Couldn’t find a suitable thread for this, but I’ve always wondered the history of this site. I discovered the site in 2016 while googling TV history and stumbled across a few mocs from users of this site. How long has the site been running for? Who started it? Why? I’ve read several posts that have touched breifly on the past but haven’t seen any substantial history? Anyone willing to share? It may seem boring but I find it very interesting. Thanks 
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Also interested to know. I discovered this site in 2013 (or maybe was early 2014) when I was looking for information on the short lived Wake Up.
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http://web.archive.org/web/20060801000000*/http://mediaspy.org/
Wayback Machine is an interesting way to explore and get a sense of the site’s history since 2003. I can’t provide a definitive history. I was a casual observer for a long time before I started contributing. I do remember using dial up internet at home to access the site during those early years.
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Here’s a compilation from a while back.
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I quite like looking at some of the old mock designs from various years in the wayback machine (not all are archived, but I can see a few)
I’ve found this one from 2006 by MrQ looks very similar to News Breakfast
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I remember signing up around 2006 when I was around 11 years old.
My first post was some really lame comparison between an early STW9 logo and the square Nine logo that had launched that year. I was quickly told not to start new threads.
A bit of a shame that the old site is now lost to history, because I think it would have been enjoyable to read the real-time reactions to events taking place over those years.
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While not going back to 2006, Pandora by the National Library of Australia did archive the site yearly between 2009 and 2015.
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Then again - I find that some parts of the site are missing on the Pandora Archive.
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I have been around since 2004 and would have loved to read some of my early posts to find out if i have really “matured” as a Media Spy “analyst” 
… or not.
I suspect the latter.
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Here’s something
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And emphasis on the word anal. 
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Yeah there used to be a collection of caps devoted to individual personalities and the threads got rather creepy. Fortunately that was disestablished around 2010 maybe? And not a moment too soon.
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There was a user who I think was called ‘mercat’ that was disturbingly obsessed with Jo Hall back in the early days of Media Spy. I remember reading the (then) National Nine News thread from around 2006-07 and there were pages and pages of caps with Hall presenting that he’d uploaded, complemented by some rather creepy comments.
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Yeah it was definitely Mercat. God that brings back some memories. A user called BUCKIE had a similar obsession with Mel Doyle’s legs IIIRC.
It was almost like two boards for a while, those who came to discuss media and those who came to ogle presenters and never appear elsewhere in the forum.
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Ah yes, I remember mercat. I wonder if he’s moved into the Victorian bush to watch one of Nine’s regional bulletins.
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Gawd, I just hope there weren’t any paedophiles on there… Never knew about this site until around 2016.
That wouldn’t be something you’d want out publicly. There were no news presenters under the age of 18, so that would not have been a problem anyway. Just creepy people drooling over Jo Hall and Mel Doyle. 
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Yup same with my Gyngell thread.
And five years later for my meme thread and State of Origin smack thread.
Basically the admins are fascists.
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We’re fascist-lite now.
I remember being made a mod like in 2008 and seeing some of the old mod threads. Basically ruled like an iron fist. Mr. Q had moderating blitz weekends if I recall where nothing out of line by posters was tolerated.
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