Another merge question... with a twist...

[parsnipnose3000]

Hi everyone.

I'll try to keep my explanation simple.

I have an SMF 2.0.6 forum with 115k posts, which is currently not being used.
I have a phpBB3 forum with 5k posts, which is being used. (soon to be retired, hopefully)

Upon creating the pbpBB3 board, the SMF users were imported into it.

My fellow admins agree that we prefer SMF, and wish to use that again instead.

I have installed a fresh SMF 2.0.8
I then used the phpBB3 conversion tool to import users, posts, and boards from phpBB3 into my new SMF 2.0.8

So I now have two identical boards, one in phpBB3 and one in SMF 2.0.8

Here is the question :

Does an import tool exist which will allow me to import my old 2.0.6 forum in on top of the converted phpbb3 SMF 2.0.8 forum?

So to summarize, I want to get a phpbb3 forum, an SMF 2.0.6 forum, and merge them into a new 2.0.8 forum.

Is that possible? 

[Antechinus]

It's possible. It has been done, or at least I remember some people claiming they have done it. You would need a specialised script to do it, though. The main problem is going to be all the duplicate id's you'll hit for post and topic numbers. You have to find a way of getting rid of the duplicates, and assigning new values to the relevant topics and posts.

There was a bloke used to hang around here sometimes, who said he had a suitable script set up for this sort of thing. Can't remember his name, and haven't seen him around for ages.

[parsnipnose3000]

Thank you Antechinus.

Someone gave me a great idea yesterday, which might be a lot less painful.

He suggested making a read only archive on a subdomain.  My main reason for wanting our old 115k posts back is that it helps us when we approach game developers for review codes.  It shows our longevity, and our track record.

Using an archive would keep the current board nimble, while still allowing people to see all that history.  So I think that's the route we'll take.

Kind regards,

Parsnip.