ICT Online since 1994

[ICTPaisley]

I joined officially back in the first division around 2001 but i cant be sure, Ever since joining i've had the best experience ever. This website has always been one of my favourites but there has been times where i have been very silent and not posted at all. Or at times changes my user name completely.

I'm just wondering if there are a few users out there that have been here for a few years that have changed names... A few that i remember that have been here for around 10 years or so are Scotty, Gringo, Gringo Jr, and Yngwie but i know there are alot of others. I remember names like Iain Coia...Colin Wilson...Sandy Cromarty....DJS....Guzz.....Uncle Albert...... Interthenet ( a proven Gringos PL expert i might add) and a few others....

I'm just wondering how long you have been around and if you have been on caleythistleonline for a few years. Do you remember sportnetwork??lol

[ICTPaisley]

I joined officially back in the first division around 2001 but i cant be sure, Ever since joining i've had the best experience ever. This website has always been one of my favourites but there has been times where i have been very silent and not posted at all. Or at times changes my user name completely.

I'm just wondering if there are a few users out there that have been here for a few years that have changed names... A few that i remember that have been here for around 10 years or so are Scotty, Gringo, Gringo Jr, and Yngwie but i know there are alot of others. I remember names like Iain Coia...Colin Wilson...Sandy Cromarty....DJS....Guzz.....Uncle Albert...... Interthenet ( a proven Gringos PL expert i might add) and a few others....

I'm just wondering how long you have been around and if you have been on caleythistleonline for a few years. Do you remember sportnetwork??lol

There are a few that come to mind... i also remember Seoras....surely these people don't just stop using the internet and stop supporting ICT? there are alot of posters these days on the internet..... i would just like to put old names to new names, if any at all.

[Scotty]

mmm, let me see ....... erm 1994 !!! and not only do I remember SportNetwork but I remember all of our incarnations ..... We might have moved homes a few times but we are and always have been CTO no matter where we rested our opinions here's a potted history.

We started with an ISP who had a URL of www.thenet.co.uk where you had to have a name after their domain in this style www.thenet.co.uk/~websitename

Then we moved to Freeserve when they came along as we could get an almost normal website name and while with Freeserve we became the "almost official site" of the club who had no interest in the Internet.

We were then asked to join a new startup called Rivals.net which at the time was owned and operated by Chrysalis and stayed with them for a couple of years.

When Rivals dumped all Scottish sites (except the OF) and most English sites outside the top two divisions we were asked to join SportNetwork which was setup by the owner of one of the ex-rivals sites. I would say SportNetwork was the best experience until we then decided about 6 years ago to part company with them and started developing this site on our own hosting. While we were with SN we became the official site of the club for a few years.

Our departure from SN also heralded the end of our status as the official site and ictfc.co.uk became the official site whilst we carried on as CTO. However we did provide the club with a temporary official site whilst PTV were building theirs !

In the 6 years we have been truly independent we have also gone through a few incarnations on here... we have changed forum software 3 times and now use what is regarded as the best commercial forum software available (especially as Vb has declined). I look back to what it was in 94 and what it is now and there truly is no comparison .....

As for users, I think we have all made a few friends over the years, and I would say some of them are very good friends. We have also had a few arguments and maybe even lost the odd friend from those arguments ... such is life. We have been responsible for introducing quite a few couples, some of whom have gone on to have weddings and children, not necessarily in that order and sadly, we have also lost a few people along the way as we know this week with "Caley Ally". All in all its been a blast for the last 16 years .... and here's to the next few ..... I am sure I will pass the torch on to someone else at some point but there is definitely life left in the old dog yet

[Scotty]

There are a few that come to mind... i also remember Seoras....surely these people don't just stop using the internet and stop supporting ICT? there are alot of posters these days on the internet..... i would just like to put old names to new names, if any at all.

People's priorities change, people fall out with me, Don or the mods, or each other and go elsewhere (P&B) .... its a dynamic environment and it changes from year to year .....

Funny thing about Seoras - he actually had an ICT website too. I think he did it as a uni project and I think it was actually around for a short time before CTO.

[ICTPaisley]

I stand corrected, I remember rivals.net as the leader when i first joined. I completely forgot about them.

[PandB]

According to my profile, I joined on 08-April 06, however I remember the rivals site too, tend not to post that often, but log in every day.

P&B

[Scotty]

Yeah, according to mine I joined in 2006 too ... but thats because we couldnt take the rivals database to SportNetwork or the Sportnetwork one to here ...... you have been around a lot longer than that LOL .....

[Scarlet Pimple]

I joined this site when a revelation named Mantis informed me about it . I had tentatively been having a look at ICT's progress just before that and was quite surprised to find how well they had adpted to the SFL Divisions and to realise what the future might be like.

That was about 6 or seven years ago and my, my, how the time has flown. So many new names ! And changes.

I personally do not overly like frequent changes but I have to admit (sigh) that Scotty and Don have done a trenemdous amount of work on this website and it shows!

I think the secret for not allowing pssion to overwhelm you with regard to the team, and arguments over this and that, is not to take yourself too seriously. After that, try to set priorities as far as what threads (oops, topic) you want to participate in. Otherwise you can spend too much time on every comma and every sentence.

But I do read most topics so that I can at least keep up to date with ICT and I have been coming on here every day for donkey's years.

IHE once said he comes on here to relax and frankly that is part of the fascination for me also. Whenever I have had a really tiresome day, if I just think for a moment about going online to ICT, then my heart gets a fillip and I immediately feel that great feeling of pleasure. So, obviously, I don't come on here to experience frequent or repetitive negativity which is a real downer and accomplishes very little.

But all I can say is : act as many of the older posters do, just step back a little and enjoy the ride. Even if the team is not doing so well at any moment, you are still experiencing the loyalty of many people together and frankly that is a wonderful feeling.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Aye this is the best anxiolytic out. A bit of a role reversal of my work - You destress and you stress others in a personality disordered manner

Unfortunately we dont get as many meddling "visitors" as we used to but I also doubt whether we could have similar altercations to those of yore either. I was a stay away post merger for about three years - went back to a game, got sucked in by the atmosphere and that is what led to the two of us coming on here. It started off with Johndo MacKenzie but the alter ego was always the strongest constituent of my on line personality.

Many may be surprised that my apparent initial hostility has actually led to many new friendships - I even shared a room with Seoras last year - oh and there are many who have changed their names over the years - and many who prefer to remain anonymous - Ya never know who you may be sitting beside at the next game - that is why I often go to away games in a low key manner.

[caley100]

Many may be surprised that my apparent initial hostility has actually led to many new friendships - I even shared a room with Seoras last year - oh and there are many who have changed their names over the years - and many who prefer to remain anonymous - Ya never know who you may be sitting beside at the next game - that is why I often go to away games in a low key manner.

Is this a kind of William Hague coming out thing?

I joined up which i presume was the old sportnetwork site in 2000, first time i met people was before the Hearts cup match when DS put on a feed for the ICT fans that lived away from sneck at the Grovenor hotel in Edinburgh.

Technically i should not have been there but i went with my brother-in-law who stays in embra, i also met Johndo after the game in a chip shop in Gorgie before heading off to Teuchters to celebrate.

[ICTFCkev]

Joined on 13th May 07, the day after the 'Section A' game against the Pars. First post was in response to a certain IHE, who of course I had no idea about names and faces on this site whatsoever, about Hooliganism and I was soon taught a wee lesson in the definition of sarcasm.

Have put a few names to faces on the site since then, and had some really enjoyable away days in the past few years as well. All in all see it is a great place to voice your opinions, and try have a little bit of a laugh meanwhile.

Kudos to the Mods and Admin who, despite a couple of minor arguments, do do a crackin' job in the running of the site, and long may it continue.

[Snow]

Ya never know who you may be sitting beside at the next game - that is why I often go to away games in a low key manner.

[TopSix]

I was on the old 'site as longman loon or a user name to that effect.I think I let the account slip. Seems like an age ago since then though.

[Yngwie]

I first came to CTO in the late 90s (2nd division days) when the company I worked for introduced this newfangled thing called the "internet".

The forum was relatively quiet in those days, and a key part of it centred around identifying pre-match pubs to meet up in, along with directions/parking for all these exciting grounds we were often going to for the first time.

I recall a sudden upsurge in activity on Feb 9th 2000 with visitors from other clubs' websites congratulating us.

[RiG]

I joined back in the days of Rivals. My major memory from that time was a story about how we were going to redevelop the stadium and the stand behind the goals was going to be called the "Dolphin End" or something like that.

[Yngwie]

Given the name RobsonisGod, it must have been about 2002. Unless it was 1999 and you were being ironic.

[Scotty]

I first came to CTO in the late 90s (2nd division days) when the company I worked for introduced this newfangled thing called the "internet".

The forum was relatively quiet in those days, and a key part of it centred around identifying pre-match pubs to meet up in, along with directions/parking for all these exciting grounds we were often going to for the first time.

I recall a sudden upsurge in activity on Feb 9th 2000 with visitors from other clubs' websites congratulating us.

for the first year or two we never even had a forum - they werent really that well developed at that stage. We had a guestbook !!! It wasnt really until we moved to Freeserve that we had a rudimentary forum and then the first proper one was rivals.

The initial purpose of the guestbook / basic forum was indeed just that - organising to meet up with like minded ICT fans on matchdays, especially those from out of town who perhaps didnt know whereto go and I do recall that one of the first (set of) friends I made on the very earliest incarnation of the site was the Gringo family who I am happy to say remain good and trusted friends to this day.

Feb 9th 2000 was a huge day for us .... seem to recall we got more than 100,000 page views on that DAY from a huge number of unique users.

I joined back in the days of Rivals. My major memory from that time was a story about how we were going to redevelop the stadium and the stand behind the goals was going to be called the "Dolphin End" or something like that.

Memories ....... I still have the photos !!!

Here is an unofficial mockup prepared by one of the site users at the time ..... this pic was posted before anyone had seen the official architect drawings ....

and here are a few 'official' ones prepared by architects. As you will see, they toyed with many options from low level stands (or terracing) on North and West sides, to one big North Stand or some combination of both .... Interestingly enough, at the time, the South Stand was not even considered.

and finally ....... a picture taken straight from a drawing hanging on the wall of the stadium manager's office a little later that showed most of the architects ideas were binned and that the club were looking at North and South stands .....

[The Mantis]

I joined this site when a revelation named Mantis informed me about it

Sorry folks, it's my fault :laugh: :laugh:

I remember when we did the messages by guestbook instead of a real forum. I must have been lurking for a while before I posted my first match report from Ice Station Broadwood on 16/1/99.

A day when the team bus got there but the supporters bus was turned back at the snow gates at Drumochter. I felt obliged to let everybody know how we got a 1-1 draw thanks to a Glancy goal, which went a long way towards securing promotion that year.

I also met Scotty for the first time at Palmerston - probably April 17 that year in a 1-1 draw with Barry Wilson scoring.

[Johnboy]

People's priorities change, people fall out with me, Don or the mods, or each other and go elsewhere (P&B) .... its a dynamic environment and it changes from year to year .....

Oh, surely not..... I can't believe that.

[DornochCaley]

Great thread. Enjoying reading it.

I joined in April 2009 i think... maybe 2008? Can't remember. I did have an account as Onlyonedougieimrie but i forgot the password.

[caley100]

Ach.. dont worry , you can easily ressurect that name, just change it a wee bit... something like ' theresonlyonecockdougieimrie'

[Guest Mahonio]

I joined on 3rd November 2007 and tbh, its the best thing i could have done, in fact, it is in my daily nightly routine to read ALL posts of the day, before i watch Sky Sports News.

I am maybe what people may (wrongly?) call an armchair fan because i have only been to 2 games since i started supporting the club in 2003, but working up at a Golf Club makes it difficcult to get to games because during the Summer its hard to get time off due to all the comps and in the Winter it isn't easy getting cover.

I do want to meet a lot of fans from this forum but if i don't know them, i doubt i'll speak to them, if you understand what i'm saying.

I really want to meet IHE as he seems like a bubbly character lol and especially fellow Caithnessians like Oddquine or gingerjaggy .

[+Gringo]

Great thread this.

We first purchased one of these new computer things around Christmas '98 I think. It was my eldest lad (Techno Gringo) that found a Caley web site so I had a look, as you do. I signed the guestbook and mentioned that we were coming up from Coventry Nil (don't think it was Coventry Nil at the time as they were managing to score... :biggrin: ) for a game . Scotty responded to the post and seemed amazed that anyone would travel that far to see Caley play. He invited us to go along to the Caley Inn before or after the game for a beer and chat. We went in after the game for a quick drink...the quick drink, I believe, lasted most of the evening. It was here that I met Scotty, Big Stu, Calum and Dom (whatever happened to him, he was always with Calum) and also Don and Bridget who owned the small pub. The Caley Inn at that time only used the small bar downstairs. Further trips to games always started at the Caley Inn and many site users met here before and after games. From here many a friendship has grown and also CTO has provided a long list of great times and yet more friends. I had the pleasure of meeting many CTO users over the years and have also been on many social outings outwith football. Over the years with more and more users finding the forum it came to light that I wasn't the only visitor from afar and a few were found in the English Midlands. Get together's were made in Brum with Mr & Mrs Paulibee and King Beastie which caused many a sore head. CTO has been a great roller coaster of a ride and its a real pleasure to be part of it. Long may it continue and long may friendships be made.

[Dmacca]

14 APRIL 2006

[cookiemonster]

For me, I joined in 2009 i think. I was at a couple of different site, mainly the ICT section on SPLForum. But this is far better. Alot more activity.......................Thanks Scotty and the rest of you.

Edited September 4, 2010 by cookiemonster