Why did you join the Hive?

The Rob Filth and Rani debate videos brought the forum to my attention in 2013. I didn't actually join up until early 2016 but I read thread after thread for about two years and eventually decided to contribute to them myself. It seemed like the only place where you could discuss the modern era in a negative way without having your head bitten off. I honestly thought I was one of only a handful of people that thought the modern series was insulting shit but I was thankfully proven wrong.

I stumbled upon this place by complete accident. I was just doing random google searches about how shitty NuWho is and one of the results linked me to one of the threads here. I read through it, liked what I saw. Browsed through some of the other threads and thought "Well, these guys really seem to know what they're talking about".

I used to post on the Doctor Who section on Reddit, but that really didn't turn out so well. 90% of the users there are just a bunch of NuWho worshipping dweebs who downvote anyone who says anything vaguely negative about the show.

Seriously, fuck forums that use upvote/downvote systems. Systems like that just completely stifle discussion and encourages groupthink/mob mentality.

Rob, Monk and I are probably the only remaining posters who've taken the journey through every iteration of the forum.

Most of the original Hivers were members of Richie Timelord's Logopolis Metropolis c.2004. This was at a time where there were dozens of forums competing after the closure of the BBC Doctor Who forums.

When the new series aired, the conflicts on LM led to a more anarchic, left-wing and highly critical clique of of posters who were disappointed with the new show.A poster called Cartoongirl created and hosted the first iteration of the forum 'Doctor Who Redux'.

The second version came after the technical issues and eventual abandonment of DWredux, and was called 'The Leisure Hive'. Liam set it up. This was probably the best iteration of the forum ever, and certainly the funniest.

Mike took control of things and created a bespoke website and URL for the forum, leading to the archival of 'The Leisure Hive' in favour of the newly anointed 'The Hive'. This was successful for some time until Mike could no longer afford the server costs or the domain (no-one was really chipping in), and the activity had waned to a trickle of regular posters .

The latest version of the forum saw the reigns taken by Adam Ant Driver, who returned the forum back to a free forum host, meaning the types of material and speech that could be posted were subject to external rules and limits older versions would simply not have tolerated. The forum has also shifted political colours as more posters from the anti-social justice movement and right wing have dug themselves a trench here.

This version of the forum is probably the most ordered, but I confess to missing the anarchy, the trolling and sheer offensiveness of the older versions. They attracted some of the most unique 'characters' in fandom. The Leisure Hive (in particular) often had me crying tears of laughter at some of the threads. I think that might be why I have a strange loathing for threads like 'Top 10 Doctor's Outfits' and various other banal retreads of eternally debated topics.

I joined around the end of the rtd era.

Personally, I quite like order! The anti feminist and anti sjw stuff might get repetitive, but the old forums catfights could be even more so.

The sheer awfulness of Voyage of the Damned and the opening 2 eps of series 4, together with the GB morons still lapping up any shite the new show put out and gangbanging anyone who disagreed, set me off in search of a site composed of people with rather better taste and something resembling critical faculties instead of just mindless adulation. So there you have it.

The Rob and Rani cartoons made me aware of this place. They are absolute comedy gold.

I love it when Rob trolls Rani about Tennant dating Georgia Moffet being wrong

"David Tennant's had his way with every woman in the cast that that lothario John Barrowman hasn't got to first"

I joined after Dark Water/Death in Heaven. I got so frustrated with idiots saying "Missy channelled Delgado" so this place was refreshing.

burrunjor wrote:The Rob and Rani cartoons made me aware of this place. They are absolute comedy gold.

I love it when Rob trolls Rani about Tennant dating Georgia Moffet being wrong

"David Tennant's had his way with every woman in the cast that that lothario John Barrowman hasn't got to first"

I joined after Dark Water/Death in Heaven. I got so frustrated with idiots saying "Missy channelled Delgado" so this place was refreshing.

You'd wet yourself if the old Hive archives were available. It was more than just Rob and Rani.

Mott1 wrote:Personally, I quite like order! The anti feminist and anti sjw stuff might get repetitive, but the old forums catfights could be even more so.

Christ, you really need corrupting, Mott1.

They are:

http://leisurehive.informe.com/index.php

Dahhhhhm! It was down last time I checked.

Do you have a favourite post on the archive, Seal?

My favourite 'classic Hive' argument was when Bill mocked Toiletman about his quote of being 'a fellow writer' - "As a fellow mammal..."

I'm not sure I can distil it down to one post, but the absurdity and bizarreness of some of the 'middle-era' Monk posts are some of the finest inadvertent satire I've ever encountered.

Bill and I spent many hours belly laughing on the phone about them.

Boofer wrote:I'm not sure I can distil it down to one post, but the absurdity and bizarreness of some of the 'middle-era' Monk posts are some of the finest inadvertent satire I've ever encountered.

Bill and I spent many hours belly laughing on the phone about them.

Not sure to be flattered or insulted lol. Not entirely sure what you even mean lol.

I joined after getting warned on the DWF (as it was known back then) when I criticised RTD about his numerous insulting attacks on critics, and especially the ming mong thing.

I've always had a dry witt sense of humor, but the American mods that ran that forum litterally just couldn't get it and always thought I was being insulting. I wasn't the only person who got penalised for this. I left the DWF with many long time posters because of conflicts with the American staff.

No offense to any here, but seriously, some Americans just do not get British humor and just seem to always take everything to heart.

My favorite moment of Hive history was the "The Hive is a Den of Twats" where we uncovered a former member as a furry lover and a facist. He had shared the same account names across the web, and we dug deep and found some hillarious stuff. Guy went off the rails and threattened us. Happy days.

You've always been one of my favourite posters, Monk.

But while you were working out who you were ideologically, you dropped some of the funniest things I've ever read.

Like the day you handed in your Tory party membership over fees....then promised to vote for the Green party.

Magnificent.

Surely the question should be why do you still bother?

I have no idea either.

I probably wouldn't have come back if I had known Glitz and Watcher no longer posted.