Perhaps it's my imagination, but with Clara's departure from the show (at least, almost), it seems to me she's suddenly gone from one of the most hated characters on Doctor Who to one of the most currently popular and beloved, with most people praising her time on the show across the internet. I noticed the same thing with people such as RTD and Matt Smith, whom were despised a lot over the internet throughout their time on the show but met a sudden shift of attitude as soon as they were going/gone, with people frequently talking about how much they miss them.

I have to say, it's nice to see Jenna getting some more positivity for once, I think she absolutely deserves it, but I find it strange how people working on Doctor Who are often despised by the internet until they leave, where they suddenly have the exact opposite.

Any Joni Mitchell fans out there? All together now;

"You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone..."

I don't think it's your imagination. Tinternet is full of hyperbole, extreme opinions and reactions. "I *hate* this Doctor/era/companion/story...' Given a bit of time and we move on to the *next* Doctor/era/companion, etc things seem to calm down a bit. Often, they then get the grief then cos it's current.

That's my take, anyway. Hinchcliffe got a fair amount of stick back in the day, for example. You just had to wait a few months for the fanzines rather than just log in or opine on social media.

Doesn't seem that strange to me. internet provides a release to moan about things that are bugging you. Some people liked the character others didn't. If you've nothing to moan about why say anything?

Before she went those that were unhappy voiced their opinion, now she's going there's a new set of people voicing their unhappyness.

If it's the same people - then it gets weird

Yeah, I wasn't around back then but my father was a huge Who nut and he's told me before how it was the same back then. I don't see this kind of attitude with other shows though, I'm guessing it's because of how the show is more susceptible to change than most. The one thing the show thrives on and it's the one thing that splits the fans.

It often is the same people, and they are weird....

It often is, which is the weird part. I'm not questioning others' opinions, I've liked and disliked my share of different directions with Doctor Who, but it's jarring and awkward how suddenly people seem to change their mind about someone when they leave. I remember many comments about RTD when he was running the show, you would've thought he was writing the most hated programme in existence. And in just a few weeks Matt Smith went from everybody talking about how much they hate him for ruining the show, to everyone begging him to stay on.

In 1976 The Deadly Assassin was trashed beyond belief by the then President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. Now it's a 100% classic. Some things never change...

I think this quote from Capaldi from a recent interview sums it up very nicely:

For me at least it's more to do with the character and Jenna's case is the perfect example since she made her debut as Oswin. Now, I thought Oswin was brilliant and I instantly warmed to the character and wanted to know more about her. The Victorian Clara also had a fairly interesting personality, what with her double life. However, present-day Clara which Jenna went on to play as the companion was the most boring of the lot and in terms of backstory was not given much to work with. Thankfully, Jenna got to shine again playing a Zygon this series. With her ridiculously forced and unintelligent departure episode, I can only conclude it is the writing of present-day Clara that has been failing her (to the very end in my opinion), which is what made people apprehensive about Jenna as the companion.

Ok kinda gonna go a bit OT here but:

It was the same with Miss Martha Jones, Although I loved her while she was on it at the time I hated Series 2 Rose (But loved Series 1 Rose upto Born Again/ Christmas Invasion) People may hate Martha because of her romantic feelings towards The Tenth Doctor but I saw it all the more human as she was kinda led on by The Tenth Doctor while they were on the moon, even if he said its nothing more, I feel like any normal Women in their 20s would feel the same after getting the kiss of their life on the moon from a man wearing a suit and being asked to runaway with the said man the night following. And I saw it as Ten being more of a arse to her than her to him, if he actually treated her like a friend like Donna after her instead of a student than I think it would've just been that way, and Martha Jones learnt from her mistakes and left the TARDIS and moved on. The whoke experience with Martha proved she was human yet people hate her for falling for The Doctor.

Nowadays people everywhere are talking about how underated she is compared to then, I guess it could be a case of "You don't know what you have until its gone".

This is largely just perception.

The majority of people like the character but don't feel the need to state it every week on the Internet. Naturally, they'll comment when she leaves though. A small number of people don't like the character and shout about it loudly on the Internet constantly. This second group therefore have more visibility, which could make a naive person think they are a majority.

I doubt many people 'hated' Clara.

Don't read Digital Spy or Gallifrey Base and be fooled into thinking that is a representation of the audience. Most of the audience are happy and positive about the show.

It was the same with RTD. He seemed 'hated' because of the vocal people who didn't like him, but in fact most of the audience enjoyed his writing. It's the same with Moffat now.

Because there are plenty of nice things to say, perhaps?