What's happened to everyone who used to post on the bestival forum?

[Tom12]

Where's everybody gone? I used to visit this forum a lot and there would be hundreds of posts a week now there are probably only a couple a week

[Jacksamthompson]

"0 replies to this topic"

[Tom12]

Hahaha! People are still viewing them though that's what I don't get!

[mjsell]

I imagine its due to a lot less people on these forums wanting to go Bestival these days

[Tom12]

i can understand that with lineups slacking but I feel with bestival it's not all about who's playing, the festival is laid out very well and it's organised unlike some other festivals 

[mjsell]

13 minutes ago, Tom12 said:

i can understand that with lineups slacking but I feel with bestival it's not all about who's playing, the festival is laid out very well and it's organised unlike some other festivals 

Yeah agree, thats the reason why we have decided to go again this year (that and because it is later in the summer and some friends have only just got back from travelling for a while).

We went in 2012 and 2013 and havent been since - I'm looking forward to seeing if there has been much change. I fear there might be in relation to the type of person that attends. When you look at the repective lineups from then until now you can see why the festival appears to be looked upon less favourably

[rseamer]

I used to post on the old forum a lot (in fact I think I was known as the 'forum poster boy' as I had the most number of posts. I also used to help out with the forum campsite and the 'Forum Allstars' a collective of amateurs who Rob Da Bank kindly gave a DJ slot to each year at the festival.) However, when they moved to the new forum it coincided with me missing my first and only year of the festival since it started and I never really got back into posting there. It seems that the new forum killed off quite a lot of the older posters activity and since that time it never really got going.

facebook, Twitter etc also helped remove conversation away from the forum

[hoils]

I've only missed one Bestival (the really wet one, thank Christ) since 2004 and am going again this year but I really don't have that much to say about it nowadays. It is what it is (i.e. not as good as Boomtown).

*shrugs*

 

[Tom12]

On 22 August 2016 at 5:17 PM, mjsell said:

Yeah agree, thats the reason why we have decided to go again this year (that and because it is later in the summer and some friends have only just got back from travelling for a while).

We went in 2012 and 2013 and havent been since - I'm looking forward to seeing if there has been much change. I fear there might be in relation to the type of person that attends. When you look at the repective lineups from then until now you can see why the festival appears to be looked upon less favourably

The last year I went was 2014 and they changed the swampshack to the reggae roots stage and I believe they got rid of the reggae roots stage in 2015 as well and just left the wishing tree on its own... I'm still absolutely buzzing for this year as last year was the first time I missed a bestival since 2010 

[Homer]

It's very simple - a lot of people just can't post! When the forum switched over my profile got deleted and I tried to set up a new one. Whenever I tried to post it told me I was a spammer. I mailed them to say I wasn't and I think I got a mail back from Duncan/BA Baracus guy saying I should be able to post... but I still couldn't! So I gave up.

[smogo]

It's basically that most of the old forum regulars were original mid-2000s Bestivallers and a lot of them no longer go. Bestival itself is more popular than ever, but the newer regulars have grown up posting on Facebook, Instagram and the like, where everything is centered around your user profile and shoots off from there.  Old-school boards like the official Bestival forum (RIP) and eFestivals don't allow you to express yourself through your user profile to the same extent, and so are of little interest to those younger people who've grown up with social media.

That's my theory anyway.

[Tom12]

See I'm 22, I get where you are coming from smogo but surely I'm not the only younger person to use forums haha! I used to see you post quite often, it's nice to see that you are still going on here  

[Lollilou]

Hey rseamer I remember you from the Bestival forum though we never actually met! Are you going this year? We're going just for Sat. We missed a few but hoping to have a blast this year.

[rseamer]

Hi Lollilou - ha, you probably remember my rather stupid (but eventually successful) campaign to get 80's keyboard pop bloke Howard Jones to play Bestival Yes I'm back this year - just missed one in 2014 (as I was in America).

Doing it slightly differently this year (as I did last) and staying off site but I'll be there!

 

[Lollilou]

Yes I remember that. I am facebook friends with The Dude funnily enough we knew each other before we 'met' on the forum. Have a fab time. Are you staying off site somewhere nice? 

 

[rseamer]

2 hours ago, Lollilou said:

Yes I remember that. I am facebook friends with The Dude funnily enough we knew each other before we 'met' on the forum. Have a fab time. Are you staying off site somewhere nice? 

 

No! 

Whitecliffbay campsite. But it's dead cheap, quick to site and has showers! 

[Captain.Kit]

There was no Bestival forum.
You was still on a come-down from the last Bestival and your mind was playing tricks

Me? No, I'm not here either.....

[Justiceforcedave]

I went for the first time in 2011, did 2012 and 2013 then just didn't feel the lineup from that point onwards. Lost interest.

[FloorFiller]

9 hours ago, Justiceforcedave said:

I went for the first time in 2011, did 2012 and 2013 then just didn't feel the lineup from that point onwards. Lost interest.

2011 and 2012's lineups were fantastic (2012 especially was right up my street in every way). been a steady decline since for whatever reason which is a real shame, and when i returned last year, as much fun as i had, it didn't even seem like the same festival. can't see myself ever returning

[2853rob]

2012 was an awesome year for my tastes in music

[Memory Man]

i was on the old board! it was pretty decent : )

as others have said it was just the nose dive of line up quality and a shift (consequently) in who they were trying to attract and who they actually did attract that put me off going.

Think i went every year from 2008-2012 and then gave it up.

To be fair since that time bestival has faced a HUGE amount of pressures that they didnt face before, mainly in competition from other festivals. You have the boom in Croatian festivals around the same time (talking Outlook and Dimensions) as well as a clogging up of the "boutique" festival market with the likes of Latitude, Green Man, End of the Road and Festival No 6. 

Then to add on top of that you have the fact the ticket and travel to bestival costs almost as much as european festivals if you can get a cheap flight. So they had a lot of competition from the myriad of other festivals all over europe.

They were king of the roost back in the glory days of 2008-2011 but now have so much more competition that simply wasn't there back then. People have gone elsewhere basically when the lineups became bland.

Having said all that, I would, with the right lineup, consider a return now its at Lulworth.

[eFestivals]

6 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

People have gone elsewhere basically when the lineups became bland.

I'm not entirely sure that's it.

Bestival attracted a 'party crowd', and the party crowd are always looking for the best party with the hippest scene - while Bestival started putting on stuff like The Cure.

I get where Rob was coming from with that, but it was a bit of a mis-match with much of the Bestival clientelle. Boomtown scooped them up.

[Paul ™]

Yeah was on the old forum, when they went to the new software they had a load of issues and people gave up as couldn't post/register etc.

Facebook took a lot of people and Boomtown as a festival did too.

 

 

[Memory Man]

On 15/12/2016 at 9:41 AM, eFestivals said:

I'm not entirely sure that's it.

Bestival attracted a 'party crowd', and the party crowd are always looking for the best party with the hippest scene - while Bestival started putting on stuff like The Cure.

I get where Rob was coming from with that, but it was a bit of a mis-match with much of the Bestival clientelle. Boomtown scooped them up.

I was thrilled when they booked the cure. Many may not have been though!

[Circus-Freak]

Well, after going for 12 years, I'm not gutted it's moved off the island. It got shit and bought nothing but chavs in the last 2 years. Feels like a corporation has taken it on, getting cheaper and less imaginative, for higher profits.