Forum inheritance

[harishankar]

I wonder whether anybody here has bought or sold a forum. That is, rather than creating your forum, has anybody here bought or inherited an existing forum from somebody else?

What are the issues involved in this? And how would the members react to a change in administration/leadership?

Any inputs would be appreciated.
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[Triumvirate]

I haven't done it personally (bought or sold) but I'd imagine if I was going to I would only do it with a community that I was already a member/moderator at and I knew the community base. That way a change in leadership hopefully wouldn't be that big a deal. Not sure of others issues though that could arise.
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[Patrick]

Once. I acquired a very small (I think like 1,500 posts) community that was basically inactive. It wasn't particularly established, so there wasn't any real problems in that area.

I may or may not buy a community in the future. All depends on the opportunities, but I run communities a certain way that creates a certain enviroment. So, ideally, a community I buy should already represent some of those characteristics. I might buy it even if it didn't - the opportunity was too great - and put in the work to turn it around. At of the end of the day, I want to see things done a certain way, but I'm willing to give everyone the opportunity to hopefully enjoy the atmosphere that I create. I would sit down and talk with all staff members to ensure that we are on the same page and let them know what I have in mind, so that we can discuss it a bit and I can hopefully answer any questions and clarify any details for them. And with that, they will be able to decide whether they will be be totally behind what I want to do or want to leave, but at least we'll have gotten it all out in the open where they can decide what they would like to do.

And, let's see... I'd probably make an announcement to the community stating what the goals are for the community and what may/may not change overtime. I'd probably invite questions, as well.

But, again, I most likely (99.99%) wouldn't buy a community where vulgarities and insults were allowed, etc. as that is just too far from what I want to see that it would not be worth the effort.
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[harishankar]

Yes, thanks for the input Patrick... I know that some sites can be ruined by a change in leadership or policy... it all depends on who buys the site and what their goals are. Somebody interested in nurturing it wouldn't change too much I guess. And that's why it's important that the right person buys it...
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[dojo]

I have never bought one since I can barelly afford hosting my sites. Not to mention I do love working on starting a site/forum ... As for selling ... I think only something really serious could make me sell since I feel my sites are in a way my babies .. don't want to part with them.
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[Elbethil]

A few years I took over a small Tolkien messageboard that was mostly inactive. I'd been one of the few active members, so when the webmaster decided to close it down, I e-mailed him about it and wound up just starting up a new 'incarnation'.

I kept that site running for a bit over a year before I found that I wanted to invest my time into a messageboard devoted to something else. But anyway, it was that messageboard that started me up as an admin; perhaps a very different beginning had I started a board of my own.
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