Did members leave forum after software conversion?

[Katrina]

If you converted from one forum software to another, did your members get upset and leave?

At Christianity Haven we are using vbulletin 4.2.2 and at the beginning of growing the forum we had a guy create modifications just for our site. If we converted those modifications would be lost or we'd have to pay someone to write new ones for us.

So if you changed software, did you notice a drop in membership activity? Or were they okay with learning how the new software worked?

 

[Ash]

I believe the majority of the time, users would be fine with it but then again it depends on how it would affect your forum. For example, if a feature was custom coded for your forum and moving to another software meant losing that feature, you may lose a few users.

Plus, it also depends on the software itself. Moving over from XenForo to phpBB wouldn't be good and users may not be happy. But if it was the other way around (phpBB to XenForo), and your users would love that conversion.

 

[Azareal]

It really depends.

I know Forum Promotion lost a lot of it's users after they switched from phpBB to XenForo. It used to be a fairly active admin forum, but now it's declined to a fraction of their original numbers.

There are many possible reasons for this, including the fact that XenForo installations tend to look and feel very much the same making it more difficult for the site to distinguish itself from it's competitors.

Maybe, you could trial it and see what sort of feedback the users give.

 

[Katrina]

It really depends.

I know Forum Promotion lost a lot of it's users after they switched from phpBB to XenForo. It used to be a fairly active admin forum, but now it's declined to a fraction of their original numbers.

There are many possible reasons for this, including the fact that XenForo installations tend to look and feel very much the same making it more difficult for the site to distinguish itself from it's competitors.

Maybe, you could trial it and see what sort of feedback the users give.

I used to be on a very large board and when they switched to XenForo members left but they were used to being on such a large board that they eventually returned. I agree that XenForo has the same type of look on every site and it looks a little cold compared to vbulletin. It has good features but we'd lose a lot of our modifications.

 

[meetdilip]

You can ask it on your forum. Make the opinion before change happens. You can lead the discussion by talking to them about the new software and features it will give. Making opinion through discussions is an art. Convince your members, choose a better software and they won't leave.

 

[Katrina]

You can ask it on your forum. Make the opinion before change happens. You can lead the discussion by talking to them about the new software and features it will give. Making opinion through discussions is an art. Convince your members, choose a better software and they won't leave.

There are a lot of older people on Christianity Haven and they don't like change. It's hard to get them to try new things! I guess I'm not good enough at convincing them 😀

 

[meetdilip]

You could give them a demo board for a couple of days and see. New software has a lot of plus.

 

[Shannon Apple]

If your members trust you, you should be able to convince the majority of them that the change will be a good one.

The idea to give them access to a demo forum is a great one. Maybe try that.

You will have a number of people who will fight it though. It happens no matter the age of the users. Our community is ancient and I can tell you that over the years we've had to deal with temper tantrums over various things. Sometimes we'd reverse a decision if we thought it was in the best interest of the site, but sometimes they were necessary changes and they just had to deal. You can't please everyone. You really have to go with what the majority will be comfortable with.