To commemorate
five years of NATA Online, we’ve pored over the history books
to bring you a look back at what’s been going on since January
2001. All information correct as at 2nd January 2006.
The
Stats
The site launched in mid-January
2001. Paul was inspired by the old Notts Scots Geocities
site (he actually thought "if that bunch of degenerate jakies
can manage a website, so can NATA", and bought a PC in the
sales with the main intention of creating a website. Within 2 weeks,
NATA Online had launched with only
four pages: Home, Songs, Links & Stuff and Meet NATA.
There are over3,600
html pages on the site (some of these belong to other sites
that share the webspace, and some are image pages).
There are also currently over 12,000
images (11564 jpeg and 766 gifs), including thumbnails and
graphics.
There’s been 85 updates in
60 months (Jan 2001 – Dec 2005), with no updates in
8 of those 60 months. On average, site has been update just over
every 21 days.
Longest periods of inactivity:
28/10/01 until 07/01/02 – no update 71
days whilst moving from free to paid website
28/06/02 until 14/09/02 – hard disk error in June meant
site left without updates for 78
days
Updates through the years:
2001 - 25 updates (none in Nov or Dec)
2002 – 13 (none in July, and only partial updates in
Aug & Oct)
2003 – 19 (nothing in May)
2004 – 13 (no updates in Jan or Nov)
2005 – 15 (for the first time, every
month!)
2006 – 1 plus this one
These updates have been communicated in the 38
Newsletters sent out since June 2003. Getting a heads up
on site updates is not the only benefit of subscribing – we
offered a free NATA crest badge to subscribers in 2004
We're not a (multi) media invention (like The Monkees or Liberty
X); we did exist in the days before broadband! Here's a potted history
of the early years:
Sept 1999 - Helen and
Paul decide to form a Netley Abbey TA following a discussion with
an ex Netley and Bearsden resident in the Hotel Olumpa pub in
Estonia.
Winter 1999 – debates
between Rich and Paul over the name. Rich wants “Southampton”
or “South Coast”, Paul rejects this “as people
will acually want to join”. Agreed that Netley Abbey TA
will be a spoof club,
April 2000 – first
public appearance of Netley Abbey TA t-shirts in Amsterdam. Asked
“where the fook is Netley Abbey” by Campbell Burton
(Notts Scots) on ferry over. Never been able to lose him since.
October 2000 –
“On The Vino In San Marino” trip t-shirts receive
widespread acclaim
January 2001 –
website launched
April 2001 – first
trip since website. Meet Ally and Susan. Surprised at how many
people have seen site already.
Back in June 2001, there
were only a few other websites out there, and we certainly weren't
the first, nor the best. The Links Page contained links to 26 sites,
compared to the 67 listed in January 2006. If you want to visit
any of these, use the Links page (as the some of the sites below
are no longer active).
Here's who else was around in mid-2001:
The Tartan Army Home Pages (http://www.t-army.com/)
Alba Gu Brath (Bosnian Tartan Army)
ANZTA (The Australian & New Zealand Tartan Army)
Armadale Sons Of Wallace (Mid-Central Scotland Tartan Army)
