It occurred to me that we don’t always ask people how they came to find TARDIS Guide and the forum.
Tell us your story below:
I discovered the site via Mastodon and thought it was amazing. I reached out to its creator and In a short series of events I know he regrets on a daily basis, got chatting to @shauny who invited me to help out. I’d been finding fandom’s toxicity had been getting me seriously down and this site’s forum really did help me regain my love of interacting with other fans.
Tumblr, probably. I must have seen a link to the Guide proper, then discovered the forum and as someone who has longed for the casual, slow pace of the forum and can’t shut up about Dr Who, it has been perfect for me. I’m so glad I joined you guys 
I honestly can’t even remember. I assume it was linked on like reddit or twitter but I’ve been using it since a bit before the discord and forum started
I saw it on reddit, and it looked cool. So checked it out. Almost didn’t do it but i was like: ehh, taking a peek doesn’t take long and maybe I’ll end up really liking it. Still did not expect to use it as much as i ended up doing though lol.
Someone mentioned the site on a Discord server I’m a member of and I decided to check it out. Haven’t looked back since, and I’ve been checking the forum every single day since.
Mostly I was talking with @shauny on mastadon, giving him suggestions and such, and eventually checked out the forum side of the site.
I’m part of a Facebook Big Finish group and I saw the Guide mentioned in a post on there shortly before the Discord and Forum were created. Started with the Discord, but quickly got overwhelmed when I was missing half a conversation. The forum is easier to follow.
I think I first found the River Song timeline guide because I thought it would be cool to watch it from her perspective. Then a while later I saw a Tumblr post with the link I believe, and signed up, initially just to track my progress. Didn’t realize they were the same site at first though.
I think I was turned onto it because I follow @PalindromeRose on Twitter/X and they mentioned that they were moving over to it following the fall of the site we shall not name.
Mentioned it in my introduction but for those who haven’t read that, Tumblr.
One night I searched for the TARDIS Wiki page of a story I was listening to and TG was just there. Spent a few minutes to figure out what the site is for and how it works, then spent the whole night completing and rating every story I’ve experienced.
I discovered TARDIS Guide via Mastodon, probably through the posts of @deltaandthebannermen or maybe the tardis.guide account. With the baggage of a lot of negative experiences with internet forums over the past 24 years, I was hesitant to join. But the posts on Mastodon left such a positiv impression that I “dared” to register here after all.
I saw it on Reddit in October of last year. I was initially looking for a spreadsheet of all the BF releases. This was better than that. It sure has changed a bit since then.
It got mentioned in a doctor who discord server I’m a part of and took a look at the site since it sounded interesting. Made my way through some stuff I’ve seen and joined the forum the same day.
It was mentioned in a Discord server for me as well. It came perfectly during my first watch of the classic series and replaced the spreadsheet I used for rating every episode. Then when the forum was added I got really hocked. It has made me fall in love with the internet again. It is nice to meet strangers who are nice and respectful without algorithms and porn bots. To me, it feels like the internet in the early 2000s in all the good ways
I was newly on Threads and searching around for Doctor Who stuff. The word “TARDIS” brought up a post from the TARDIS Guide account about a newly started Book Club. I was intrigued 
@Intodrkness sent me the link together with the statement that it’s great, so I started looking into it.
This is lovely to hear, and so good that my scattershot approach to getting the word out has had an effect.
I’ve posted on Discord servers, on Reddit, on Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky and X, I’ve ran Facebook and Instagram ads at least one of you seems to have seen one of those.
I’m always reluctant to do any advertising because I’m in a constant state of not feeling that the site is finished enough. Yes I’m a perfectionist. But this makes me feel like I should just keep spreading the word 
Strap yourselves in because this is going to be a long post!
I have something of a complicated relationship with this fandom, to the point I was cancelled and deservedly thrown out around this time three years ago. I’ve always had a tendency to self-destruct whenever things are going my way, because I never feel like I deserve to have things going right.
Anyway, this is something I’ve spoken about with my counsellor and I’ve come to terms with the fact that some of the friendships I lost back then are in the past and that it’s time to let them go - I’m not the same person I was back then, and have made a conscious effort to be better, gaining many new friends along the way and repairing a couple of old friendships to.
Take the advice from someone who has been there - if you’ve been a complete [REDACTED] hole to people, hold your hands up and take accountability.
I took myself of all social media apart from Facebook during this time, but decided that I had to focus on rebuilding my confidence and my social life. I began posting reviews in the largest unofficial BigFinish Facebook group and gradually started gaining more confidence.
April 2022:
I’d gained a fraction of my confidence back by honing my review skills and making some friends in the Facebook group, but decided that I wanted to put myself back out into the fandom.
This is when I discovered TimeScales and began porting over all the reviews I put on the Facebook group.
It became something of a safe haven for me, and I managed to make quite a name for myself as someone who posted long-form reviews with over-analysing and cynicism.
In the two years I spent uploading to that site, I had uploaded over six hundred reviews and achieved the Diamond Reviewer badge - I still remember uploading my ‘Emancipation of the Daleks’ review as my 500th one.
I began promoting my reviews on TimeScales in the Facebook group and eventually Twitter - which I rejoined after more than a 24 month absence, and felt so much anxiety over.
Things were going well for the first time in ages.
April 2024
Only days after making a Tweet celebrating two years of writing reviews for TimeScales, it all came crashing down when THAT vile rant had been posted on their social media. I was disgusted and heartbroken - I couldn’t with good conscience continue supporting them and immediately reached out to my number one inspiration when it comes to reviews, someone who had actually praised my own reviews in turn - Doc Oho.
He was one of my biggest inspirations - you need only look at the format of my reviews to realise that - and I asked him how to set up a blogger as I planned on going fully indepentent. Tried that. The UI on that site was absolutely abysmal, and I gave up.
I was absolutely devastated and I began lamenting on Twitter - it wasn’t just about uploading reviews for me, it was about the work I’d put into repairing my mental state and moving on.
Then someone commented on my post - I believe she mentioned being a relative of @shauny - saying that there was this excellent website and forum where people could post reviews.
I joined TardisGuide that day without hesitation.
I knew others would’ve been in a similar situation to me, having felt betrayed by the other site and wanting somewhere to post their reviews now. That’s why I made every attempt to spread the word about TardisGuide and bring other people wanting to escape “the cesspit” over here.
I am so happy to see several other “TimeScales Escapees” over here now - people who understand how it feels to have lost our digital home, but to have found one which is so much more friendly and welcoming. Seeing people like @MrColdStream, @dema1020, @Muddyviolet over here - whose reviews I really admired - felt like such a win for the community.
Genuinely, @shauny, you should be immensely proud of the community you created here. I feel the most connected with this fandom I have ever felt, and just having discussions is a blast.
I take every opportunity to share TardisGuide links now.
Obviously you know that I tag the official Twitter account every time I share one of my reviews there.
I also still share reviews to that BigFinish Facebook Group… and since I’m the top contributor with over 17,000 points, I would like to think that people over there have took notice and joined TG.
Apolgies for this incredibly long and rambling post, and thanks for everyone that has read all the way through - just tells me that you’ve got enough patience to read one of my reviews 
I just thought it would be nice to share my story, because it’s really been a journey.
Thanks for sharing your story! It was an inspiring read. You put into words exactly what this site means to us!
