Great article
I was in the editorial launch team after being recruited in mid-1997 and your article absolutely nails the "can do, must do, will do" spirit that prevailed. When I talk about those pioneering days, I say that we got the site up and running "in spite of" rather than "because of" the rest of the BBC (slightly tongue in cheek).
I was very fortunate to be asked to lead the editorial development of the UK parts of the site, starting with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1999 then England in 2001. The "Klondike" spirit continued and we battered on but as the site became ubiquitous in online journalism, the processes around getting things done increased.
One name missing from your piece is Pete Clifton, one-time editor of Ceefax who joined the news website and was asked to lead the sport website launch.
At risk of sounding clichéd, those were indeed the days.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
