Website in the spotlight is a new weekly report about one of the many Eurovision Song Contest related websites there are. Get to know their stories and, more important, the dedicated people behind the websites. This week, we spoke with Ioannis Corfiatis (Greece), Chief Editor of the brand new website eurovisionism.com. Respect, unity and fun are the keywords for this new website for the real Eurovision Song Contest fans.
The team members
Ioannis Corfiatis (Manager, Chief Editor)
Brian Chorley (Deputy Chief Editor, Business & Marketing)
Meryl Jones (Statistics, Voting Editor)
Stratos Georgiou (Translation, Reviews Editor)
Marianna Petrides � Robinson (Translation, Reviews Editor)
Georgios Poulakis (Technology)
Toby Michaels (Administrator)
Why did you start your website?
We have been Eurovision Song Contest followers for many years, but never imagined that one day would be running our own song contest related website. The idea of eurovisionism.com came to us early this year, when we realised that things regarding the international Eurovision Song Contest fanbase have utterly changed to the worse. We are truly missing the atmosphere of the early internet days, when fans throughout the continent had the chance of coming closer and genuinely share their Eurovision Song Contest passion. That was a time of real joy for the real enthusiast, realising that they were not alone. The atmosphere of these days was magical. The need of exchanging information, thoughts and ideas, was making everyone to treat others with respect. Unfortunately, this period is well gone. It is always sad to discover that the fans� reaction has now changed so much.
Since televoting era began, the issue of how politics influence the Eurovision Song Contest is always on the table. Unfortunately, politics have influenced our reaction as well. In various messageboards, chatrooms and forums, anyone can read the most appalling things nowadays, most of the times totally irrelevant to the contest itself. There are a lot of times, when we personally felt offended by inappropriate comments regarding ethnicity issues, gender, even sexual orientation! Is this what the contest is about then?
Certainly, not! For us, the Eurovision Song Contest is unity above all; is the urge of knowing and sharing and at the same time, respecting. We believe that the people who consistently behave so badly are the minority. What we were doing for years, was to ignore these messages with the hope that this phenomenon one day will stop. Sometimes, we were trying to bring some kind of 'order' by replying; wrong move, as this only can start endless and pointless quarrels.
We launched eurovisionism.com with the hope that there are a lot of fans like us out there, who would like to restore the fanbase�s good reputation. Our website is free to any opinion, as far as this does not offend other people. We do not have any intention of policing people�s thoughts, but at the same time, we will never tolerate harassment. All of our visitors will have the respect they deserve.
Can you tell us something about the development of your site since the launch?
Today is the first day of our official launch. Prior to that, a lot of discussion took place regarding of how our website will look like. We finally, agreed to the current form. We hope that eurovisionism.com will develop into a very pleasant alternative pole for all. We are always open to suggestions of how this will be achieved. This site cannot go further without our visitors� support. What our visitors see at the moment, it is just the start (a quite amateurish start, we have to admit). We believe that by the end of 2005, eurovisionism.com will be one of the best places to be. Lots of our thoughts are still on paper. We are open to more. Everyone (individuals, other fellow websites, etc.) is welcome to participate. If we truly love the contest as we say, why can�t we be more active?
How would you describe your website?
Eurovisionism.com is our home. Our door is open to everyone. We are very keen of keeping all of our guests happy. But, would you be welcoming someone who would rush into your home �bullying� yourself or your guests? Of course, not! So, our door is open to everyone who first and foremost respects us and our friends.
Many of the words ending in ��ism� indicate the stated principle of a people�s movement. So, does eurovisionism.com. Usually, the fun lasts until the Eurovision Song Contest stage lights go off. Then, for most of us, it is time to hibernate until the first national final of next year's contest starts. Eurovisionism.com wants (and promises) to keep everyone awake throughout the year. We have big plans for making this happen. We want eurovisionism.com to develop into a vast Eurovision Song Contest fanclub, with similar functions with the various national fanclubs around. The distinction though, will be the fact that eurovisionism.com will be international and on the internet (most of the times). Our future target will be to take some of the eurovisionism.com functions out of the internet at some point.
What would you improve if you would be esctoday.com�s webmaster or chief editor?
We are filled with admiration for esctoday.com. We strongly believe that your website is the most accurate and reliable, when it comes to Eurovision Song Contest related news. When designing our site, we unanimously took the decision to put a permanent link to your website on our index page, without even knowing you guys. Only now, we know how hard it is to keep the standards of a website constantly high. We would like to congratulate you for this achievement.
On the contrary, we would like to express our concern about a few inappropriate reactions from a small number of your visitors. It is always a shame to read a very good article and then to encounter horrible comments for issues totally irrelevant to that article, or to Eurovision Song Contest itself. We understand that it is very hard for a website of your size to monitor each reaction, but still something needs to be done about it. Being supportive to the freedom of speech does not necessarily consent to improper behaviours. Still, we are fully aware of the difficulties that a close monitoring might have, but at the same time we are ready to discuss ways of how this phenomenon can stop.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us concerning your site?
Eurovisionism.com is a relatively new website, though all 7 people involved in it are old Eurovision Song Contest fans. Our deep love to this contest enabled us to launch eurovisionism.com with the hope that this action will bring a breeze of fresh air to the Eurovision Song Contest reality. We don�t feel like competing with any of our fellow websites, and we do not worry about quantity more than quality. We see ourselves as a part of our big Eurovision Song Contest family, and we will try our best to honour this position. We are fully aware of the problems the fanbase is currently facing, and we promise to contribute to their solution.
The Eurovision Song Contest is serious fun!
We kindly thank Ioannis for being prepared to have an interview with us ánd for the kind compliments! Esctoday.com wishes this new Eurovision Song Contest fanbase a great future and even fears some serious competition now!
