General Changing Your Community Software

[2TonWaffle]

Have you started your community using a particular software (for example Xenforo or Invivision Community) and thought that you can move your community over to a new forum software?

What was the purpose in going this route and how did you and your community make of it? Was the technical side of the move easy for you and your community or did you decide to start anew?

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've done this a few times. Thee Zone was originally three forums, and each forum was on a different software! I wanted to merge them together since they had similar niches, VG Challenges was on Xenforo, Battlebots Nation was on SMF, and Rikaji was on vBulletin. Thee Zone is now on the latest version of Woltlab Suite. I thought the free CMS along with the forum would help since I post articles about games, and opinion pieces. It wasn't too difficult to get things merged together, but I have experience with moving websites. I'm currently trying to get a forum moved from phpBB over to vBulletin, but the vBulletin devs haven't had time to complete my request even though it's been a couple of months since I purchased a cloud package. I think vBulletin will help this community shine more and I hope they can complete my request soon. :S

 

[2TonWaffle]

I've done this a few times. Thee Zone was originally three forums, and each forum was on a different software! I wanted to merge them together since they had similar niches, VG Challenges was on Xenforo, Battlebots Nation was on SMF, and Rikaji was on vBulletin. Thee Zone is now on the latest version of Woltlab Suite. I thought the free CMS along with the forum would help since I post articles about games, and opinion pieces. It wasn't too difficult to get things merged together, but I have experience with moving websites. I'm currently trying to get a forum moved from phpBB over to vBulletin, but the vBulletin devs haven't had time to complete my request even though it's been a couple of months since I purchased a cloud package. I think vBulletin will help this community shine more and I hope they can complete my request soon. :S

That's really interesting to hear about. You didn't have any issues trying to convert any of them into the final form? I know that many of us joke around about how bad vBulletin is but your experience with them, especially on their cloud plan is something out there. Months long process, I do hope that they are at least keeping you up to date with the process and not just ghosting you.

 

[Ravenfreak]

That's really interesting to hear about. You didn't have any issues trying to convert any of them into the final form? I know that many of us joke around about how bad vBulletin is but your experience with them, especially on their cloud plan is something out there. Months long process, I do hope that they are at least keeping you up to date with the process and not just ghosting you.

I didn't have any issues merging the three thankfully. The converters really have come a long way, they work well. I merged VG Challenges into Rikaji. Then Battlebots Nation and Rikaji to create Thee Zone. One of the admins did reach out to me but it's been almost a month since they've updated my support ticket. I know they did mention they were running into issues with version 6.1 and phpBB conversions so I'm sure once they figure out what's causing issues they'll give me an update. (I hope lol. I'd hate to let that cloud account go to waste, but I do wish they had standalone convertors like other software do. I'd prefer to do the merge myself but alas there's no public convertors even for self hosted vBulletin.)

 

[Cedric]

I didn't have any issues merging the three thankfully. The converters really have come a long way, they work well. I merged VG Challenges into Rikaji. Then Battlebots Nation and Rikaji to create Thee Zone. One of the admins did reach out to me but it's been almost a month since they've updated my support ticket. I know they did mention they were running into issues with version 6.1 and phpBB conversions so I'm sure once they figure out what's causing issues they'll give me an update. (I hope lol. I'd hate to let that cloud account go to waste, but I do wish they had standalone convertors like other software do. I'd prefer to do the merge myself but alas there's no public convertors even for self hosted vBulletin.)

Honestly, I'd just bug them until it's done. That timeframe is ridiculous.

 

[Bryn]

I did considering moving my forum off Jcink a few times, and have it on Xenforo instead but I never got round doing it, especially when I have no experience in self-hosting at all...

 

[Ravenfreak]

I did considering moving my forum off Jcink a few times, and have it on Xenforo instead but I never got round doing it, especially when I have no experience in self-hosting at all...

If you really want to do this, I recommend getting free hosting on Infinity Free so you can get a feel for self hosting. This is what I did when I first decided to try self hosting, though I went with 000 webhost. From there you can get a free forum script, go over the steps on how to install it and set up a database then once you feel comfortable you could try moving your forum to Xenforo. Though since jcink uses a old modified version of IPB, you'll need to convert to a older version of phpBB, SMF, etc to be able to move to Xenforo. It seems like a lot but once you get used to self hosting things, it's a piece of cake. (You could also ask around too.)

 

[Bryn]

you'll need to convert to a older version of phpBB, SMF, etc to be able to move to Xenforo.

Not quite... I could create a brand new forum on Xenforo from scratch and import the forum's database onto it.

And besides, I'm fine with Jcink... for now anyway, but thanks for the offer.

 

[Bawse]

I originally started with MyBB and switched to Xenforo. I need a mobile friendly forum which is ultimately the reason I switched softwares, and more features which I like on Xenforo.