80s Nostalgia
80sNostalgia has been online since June 1999. It was one of the first 80s sites on the internet, providing reviews of 80s TV shows and a few 80s memories. Originally it used to belong to a guy called Mark Read. It I used to visit it daily and regularly posted on the forum there. I was even made an admin in the chatroom, I was there so frequently.
In 2005, I received an email that went something like this:
“Hi Craig, its Mark from 80sNostalgia.com. I’m moving to Singapore. Do you want to own 80sNostalgia.com?”
“Hi Mark. Yeah, go on then. How much do you want for it?”
“Hi Craig. My only request is that you sacrifice your firstborn by moonlight, on the first day of… No, actually, its free if you want it?” So in August 2005, I took over 80sNostalgia.com.
Originally the site was created from scratch by Mark, an internet programmer, but when I took it over I realised my programming skills were not up to that of Marks, so I exported all his SQL content and inserted it into a Postnuke site with a bespoke template. Then postnuke became obsolete, so I exported the content again and imported it into a Mambo site. Mambo because unworkable shortly afterwards, so I eventually moved all the data into a self hosted WordPress site.
It still retains the original reviews, but with added 80s TV Adverts, interviews with 80s celebs and a few competitions. I also arrange regular competitions over on its Twitter page and Facebook group.
It is updated intermittently nowadays, but remains online as part of an unspoken agreement between Mark and myself, for fear he will follow up on his comment about sacrificing my kids.