IT'S THE story which refuses to go away. Nearly three weeks after the last note sounded at Oxegen, tales of what did and didn't happen on Campsite A continue to be told. The charges are of tents set on fire, robberies, security personnel unwilling or unable to deal with problems, a mini-riot and unprovoked attacks on bystanders.

There have been news reports about these claims in several newspapers, calls to RTÉ Radio One's Liveline and an outpouring of anger from fans on online messageboards. Perhaps most interesting is concert promoter MCD's reaction to the criticism. The Irish Independent reporter's call to spokesman Justin Green provoked the following statement: "We must warn you that in the event that an article critical of the event is published, we will take whatever action is necessary to prevent damage to the Oxegen event or MCD Productions."

That such a pre-emptive strike was deemed necessary is quite a contrast to the overwhelmingly positive pre-event media attention. TV, radio and print were happy to relay Green's enthusiastic talk about the great facilities at the user-friendly Oxegen, including, for the first time, hot showers. Now it's a much different shower raining down.

Ironically, the story first came to light on Oxegen's own website. Other websites were also commandeered, but the real anger came to the fore on Oxegen.ie. After all, this was the site where festival fans had been chatting happily to one another before the event. These fans were the Oxegen community and they had spent months posting hundreds of messages anticipating the brilliant weekend. Now some of them had a different tale to tell and wanted to vent their anger. But they quickly discovered that they would have to go elsewhere to air their ire. After a few days, the plug was pulled and the Oxegen messageboard was decommissioned. In response to a query, MCD stated to Discotheque that the board was scheduled to close five days after the event and will re-open in November, when tickets go on sale for Oxegen 2007.

One possible refuge for disgruntled fans was the very busy Boards.ie messageboard. But that site's administrators decided they were playing with fire and banned all mention of MCD, Oxegen and even, bizarrely, forthcoming MCD shows. Discussions have continued on the Thumped, Cluas and Electric Picnic forums.

Now, there are presumably thousands of people who went to Oxegen, stayed on the campsite and had a brilliant time despite the weather. But the eyewitness reports of what happened on Sunday night/Monday morning have dominated the post-Oxegen news cycle. This may well impact on how high-profile brands associated with the festival or the parents of younger festival-goers feel about future Oxegens.

As the biggest concert promoter in the land, MCD is already the target of complaints about everything from ticket prices to security men. Now, by censoring those fans who feel they have valid criticisms to make, Oxegen is biting the hand that feeds it. After all, rival festival Electric Picnic improved dramatically once promoter John Reynolds paid attention to complaints.

Now that fans have more choice for their euros both here and abroad, Oxegen simply can't bury its head in the sand and hope the negative stories go away. Time, then, to kiss and make up with those discombobulated fans, and take account of valid criticisms.