Iggy here - no, seriously!

[eFestivals]

Hi all! Time for an introduction. As some of you may have heard, eFestivals is now under new ownership and I’m the ‘Iggy’ you might have seen mentioned. Firstly, I’d like to thank Neil for creating this site and fostering this brilliant community, and for being a genuinely lovely guy with the best intentions at heart at all times. He’s done an incredible job over the past couple of decades. It takes something special for a site to survive 20+ years and that’s in no small part down to the community itself. There’s a spirit of camaraderie here and a level of passion you don’t often see in online communities. This makes it quite special in my eyes.

I’ve worked with the site and with Neil for almost a decade now and I love this place. Your enthusiasm for festivals is infectious to say the least. So much so, that it’s converting me into becoming a festival-goer (yet to get my hands on Glasto tickets though)! The amount of info and great advice available here is unmatched in my opinion, and I’m really thankful that you’re all here.

The vision for the site is to make it the primary hub and community for all festival goers. Somewhere you can find anything from the latest festival news and lineup rumours, to reviews, to insightful festival-related journalism, and of course, join the welcoming, vibrant, and friendly community. There are bold plans in place and a growing team of lovely people who are very excited to get working on the site to make it all a reality over the coming months.

I really want this to be a place where you find real value and keep the excitement of the festival season going all year around. Festivals to me are all about that feeling of togetherness, belonging, friendship, lots of fun and silliness, and losing yourself in the moment. And some great music doesn’t hurt either! I’d love for this site to reflect this and will do all I can to make it happen. I’m here to build all the bridges and burn none.

I’d love to draw on the pool of amazingly passionate and knowledgeable individuals here to help the site grow and flourish. If anyone is interested in writing festival-related content, moderating the forums, or has any ideas and suggestion for improving this lovely place, I’m all ears - please send me a message.

And for full disclosure, this project will be run in the style of a non-profit for the medium term. All spare funds the site generates will go back into growing and improving the site. I’m not here to cash in. Any contributions you guys make, whether that’s having your adblock turned off or being extremely generous and paying for Gold membership or buying merch, will make a huge positive impact to the future of this site and will save kittens/puppies (probably).

If you have any suggestions, questions, concerns, or anything, please fire away (privately or publicly) and I’ll do my best to address them all.

Thank you all!

Peace

Iggy

[Alvoram]

Welcome Iggy,

There's a lot of very talented, very knowledgeable, and very passionate people here, who'd love nothing more than to help you grow this place, if you let them.

Sadly, I'm not one of them, (talented or knowledgeable that is, I have the passion.) but welcome anyway.

  

Edited May 15, 2023 by Alvoram

[Avalon_Fields]

Thanks Iggy, well said.

[Respectfatfrog]

Welcome and good luck 

[Gnomicide]

Nicely put, Iggy. I look forward to seeing how the site evolves over the coming months and hopefully years. 

[Neil]

Welcome and good luck with the user's .

[dulcificum]

Please can you define "medium term"?

[blutarsky]

Was ready to cancel my gold but will keep it running. 
Nice to ‘meet’ you Iggy. 
I’d be happy to write some content from time to time.

Edited May 15, 2023 by blutarsky
Typo

[DareToDibble]

Welcome Iggy! Great intro post to read 😊

[clarkete]

Welcome Iggy, that's a fine introduction and I wish you all the best. 

[BambooShanks]

Welcome, Iggy! 

I look forward to seeing this place grow and evolve over the coming months and years. This place is a wonderful community and is an integral part of my festival build up.

May I wish you the best of luck running this site, as I'm sure Neil will attest, it is quite the multi faceted beast that requires a lot of care and attention

[Joey01]

It's great to have you on board, it's been my lust for life to have such an admin represent this forum. If there's anything you need to me do, I'll do it Iggy as I want to be your dog. Hopefully together we can search and destroy all of the troublemakers.  I don't want to stand back and be a passenger while others try and ruin the forum for you, it's been no fun of late.

[theciderviking]

Posted this in the other thread before I saw this intro, so copying here where it's probably more relevant...

Welcome Iggy. 👋

It's been a tough few months for this community, and like many I've despaired at the way things have gone and have had to bite my tongue on many occasions (unsuccessfully on some 🙈). I'm sure that despite all that has transpired we're all grateful to Neil for creating eFestivals and giving this community a place to thrive and grow, and become much greater than the sum of its parts or contribution of any one individual. However it's been clear for some time that things weren't working out, and it's great to see a positive approach moving forward - I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the direction you take things in, and I wish you every success in your new venture. 

On a personal level, I owe eFests an enormous debt of gratitude because it has given me a group of friends for life, and I know that sentiment is shared by all of our (now several hundred strong) group. I hope that with renewed focus and positivity it can continue to do the same for hundreds of others in the future.

Hope your first day "in the office" so to speak gets better, and if you're on the farm in a few weeks I'd love to buy you a cider. 🍻  (I now know you're not 😞 Hopefully next year!) 

And yes, you too Neil, because despite disagreeing and having quite strong feelings about some of what you've said and done more recently I still recognise the enormous contribution you've made to so many of us over the years via this community. I hope that you can find some peace now and focus on your health. 

[pauladam]

Welcome Iggy 🙂 

[Funkyfairy!]

Welcome Iggy, I was also about to cancel my gold membership, but will keep it running and see how this site evolves

The users here are a passionate, and protective group with of course a few trolls thrown in for good measure, I would say the majority are emotionally invested and want whats best and it seems you are too... so welcome and thank you for introducing yourself, we needed it this morning

[circus92]

Welcome Iggy.  Excellent intro - sounds very positive.  Lots of people love the community that has been created on here and hopefully this will be the start of getting it back on track.  Good Luck! 😊

[Neil]

6 minutes ago, Joey01 said:

It's great to have you on board, it's been my lust for life to have such an admin represent this forum. If there's anything you need to me do, I'll do it Iggy as I want to be your dog. Hopefully together we can search and destroy all of the troublemakers.  I don't want to stand back and be a passenger while others try and ruin the forum for you, it's been no fun of late.

thank you joey, are too many troubldemakers and too many happy to stand back and be a passenger while others try and ruin the forum

[yehbutnobut]

Welcome, Iggy!

Longtime lurker, gold member, and occasional poster. I owe this site and a select few of the members here for granting me and my friends access to past editions of the big fest we all hold dear, for which I will forever be grateful. Genuinely wish you and the team all the best in your new venture.

[Joey01]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

thank you joey, are too many troubldemakers and too many happy to stand back and be a passenger while others try and ruin the forum

Go away, I'm sick of you... (that's another Iggy Pop reference and wasn't a serious comment...)

[Funkyfairy!]

19 minutes ago, Neil said:

Welcome and good luck with the user's .

Most of which are passionate, want the best for this site, want two way respect, no mud slinging, along  with moderators and Admin who are fair 

Users are what makes this site, and for sure what fuels the forums - and mutual respect should be a  given both ways 

I'll leave it there , all the best to Iggy and thank you Neil for building what you have over the years, a space for us all to virtually meet, chat and in some cases physically meet and build friendships.  What you built is special and will continue to be so, I hope you continue to get better and find an outlet for your passions as you move forward 

[stuie]

Well, this is exciting.

Welcome, Iggy.  Good luck and best wishes 😀

[eFestivals]

Thank you all! Will get back to you individually but am currently at work...

[Rufus Gwertigan]

I don't like change

*crawls under a rock*

Welcome 🙂

[morph100]

Welcome, great to have you onboard 

[Wherethewildthingsare]

Welcome! Long term gold member here but currently banned from my main account @wherethewildthingsare due to alleged spam (an Amazon link to camping equipment if you check!). Please can I have this back so I can use my no ad gold membership until 2024. I have cancelled but very happy to renew. Efestivals is a huge part of my Glasto prep/reflections and personally love this format.

 

thanks and good luck to you and to Neil