Read Me: How To Help Integrate SMF With Your Favorite System

[MrPhil]

Once integrated, are the 2 databases completely mixed up so that converting either of them to other software in the future would be impossible?

Only if one or more of the products is from Microsoft. Then you definitely will be locked in. As for open-source products, it may not be easy, but it will always be possible to untangle two applications from each other. This may take enough work to be not worth the effort to you, but someone more familiar with the specific products you have in mind might be able to talk to that point.

[eclipsenow]

Thanks, I think that settles it then. We'll probably have Wordpress as our blog/website to present "summary articles", and simply close the comments section. Each blog article will have a "discuss this article" link to a forum thread anyway. So while our forum might end up with thousands of people discussing Australia's political future, we already have a handful of "leaders" who are authors & Phd's in the field, and so only they will require accounts and authority to post articles in the blog. It's not worth the effort to combine them.

Visually, I think I'll just try and keep a similar logo on the header and then I think we're done. Thanks for your help in clarifying this for me.

[eclipsenow]

Was there a reply to this thread that got deleted? A spam attack or something? Because I was "Notified" but there was nothing new....?

Anyway, after reading all the RC1 mod-incompatibility stories out there, I'm more determined than ever to keep SMF as Vanilla as possible, and maybe use Joomla / Wordpress / Drupal for my other CMS's.... and MAYBE install an RSS display window on my CMS of the latest threads in my SMF forum. Keeping the 2 apart seems just so worth it! There are all these forum owners itching to upgrade to RC1 but can't until their portal/ essential mod/whatever is also upgraded. I'm just left wondering why they didn't keep their systems separate? Have a CMS running finance stuff, or other functions, etc? Anyway, each to their own I guess.