Here’s why I think it succeeded:

1. Simple premise, easily explained. Celebs, bought and sold for profit.

2. It was perfectly of the moment: it came with a TV programme on a new network and slap bang in the middle of the rise of PB and Heat/the new gossip culture.

3. We engaged massively with the audience, from hosting the messageboards all day when it launched to being utterly absorbed with getting involved in the world we created around it.

4. We enjoyed it. In fact, we more than enjoyed it, it was the best gig in town.

Here’s where it failed:

1. It got crucified by certain sectors of the press, in particular those who thought we were trampling on Popex and HSX and that the BBC shouldn’t be doing games or entertainment. The failure to defend the BBC from criticism eventually ate away at the project.

Nevermind that Popex licenced code for it (re-inesting in small indies anyone?) or that we were the first people to do a Public Value Test when we re-skinned it as Sportdaq (I had to read the Graf report, it was dreadful).

2. We lost our champions, both in iD&E and in BBC Three, and the scrabbled restructuring of BBC Three meant we got swept away in the tide that took Liquid News as well.

Here’s what the BBC forgot after it:

1. Interactive teams can be part of television production. It was a truly integrated team, all based in one office, which is why the site and the programme naturally fitted together – because we were in the same space sharing ideas.

2. That entertaining can be informative. We had plenty of evidence that teachers used it to teach basic economics to their classes and we made sure we tried to explain economics and markets in everything we did. There’s still a fear within the business of taking an aggressively entertaining approach to informing.

The guy who kick-started it all, Martin Trickey is back at the BBC these days, seek him out an push ideas at him, he is always receptive and enthusiastic in my experience of working with him.