This is ONE THING that annoys me!!!
I'll start with the simple thing.....I like to watch my Doctor Who as it happens (I record it in case I missed something, or simply because I want to watch it again!)

Here's the issue:-

WHY do people write in to this forum DURING the programme? They are not obviously watching it properly.....because they are looking at responses on their computer and replying to it....etc...etc.....
Then they write in and ask "why did such and such a thing happen??" BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T F *****G WATCHING!!!
Try recording it, or watch the repeats!

Does anyone out there know what I mean? Or am I alone in this?

I agree it is very hard to believe that people are concentrating on watching any programme properly while they're simultaneously commenting on it on-line, especially something as potentially complex as Doctor Who!
It does seem a bit disrespectful to the programme concerned IMO.

Some of the threads after Asylum made me repeatedly slam my face in to the side of a door.* Just because a big deal was being made out of nothing.

Moffat's vision of assuming the audience is intelligent enough to understand doesn't work when attention isn't being paid to the details on the screen.

( * it was very painful )

I know how you feel! Hope your head's alright!

I find it absolutely baffling that someone can watch a programme and simultaneously post on here.

When I'm watching DW, or anything else I really like, I am just focused on what is happening on the screen. Even then, if it's very fast moving, or there's lot of exposition, I may miss something.

However, if people want to post while watching, it's up to them.

It is annoying, though, when they then get hold of the wrong end of the stick because they have missed some vital bit of the programme.

I always think the people who vote "poor" for an episode before it's even finished properly think it's poor because they have missed half of it and it doesn't make sense to them.

It's not something I'd do but if that's part of the fun of watching the show for some people, good luck to 'em. Be a sad old world if we start dictating rule on how people should watch TV - it's not like anything about it in any way disturbs me or spoils my viewing.

I don't really see as being much different to someone commenting to someone sat next to them - except that the internet lets you do that with someone sitting a thousand miles away. Some people are genuinely able to multitask and proficient typists they can type notes whilst still listening and without losing concentration (in fact, a lot of people do exactly that in their work - listening and typing or taking notes at the same time - interpreters can translating and speaking the last sentence whilst still hearing and remembering the next one).

As for those people being more likely to misunderstand the plot - I can't say I've ever noticed that correlation. If anything, the people I've seen who are most often "confused" are the ones who can cite the most minute detail - probably because they are too busy looking for "clues" to follow the story - can't see the wood for trees and all that.

And I've no way of knowing if this is the case for any or all of those people but it's at least possible for someone to watch five minutes then "live-pause" the show on their PVR during a scene change or other natural break and post a quick comment. They could post half a dozen or more times and never miss a second of the show.

There are plenty of people out there ready to criticise or ridicule adult DW fans just for watching the show at all without any of us insulting each other for the WAY we watch it.

There is a big difference, actually - can't offhand find the study, but when speaking to someone directly, it is a simple process in your brain. When you type - even touch-typing - or write anything, it is a completely different process in the brain, and uses much more 'computing' power than just talking. Talking is a 'natural' communication, and writing/typing is 'learned' communication - talking being hardwired, and writing/typing having to forge its own way.

The study I cannot find right now strongly suggested that only an absolute minority of people were able to gain any value from a passage that was read to them when they were typing responses about that same passage. It suggested that those with a high IQ (and I mean, really high, and people who can learn other languages to a high fluency tend to have a high IQ) were able to process that passage. This is because the brain does not process two or three things at once, it switches between them, 'forgetting' the processes that are in hiatus for those milliseconds. The majority of people are likely to miss around 50% of the information from this. (Just as an aside, people who audio-type are not doing the same, as they are not trying to disseminate the information - the opposite, in fact: they are relaying the information exactly as it is offered, so not the same process again...)

Therefore, it actually is objectively better to watch without posting. And can be classed as a nuisance when those same people who have been typing ask about things they missed through typing - which I personally have noticed. There was a lot more of it last year, and it really did get quite annoying.

The study you're referring to was probably this one http://blog.reyjunco.com/wp-content/...extCAE2012.pdf It was based entirely on studying university students studying for final exams and even then it specifically noted that there was no affect on retention when the subject was emailing or using a search engine.

Watching Doctor Who is hardly comparable with sitting a Masters paper in quantum physics - it's light entertainment and there are plenty of gaps in the action and dialogue where someone can type "That robot is dead good innit" without missing anything.

One other point. Even if someone has typed whilst watching and later asked a "daft" question, that doesn't mean the two are related. Lots of people ask "daft" questions who have watched every second of the show with the curtains drawn and the phone off the hook. It possible that the person is just not that switched on or that they are just the only ones brave enough to ask on a forum where they may get the mickey taken for not having all of the answers (and that's without suggesting that some of the "correct answers" are just opinions and guesswork anyway)

Totally agree. I've mentioned it several times myself in reply to silly questions posted here. Moffat himself stated this. The amount of people claiming to have spotted errors in the programme when all that really happened was that they simply wasn't watching is mind blowing.
When I watch it (a day late as I have to download it as I live in Bulgaria now), it's lights out, curtains drawn, phones off and projector fired up on the big screen. I engross myself in the programme I love.

I would agree with you, if it weren't for the fact that I've had to explain things that were actually on the screen in section,s to people who had been blogging and posting during the episode on numerous occasions. The fact that they do not remember that those parts happened on the screen in front of them not too long before asking the question certainly lead me to believe there's a correlation.

But isn't it also the case that you - and others - have had to explain things to a lot of people but only a very small number ever post during the show's first transmission?

We're talking about a handful - at most - of people posting during broadcast on a forum that is brim full of questions and misunderstandings about the show.

That suggests to me that there are simply some people who - for various possible reasons - don't grasp certain things about some or all episodes regardless of whether or nor they are also typing at the same time as viewing. It's also true that everyone here has - at some point - failed to spot something or misheard something else or simply not understood something.

Good money says that when you were at school you knew one kid who could lark about all day and still fly through any exam and another who studied and swotted till their eyes bled and they still couldn't count past ten without taking their socks off. People are different.

Mostly though - I just think that DW is supposed to entertain and we're all here because we get more out the show than the average viewer. To some people that means reading every book and watching every episode - for others it's buying DW quilt-covers - and for a few, it's chatting to other fans during the show. Given that the people who find that "annoying" are the ones who are absolutely not going to be using the forum to see it happen, I fail to see the problem. If there are one or two people asking "daft" questions and it bugs anyone, just don't answer them.

FWIW - I share the view that it's not the ideal way for someone to fully enjoy the story - but I think it's a harmless way for them to enjoy the show - and the more people that do that, the more chance there is of it still being on air in five years time. If it means that they ask a few questions, that's a big part of what the forum is here for.

I pay attention during the first showing - but mostly to the story rather than the minute detail. I may spot the odd thing because my mind is completely "into" the fantasy. I'd like to think that I can come here and ask someone like you or Granny who I regard as "reliable experts" to help me fill in a few gaps without having to "prove" that I was watching carefully and never looked away for a second to light a fag or take a swig of coffee.

You might want to entertain yourself next time by answering the question and then multi quote all their during-broadcast posts.

When I were a lad some teachers would throw chalk at some inattentive pupil staring out the window. Think of the multi quotes as virtual chalk.

(I don't condone actual real life throwing of things at people. Especially not at my former self gazing out the window).

You must have gone to posh school - our teachers threw blackboard rubbers which had hard, wooden handles.

I suppose these day they'd have to throw a mouse or laser pointer - but only at your avatar

One carpentry teacher would tend to throw whatever came to hand. Which on one memorable occasion was a chisel. But despite the boy needing a plaster the teacher survived to carpent (? new word) again . somehow. Pupils parents were of the robust clip round the ear variety themselves.

Back on topic - posting during broadcast doesn't bother me. But I couldn't do it myself. I'm a draw the curtains and "shush!" type.

This is the line that sums up the problem with this thread for me....

"They are not obviously watching it properly"

I mean - really? Is there a rule book somewhere that people have to refer to before watching Doctor Who? Is there an approved way to watch it and anyone who doesn't is not "watching it properly"?

Doctor Who - the show - is supposed to entertain. If a tiny minority want to take it so seriously that they will post something like "BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T F *****G WATCHING!!!" - I don't want their attitude being used to define "fans" If a few people feel it necessary to use the entire processing power of their brain to enjoy the show, that's just their way of getting something more out of the show and is absolutely no different to someone else wanting to close one eye whistle the theme tune from MASH. For most people, it's escapist fun - light entertainment - and if someone starts to see a bit more depth to it and ask a few questions, I think it's awful to belittle them them for "not watching it properly" and risk driving them away from this forum.

Maybe it's down to taking the forum too seriously - I don't know - but I don't see our role as existing members as being to make anyone uncomfortable for "not watching it properly". We all benefit from as many people as possible tuning in and wanting to be able to tune in next year. We should encourage people to ask questions because that means they are not just passively watching the moving pictures. Anything that makes them feel "unworthy" just makes it more likely that they show will be cancelled again.

Bottom line - so what if someone posts during the show? In what way does that have any effect on anyone else's enjoyment on a Saturday tea-time? What we're really talking about here is that posting during broadcast bugging forum users and discretion or filters are all that's needed to handle that without offending or marginalising anyone. I don't even know that people are posting in this forum at 8pm on a Saturday cos I'm watching Doctor Who - it's not like they are banging on my door shouting "did you see that?".

People - just like us - watch because they want to. If some of them also want to type a few words whilst doing so - don't insult them just because that not what you or I do. Failing that - let's go flat out and insist that only people who wear long scarves or say "allons y" every two minutes should be allowed to watch the show and post in this forum.

As the OP of this thread - I didn't set out to offend anyone. I was merely expressing my thoughts on how some people can type away....and type a response, whilst watching the show.
People do it on the soaps forum as well! Maybe i'm old fashioned, but I like to sit back and enjoy the show, with a glass of wine.........and then go on the forum to express my views. I'm obviously not a multi-tasker!! (although I can drink, smoke and watch TV at the same time!)