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16 April 2013 at 19:38 #5819
You can now embed images in posts
Dear all, I finally got around to looking at this and I think I’ve cracked it. Only took me about 2 hours… You can now display images in your posts by linking to them.
Basically if you view your post in “Text” mode, not “Visual” mode, you can now click the “img” button. You’ll be asked for the image link (it has to be already on the web) and then a description, which can be whatever you want.
Once you post, hey presto, your image should appear. If not, or if sort of but there are issues, let me know.
16 April 2013 at 19:34 #5817@juniperfish My pleaure. And yes, have been meaning to do that. I’ll think of something 😀
15 April 2013 at 20:13 #5689@whisht Yeah, proper fans just enjoying themselves and being incredibly creative. Kinda reminds me of this place, which is probably why it appeals to me.
Something today reminded me of this and made me laugh. A Chatroulette based improv song. If you don’t know, Chatroulette is a random chat site (hence the name) with webcam. Supposedly you get a lot penises! But this makes great use of it and had me in stitches.
And it’s a Monday so why not have a laugh. It’s so off topic I should mod myself but…
15 April 2013 at 18:32 #5673Dear all, this may be of interest to some of you.
I’ve been contacted by a PhD student in Perth, Australia who is “conducting research into the motivating factors behind active posting behaviour within online communities”. The words “obsession with bonkers theories” come to mind. 😀
There will be a survey to complete, but all identities will be kept strictly confidential. She hopes the research “has the capacity to give owners, members and administrators an insight into what consciously or subconsciously motivates active participation in different communities, information that could be used to ensure that member forums are more user friendly and meet the expectations of current and future community members.”
She’s chosen a weird list of forums, including the Nutella forum (wonder what bonkers chat goes on there?) and am a bit amazed we even showed up on the radar.
Anyway, she’s asked if I could “recruit community members as participants”. So if you’re interested in taking part you can comment here or PM me and I’ll find out more info for you.
15 April 2013 at 17:54 #5665@bluesqueakpip My pleasure. I like it!
14 April 2013 at 16:35 #5533Oh and just one more. One of the best songs ever written. And perhaps the best (or most prescient) video ever, as it was done pre YouTube. Just give your fans a camera. Brilliant.
This thread is annoying and great because I could post here all day 😀
14 April 2013 at 16:06 #5529Cheers @whisht will check that out later.
I also love dance music, misspent 90s and 00s etc. Must have seen Orbital about 50 times. And this always raises the roof (if there is one). Is also kinda relevant. Oh the memories (or lack of them)…
13 April 2013 at 21:32 #5399@juniperfish With Warner I just thought he was a bit underused for one episode (although brilliant).
JAMES BOND SKYFALL SPOILER ALERT COMING ————–
It was a bit like Ralph Fiennes in Skyfall – you think, what is an actor like him doing in a reasonably small role like this? And then you find out he’s in for the long term. Of course.
I did think of Derek Jacobi’s one turn before becoming the master, but the role wasn’t nearly as meaty as that.
So I think I’m stil right in saying he’ll be back.
13 April 2013 at 21:00 #5393@juniperfish Glad it all worked out.
When I posted the pic at the top I almost wrote that it was the First handing over to the Eleventh, that’s another reason why it appealed to me) but stopped myself. I should remember bonkers is welcomed (and encouraged) here.
But Warner is probably a better choice for One than Hurt. I actually think Hurt would be better as Two.
13 April 2013 at 17:48 #5349Ooh. Liked that. Great references to Alien and The Thing, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Reminded me of nightmares of nuclear destruction I had when I was 13. Not a good thing, but an important thing. And kinda relevant now North Korea is posturing. Will post more later after more thought.
Think Warner may be back.
13 April 2013 at 16:53 #5343This piece of genius was the first record (on vinyl) that I bought. Although the first music I ever owned was a tape (yes, a tape cassette album) of Reggatta de Blanc by the Police which I got for Christmas.
I just thought the video and song was genius, but nobody seemed to notice. Then Peter Gabriel got the same director to do his Sledgehammer video, using much the same effects, and everybody went gaga. What can you do?
12 April 2013 at 22:05 #5269@tiddler I didn’t take it as criticism, just an observation. And thanks but no worries, is my pleasure. And I totally agree with you. You try to do something that people enjoy and as soon as you do, it comes under attack. But what can you do? Luckily, as much as there are bad guys, there are just as many people out there who give up their spare time to build plug-ins or write code-fixes to keep them out. We just have to hope they’re smarter than those who’ve joined the dark side.
12 April 2013 at 21:33 #5263@thedoctordude The man next to Clara at the grave is her Dad, it’s just slightly poor ‘old man’ make-up. He looks totally different, but he does have those same dodgy eyebrows. So he is definitely ‘somebody’ for her.
I’ve wondered before whether Clara just appears in a time (a bit like The Doctor) – which is why this episode showing her grow up was interesting – but I hadn’t thought maybe her mother did the same. Cheers.
12 April 2013 at 21:23 #5257@tiddler sorry you couldn’t log in last night. Neither could I. As I’ve posted on the website comments forum it turns out there was a massive, world-wide, brute force hacking attack yesterday on just about every WordPress-based website (this is one). But we’re back, and hopefully it won’t happen again 😀
12 April 2013 at 20:40 #5251More McGann (and you can hear McCoy in the background). Not ruling out an appearance in the 50th.
12 April 2013 at 19:17 #5243Oh, and I’ve removed the weird log-in pop up that some people got. That was my hosting’s cross-server solution, but I’d rather handle my own security in a way that’s unobtrusive to users.
Now… back to The Doctor, finally… 😀
12 April 2013 at 19:14 #5241So it turns out no hosting was safe last night. For some strange reason that kinda makes me feel better (or at least less guilty for using a cheap shared server).
A large botnet has been attempting to break into WordPress websites by continually trying to guess the username and password to get into the WordPress admin dashboard. This is affecting almost every major web hosting company around the world.
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/strategy/item/32269-major-brute-force-attack/
Will still keep an eye on the hosting, but seems it was nothing to do with them. I’ve added more protection against brute force attacks now. So fingers crossed the cyberbots are now banished!
12 April 2013 at 18:05 #5235Hi everyone and thanks for all the kind words and useful advice. Hopefully this is just a blip and normal service will be resumed shortly. My hosting said they were under sustained attack for 2 days. They’ve put in defences, but now you get a weird pop-up login if you try to log-in.
@pedant I will put a note on the Homepage. I’m just waiting to find out if it can’t be removed. Don’t want to put off new members.
11 April 2013 at 22:05 #5177Cheers @juniperfish
It’s not stressful but it is a pain in the a***.
The hosting doesn’t cost much, about £30-£40 a year, but maybe that’s the problem. I may have to go to something that’s not on a shared server if @haveyoufedthefish can’t help (or at least is ona virtual private server), and that’s about £300 a year – still not that much for a year’s worth of entertainment from you lot so would be quite happy to pay for that.
However, they’ve put stuff in place tonight to stop more brute force attacks. We can only hope that may be the end of it.
11 April 2013 at 21:50 #5173Hi everyone,
There have been some real issues with the site tonight, as you may have noticed over the last couple of hours. I really do apologise.
Have been on to my hosting company for the last 2 hours. I think it may be resolved, but think I may have to change host anyway if they have become a regular target for hackers.
Will keep you posted.
11 April 2013 at 17:38 #5141Hi @cariad welcome to our little forum.
If you want a brief and amusing overview of all of Who’s history, I find this guy pretty good (and entertaining): https://www.youtube.com/user/RitchandSpace
I’d love to know what people like @htpbdet @jimthefish and @phaseshift think.
Here’s his take on the first Doctor (you’ll find out who Susan is).
10 April 2013 at 21:15 #5029@Shazzbot spamming a site or trying a denial of service, or just trying to harvest user data is a pain. If they’re planting easter eggs to entertain then I applaud them, but they’re probably the minority. If they’re looking to earn dosh by spamming sites, I may have to go all Ming the Merciless on them 😀
Is everything really about money? Why try to destroy something other people enjoy?
If you know people who do that, why not ask them to instead help protect this site. I’d be glad of the help and the technical expertise.
Cheers!
10 April 2013 at 19:27 #4983Thanks @jimthefish and @chickenelly
I think the success this week is probably more down to @juniperfish , @phaseshift and others, including yourselves I think, posting links on The Guardian.
And as for hours put in, mine pale in comparison with some of the posters on here. I’m still crawling out of my lurker shell 😀
I’m annoyed that in our best week so far there have been technical issues with my hosting (in case you noticed) – supposedly there have been brute force attacks on their servers on a lot of sites built on WordPress (of which this is one). I couldn’t log in for the last half hour…
I don’t know why anyone intelligent would want to join the dark side and spend all their life creating programmes to post links to cheap viagra but it happens. “What did you do with your life Grandad?”
Hopefully @haveyoufedthefish may be able to provide some more secure hosting. But I’m still backing up every day just in case.
10 April 2013 at 18:23 #4977P.S. @Shazzbot It’s YOUR site. I just set it up quickly in response to a few pleas on The Guardian because I didn’t want The Snowmen conversations on there to end.
10 April 2013 at 18:12 #4975Yes @Shazzbot that did interest me as well. I think that although that was the dreaded Jonathan Nathan-Turner (who actually was supposedly quite happy to even have Tom Baker lose the scarf – the man seemed to be obsessed with making his mark) that may have been his one good decision.
I’ve posted before that I used to read scripts for film companies and in classic three act structure, at the end of act two (about 3 quarters in) when we witness the fall of the hero/heroine, when they are at their lowest point in the story, we should not have any idea how they will escape, and too often I just think “Sonic!” Nice that in the recent episode the sonic got put away at the end of act two when facing the old god. Although love (of a sort) still saved the day, but that’s another gripe for another time. 😀
10 April 2013 at 17:33 #4965Doctors 6, 7 and 8 on Australian TV:
I think you were probably right @jimthefish that them being in Australia means they’re not taking part. I don’t think McCoy or Baker could really carry it off now anyway, but McGann definitely could as we don’t really know how old his Doctor got.
9 April 2013 at 18:03 #4861Hi @scaryb
Thanks for pointing it out, and no offence taken. 😀 I think my hosting has had some issues today, some of my other sites were also a bit slow earlier. I’ve pointed it out to them and they say they think they’ve fixed the issue. Hope so!
8 April 2013 at 16:58 #4693@htpbdet no probs but honestly, is more me having to sort out website/server issues, is nothing to do with anything you’ve done.
However, Brigadier’s daughter is now confirmed for the Anniversary Special. And where is the link!!! 😀
8 April 2013 at 16:00 #4687@haveyoufedthefish No worries and no offence taken. Am interested. If you have a rack then lets move it there. Would love to. Would take a lot of the pressure off just me 😉
I do try to check everything. Being a webmaster is weird though. Some people (and spambots) seem to sign up with no problems, others really struggle. HTPBDET thought we’d rejected him until I contacted him (and then I had to hack the database to confirm him so he could comment).
And as you say, sometimes comments never get posted (despite there being over 1000 on this site since January). I am keeping an eye on it, but having a second eye on things would be cool.
Craig
8 April 2013 at 15:45 #4685One of my friends just sent me this link about “the evil of Doctor Who”. It’s a few years old now but is hilarious. “God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who, materialism and alcoholism.” However, he’s quite happy to sell all that evil to someone else… What was that word that began with m… m… materialism?
http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/2134279.dr_who_tardis_on_sale_on_ebay/
7 April 2013 at 22:55 #4551Hi @haveyoufedthefish , apologies if you lost a post.
Early on (when this site started) I posted that I don’t host this site (I’d love to, and then I could control everything). Unfortunately I don’t, I don’t have the expertise or hardware yet, so am sometimes at the mercy of my US hosting company. They host about 7 or 8 sites for me and I have very little problems with them, and I’ve been very happy with them. However, there are occasional database connection problems which I do berate them for, they’ve changed this site and the database to several different locations for me already. Although DNS is a new one…
As I said in my early post, I don’t own this hosting, so the best advice I can give is to either write your posts offline, or Crtl C (copy) your post before hitting submit (I do that with every post I make anywhere anyway).
I do try to maintain it as best I can, but not all of it is within my control. Once again, apologies. If problems do continue I will look at changing hosting.
7 April 2013 at 21:37 #4529@phaseshift I told @htpbdet you’d been questioning him. Apologies, but good debate is always welcome. 😀
@htpbdet if you put an @ before a person’s name then they will get an email saying “You’ve been mentioned” which hopefully inspires more debate.
7 April 2013 at 21:20 #4525Sorry, should have made that clearer. Gravatar works based on your email address (which is kept secret, promise). So, when you sign up, this site basically checks first if you have uploaded a pic. If you have it will use it. If you’ve not, it then checks if you’ve uploaded a pic to Gravatar (based on your email address – which, again, is never made public). If so it uses that pic. Failing that, you get the default avatar.
I really hope that’s clear. Makes sense to me but I know what I’m sometimes like 😀
7 April 2013 at 21:11 #4521Hi @Shazzbot – glad you like it. It wasn’t really down to me, I’m just the facilitator for all The Guardian Who fans such as JimTheFish, Juniperfish and PhaseShift etc. I’m kinda the same as you. I grew up with Who and rememeber the end of Pertwee, but my memories are just that, memories that have faded. I’m constantly impressed by how much the rest of our little clan have retained.
Regarding the avatar, it’s one you have uploaded to gravatar.com (which is a wannabe universal avatar site). I’m not sure if The Guardian uses Gravatar or not, but somehow you’ve ended up there. You can change the pic though by uploading a new one on your profile page.
Any probs, drop me a line.
7 April 2013 at 16:11 #4451@jimthefish Thank you for posting that. I missed that.
@wolfweed You win the internets! Without a doubt.
7 April 2013 at 11:00 #4403Hey @tiddler
Glad to have you here, and fantastic that you like it. Look forward to hearing all your bonkers theories.
Just a little note. If you put an @ symbol before one of our names then it becomes a link and we’ll get an email saying “You’ve been mentioned”.
No biggie, but if you mention someone that way then they’re more likely to check out your post. Which is always cool.
Craig
7 April 2013 at 09:01 #4387@lula Great first (proper) post. Looking forward to more. I agree that Smith’s speech should be nominated, even if the episode was a bit light.
Much food for thought. Not sure about “We are the world” though, and personally Clara’s Mum’s a lot more hot than Clara’s Dad, if I had to choose 😀
7 April 2013 at 08:06 #4379A warm welcome from me too @sheena444
Don’t worry @scaryb
I do try to read every post, and thankfully everyone here so far is lovely. Which I hope is our saving grace. If we do start getting infested with trolls I don’t think they’ll last long, we’re too nice for them, and especially if everyone remembers “Do not feed the trolls”.
@phaseshift also has a fine way with withering putdowns that would scare me off. This from the Guardian blog made me laugh
@dmr95-
The Imperfection is yours. I see a team that’s worked on these on their own time, to finish prototypes and make them new. With a desire to see an episode like this.
You post cynicism. I hope I post something else. Whatever your answer I win.
Plus I can also directly email them, and if it really comes to it, delete them and block their IP address so they can’t sign up again. I hope it doesn’t come to that though. Let’s hope we’re like Nu Who and, in the face of adversity, love can always save the day 😀
6 April 2013 at 20:45 #4311LOL @wolfweed I actually did laugh out loud at that, and almost spat wine over my keyboard.
So Clara’s mum actually becomes important. See the prequel below (sorry for the repost but I think it’s worth it). “Is that your Mum?” “I’d better she if she’s alright” or something like that (I’m doing this from memory, not transcript).
What also struck me as a misdirection last week was the password. Clara asks how she can remember the password and Angie smiles, then there is a cut. I think it’s Angie who says “Run you clever boy and remember 123”. Clara is just repeating it, which kinda got me thinking that she may be some sort of empty vessel that gets filled with whatever comes along… barmaid, governess, dalek!
6 April 2013 at 18:25 #4281As much as I loved it just for being Who, I’m going to have to re-watch it to form an opinion. It didn’t grab me first time, and I thought it was actually a bit dull, a bit “The Beast Below”, which was of course the second episode for Amy. “The End of the World” (Rose’s second episode) was also a bit poor. Maybe companions shouldn’t be taken to alien worlds for their first trip. Maybe the Doctor should learn not to try too hard on a first date.
6 April 2013 at 17:59 #4275Told you it was the leaf! 😀
6 April 2013 at 14:06 #4247Great spot @phaseshift
The early stuff is more or less lost on me, but that sounds like Moffat has been paying attention.
I was going through the users a couple of nights ago and spotted HTPBDET has registered but not confirmed for this forum. I think this gives me some ammo to email him just in case he’s had problems signing up.
By the way, did you get my PM re the blog?
6 April 2013 at 07:54 #4233Hi @tiddler welcome aboard!
That’s interesting because of what it says about Tennant’s role. If they were interested in bringing back Ecclestone then they must have wanted a 3 Doctor story – and as far as I can remember there were no clones of 9.
It points towards Tennant actually playing 10, rather than his semi-clone from the alternate reality.
4 April 2013 at 19:47 #4175Hi @emmoftheess glad to have you on board. As a fellow lurker this is a great place to finally let loose. Hope you enjoy. Everyone here is very lovely. And no idea is too bonkers… In fact, the more bonkers the better!
4 April 2013 at 17:59 #4173Oh, and you can apply for the job as the new Executive Producer here:
https://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc01.asp?s=FTcEbHMjWuLXcZzLur&jobid=47518%2C4025587198I think everyone here would qualify as
passionate about making popular, ground-breaking television drama
and you would definitely all pass this test:
You must have original and creative ideas for storylines and characters as well as the skills and abilities to communicate these to the team.
😀
4 April 2013 at 17:56 #4171A little preview for Saturday…
3 April 2013 at 18:34 #4113Yes, very sad. I’ve not read any of his SF yet for some reason, despite owning some of it, but I have liked a lot of his fiction (although some has also been disappointing). As @pedant (IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan) suggests, Complicity is a really great book. A beautiful, angry, masterpiece that is just as relevant now, if not more so, than when it was written. “You”, as the reader, become complicit…
There’s a great piece on him by Val McDermid in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/03/iain-banks-my-fife-friend1 April 2013 at 17:53 #3971Okay, here’s my (late) review, having recovered from a long weekend and had a chance to rewatch. Well, it’s not really a review, more a discussion of themes and tropes and notes to myself. It’s a bit long, sorry. Probably why I’m better lurking 😀
Overall, I thought it was a bit disjointed but, as @phaseshift suggested, that may be the point of the series if Clara is disjointed. And I really enjoyed it anyway, mostly because Who is back! It wasn’t a patch on The Eleventh Hour, which introduced a new Doctor and a new companion in one episode, but Moffat was maybe trying a lot harder then as the new show runner. One can only hope the weight of the 50th has made him try especially hard once more for that episode (or episodes).
So it seems I was wrong about the prequel (sorry @chickenelly). From what I can tell from this episode The Doctor didn’t know he’d met Clara on the swings, but he did take her advice and go and find a quiet place to think about things. Can’t get much quieter than a monastery. So she did have an effect on his actions (is she guiding him?).
While I’m still on the subject of the prequel I’m still thrown by little Clara losing her mojo. It’s funny because it’s incongruous, but because it is sooooooo incongruous and really stands out, especially with the strange man on the swings and the current BBC paranoia re anything Saville related, I can’t help thinking it might be relevant. If it wasn’t they would never have let that line live, for fear of being pilloried. Must ponder more…
So the monastery… Is there anything relevant about 1207? Hopefully @bluesqueakpip can enlighten us with her numbers. In the spirit of @blenkinsopthebrave I checked the time of Kennedy’s assassination but Wikipedia tells me it was 12:30. Doesn’t stop the Doctor getting there 23 mins early though to stop it 😀
And while he was at the monastery he did a painting of Clara. Hmmm… “Paintings”… A recurring theme in Moffat’s run and Matt’s clue on Jonathan Ross about the 50th Anniversary. It also feeds into @bluesqueakpip‘s “If you can remember it…” Is he now going to do a painting of Tennant, or take a look at River’s drawings again to remember his past self (selves)?
Banging on the door was also an early theme in the episode. It starts with a Monk banging on a door that has a little window in it, a bit like a TARDIS window. Then slightly later we have The Doctor, dressed as a monk, banging on the door, asking to be let in. Banging on doors could be another theme. Imagine The Doctor locked out of his TARDIS when he desperatly needs in, perhaps on a certain field of battle (where he now seems to not want to take the TARDIS). That line is really weird as well: “I don’t take The TARDIS into battle”, and we know a battle is coming up. More hmmm…. from me. And falling into the wrong hands? Who’s hands does he have in mind? Only a few people can pilot The TARDIS.
“He’s definitely not a monk”… what does THAT mean. Has he been drinking and fornicating? Or does he just not act like that other monk? Two Time Lords, different personalities, two Doctors?
Then there’s asking Clara to say “Doctor Who”. He’s never realised how much he enjoys hearing that said out loud? So is he going to enjoy it when the question is asked? Or is it hubris before “the fall”?
Artie and Angie Maitland? Who names their kids Artie and Angie? Are they both a.m.? Is there going to be a p.m.? Must check what the kids were called in The Snowmen.
This Clara said “bigger on the inside”, but she was prompted. Nevertheless, I don’t think she’s the more worldly-wise Clara of The Snowmen. Does the Clara of The Snowmen know that “smaller on the outside” is going to interest him – is she playing with him?
“People always have plans…” then an ominous bell rings. Not sure what that might mean yet. Knowing Moffat, probably nothing.
It featured a lot of Moffat tropes. “Don’t click” being very “Don’t blink”, and “I don’t know where I am” being very much like being zapped somewhere else just as The Weeping Angels do to you. As I said when the poster for the new series was released the faces reflected in the spoonheads remind me of Donna in the library. And if The Doctor can rescue a “soul” (not comfortable with that word) from a spoonhead then can he enable a spoonhead to retrieve River from the datacore (if that was what it was called)? He has already started to dismantle/reprogramme one outside Clara’s home.
Also, yet another copy of The Doctor! What is it with Moffat and multiple technological/almost flesh Doctors? All we need now is a Nesteen duplicate of him and we’ll have the full set!
Then, of course, as others have pointed out, there are the camel references, who is the woman in the shop(?), and what is up with the leaf? Also the references to 2 (the bow tie), 3 (the motorbike), 4 (the scarf), 10 and 11 (the book by Amy). Is the fez a reference to 1? I don’t think so myself. I looked out for any “crickety cricket” stuff but didn’t spot any. Maybe next week we get 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
And may I just add you are all brilliant and thanks for contributing. This is not my site, it is yours, all yours, and always will be.
31 March 2013 at 16:21 #3857Hey all, loving all the contributions. Just got back home after seeing my folks for Easter, and running off out again in about 10 minutes, so will post properly tomorrow. But the leaf struck me. I did think it was little Clara’s from the prequel, then I remebered she’s also holding a similar leaf in the poster for Rings of Akhaten. May be just coincidence, but I doubt it.
http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/the-rings-of-akhaten-poster-large.jpg
30 March 2013 at 17:06 #3695Just a note to say that I’m closing this thread as I assume each episode’s discussion will lead to much speculation and I’d like to try and keep most of it in one place. I will of course re-open it if there are howls of outrage!
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