Buying a forum site versus a new startup

[ibaker]

One of my sites is very much localised to a specific country and currently the highest rated and most popular site of its subject matter in that country.

I am considering expanding into being more global of the same subject matter.

So, I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the argument of buying existing sites and creating a network, OR starting up completely new sites with all the problems of getting them going and create a network that way, OR run the risk of damaging your existing site's user base by trying to expand your current one site into something larger.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Carlos]

Who says you can't "mix and stir?"

What I mean is, why not do both? I'm building a network of sites being a mixture of "buying existing sites" and "new sites." And my company is a startup. So, why not?

I say don't do anything to your local site/country site. Expand by building either new sites, and/or buying pre-existing sites. It's possible.

 

[Morgain]

If you're doing this with XF then your current users wouldn't need to have very much of a different experience. They could just see some additional areas (categories) for other peak points in the world for your topic.

New users from other peak points in the world for your topic would benefit from the existing setup which has developed structure and design to suit your topic.

You can also consider usergroup permissions to allow each region to see only the introductory forum/ articles for the others. There are addons so users can 'join' a section if they wish.