenForo Tiptap editor brings the whiteboard extension or allows it to be imported easily somehow. I will probably use that for project management over making lists.

 

[AWS]

Unfortunately.

I need to go back to the old-school method and get a whiteboard for to-do lists. It's so much harder to miss something on a whiteboard than it is a checklist of things to do in a document...

I'm hoping XenForo Tiptap editor brings the whiteboard extension or allows it to be imported easily somehow. I will probably use that for project management over making lists.

I do use a whiteboard. You can lose too much in planning if you don't document the process.

 

[Bawse]

I've never bought any competitor forums. I have seen @Cpvr buy his competitors communities over the years.

 

[AWS]

I did buy one competitor. I bought Admin Talk while I owned Admin Addict.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Just curious. Why didn't you keep the branding and domain of the bigger one?

I wanted my brand to be dominant.

I gave the option to delete accounts of those who didn't want to be a member anymore.

No one requested it. No one was upset about the merge. They knew me and knew I was an active forum and all that.

Many duplicate members of course, that happens on most buy-outs.

 

[Cpvr]

I've never bought any competitor forums. I have seen @Cpvr buy his competitors communities over the years.

I’d do it again if the opportunity arises.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I’d do it again if the opportunity arises.

I'd might for some niches if the money was right, like a local niche.