I heard there was a disturbance in the Force over at Soompi: a mass exodus of moderators and administrators.
Fill me in, please. Nrllee? 🙂
Seriously. I hope my old friends are fine. And wherever they are, I support them and their new ventures — as long as they’re not doing anything illegal, criminal, and unethical.
Why? What happened? Threads being closed? Never visited soompi after what happened to TKL thread😝😂
It would be all conjecture on my part. But here are the facts as I know it (I am sure the mods and admins are privy to more details but here’s a spectator’s view)
Hanyeon (admin) started a site remodel. New funky themes, supposedly easier on the eyes. Then he added more on top of that. With the addition of gifs, games, points, trophies and the like. I can’t remember how the games worked in detail. Mainly because I didn’t bother to participate in it. It seemed to be a system of merit where you get points for posts and likes and starting clubs? Buying and selling of threads? Honestly I don’t know how it worked. It just got quite convoluted and I didn’t have time to get involved. The site was humming along with increased activity. And then the shut down occurred. No warning from Rakuten. No explanation. The whole site was down for a few days. Even koalasplayground had an article about it.
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/07/24/what-happened-to-soompi-forums/
Rakuten posted this in reply to some asking them what happened
“We’re aware of the Soompi forums currently being unavailable. This was due to it having been taken down by the forum service provider due to certain posts and activity. We are currently working together with the forum service provider to investigate this matter.”
It sounded like the forum service provider didn’t like the changes? That’s what I think that statement says?
When it did come back up, it was stripped back to its original format. No more games, points, trophies, etc. It was unstable for a while (slow to load etc) but it seems to be settling now. Some segments were also left out of the reboot, never to return.
Then there was an announcement that Hanyeon was leaving. Following which others decided to leave enmasse as well. Citing the lack of communication (?) from Rakuten/Viki about what was happening. All the admins were removed from their positions before the exodus.
That’s really all I know. I surmise (total speculation on my part) that the higher ups didn’t like how the site was remodeled and what was being added. So they decided to strip it back to basics? Or the server had a massive meltdown and they could only back up the site from one point (before the site additions). No clue.
Ahhhh, thanks nrllee. 🙂
As to be expected from our Resident Sherlock.
When you wrote “starting clubs,” I thought of fight clubs. I didn’t get to see those clubs. I noticed that they would have “polls” in the forum. Remember? There was one for the Hospital Playlist? Something about who would end up with whom, and I told you all NOT to take part of that silliness.
Why be part of the herd?
How does polling contribute to discussions on the drama, the script and the characters?
And who freaking cares what other people think, especially when majority of those people can’t even run their own lives and are still dependent on their parents? Sigh. Bitches can think for themselves.
The poll was a stupid show of majority vs minority numbers.
And it fed the unhealthy “stan” mentality of these crazy fangirls.
Rumor is someone “accidentally” kimchi slapped the server.
hahaha.
Are you sure it was the kimchi-slap, and not the soju-spillage on the keyboard that did them in?
Thanks for the info, @nrllee. I remember seeing the notices and wondering what wa s going on. From what I can remember, the Soompi Forums were being updated to include a variety of themes/backgrounds at first. Then all of a sudden the update expanded to include Trophies and Clubs. Basically, everyone received “Soompi points” which you could then use in the Store to buy Trophies and Badges. If I remember, for every post or reply that you made on the forums, you got X number of points which went into your bank to use at the Store. I didn’t participate in buying anything because it was still a little unclear to me how things worked plus one of the things you could do was to steal points from other members which I thought was mean-spirited and I didn’t agree with that so I felt it was better to just wait and see exactly how this new feature would look in practice. The other thing was Clubs. Members could start a Club to talk about whatever. I think you got Soompi points for joining the Clubs. I remember it said if you left a club after you joined, you got points taken away, which I thought was weird.
Anyway, they had a lot of glitches with the rollout of the new theme choices and the forums were down intermittently during that time. Dark Mode was supposed to be the new default, but a lot of people didn’t like it and wanted to be able to switch back to the old page (aka Light mode). So the Forum staff worked on bringing back a Light mode choice. Finally we got the message that Light mode was working and would be the new default instead of Dark.
Everything finally was working again and no more site issues, when suddenly the Trophies, Clubs and Store were gone and no more points. Then Hanyeon left. They posted an announcement about it. Then was it last week? they posted another announcement saying that all the Admins were leaving and Rakuten was totally in charge of the Forums.
From the little discussion I saw, the rumor was that Rakuten wasn’t happy about the Trophies/Points/Store and Clubs changes, which was something site/forums founder Hanyeon was passionate about. They couldn’t come to an agreement about the direction of the forums and so Hanyeon left. The Admins and Mods left in solidarity with Hanyeon. Not sure if this is really what happened as it was all people’s speculations. It’s really sad. I don’t know what will happen to the forums going forward. Right now it looks like the forums are all self-moderated so I hope things stay on an even handed tone. Everything happened so suddenly, it was a shock.
Wait, what? “Steal points from members”? 🤦♀️ You lost me there. What’s the point of that?
Did Hanyeoun think this whole project through? By himself? It seemed pretty involved for just one person. Did he get compensation? It must have taken him a long time and a lot of energy to plan — on the side. I’m assuming he has a day job.
Nrllee has a point. The “store” concept has nothing to do with soompi’s roots as a forum to discuss dramas.
If the new forum was meant to be a “hang-out” place for people loosely interested in korean culture, then sure, it works. But the creation of separate clubs would be counteracting their objective because the establishment of these clubs actually engender a clique-ish nature and tribalism. You just hang-out with your people.
If it’s to foster camaraderie among drama enthusiasts, then the punitive aspects (e.g., losing points, stealing points and so) don’t make sense either.
😂😂
They were better off returning to their core mission of discussing the dramas again. I thought that was the founder soompi’s original intention: a place to discuss dramas she watched on TV.
@packmule3. I think the Clubs section was just a tag on. You could start anything you liked really. I think there was a meme club. A book lovers club I think? I do agree with @Table122000. I feel it was the whole points system and the buying/selling/stealing that was the sticking point. People were no longer just there to discuss dramas or Kpop, they were there to wheel and deal to gain points.
@packmule3 – More likely it is b/c Ko Moon-Young and Jang Man-Wol in the data center trying to talk it out.
@JohnL you’re killing me 😂.
Question-was this the site where all the winter gardeners were active and not so nice to ppeople who disagreed with them? My computer feed showed me Soompi articles about shows and actors like Jeon Mi-do. On YouTube is it the one that does The Swoon? i enjoy the Netflix prpmotional stuff where the aftors answer questions and play games like Jenga. I know it’s fluff but fluff is fun for getting through our crazy times. Anyway, from what evetyone has said, it looks like the site was trying to get more click bait. I hope the staff gets to land on their feet.
I have been to soompi forum to discuss my favorite currently aired dramas (which is not that many) and each time they will be people who can’t take constructive criticism and draw others out of the forum with their single mindedness. I guess going back to basic is the best for Soompi. It kinda went and promoted cultist behaviour prior to this latest development. Just my 2 cents.🤷♀️
@Old American Lady- The Swoon is owned by Netflix. It is not affiliated with Soompi.
@pm3 Yes, the Trophies/Badges/Points idea was confusing. At first, it was also unclear to me what the Store was all about as well because the information they gave made it sound like it was an actual online-commerce area that would be selling actual real merchandise. I finally figured out it was all for pretend stuff using the pretend points, not actual money. As to the reason for it, I’m guessing that the forum staff saw it as a way to attract more activity to the forums since you got points for every post or comment you made, pehaps persuade the lurkers to create an account and officially join Soompi.
But yeah, like @nrllee said, then it becomes all about getting the points rather than the discussion. Soompi was actually founded as a K-Pop discussion site. They’ve added dramas and other discussions over the years, but K Pop is their main subject. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it- the site started out as a fansite for H.O.T. but it has really grown and expanded since then.
I just hope that the Soompi Forums can stay even-toned now that the admins and mods are gone. There was no mention in the announcement about Rakuten staff taking over the moderator duties.
@Table122000 There are some mods who remained so they have been moderating. I see some moderating happening in the threads that I frequent (removal of pics from quotes). VikiAdmin is the only administrator now. The dust will settle eventually and a new normal will return. Soompi will just keep powering on regardless. They are backed by a large corporation (Rakuten/Viki).
This is a forum with posts about dramas, not a carnival.
It doesn’t make any sense their club stuff, badge stuff, etc.
The only thing to do is to keep it simple and to help as much as possible to navigate/search content. Or add useful features like “automatically spoiler photos”. Moderators are forced to manually monitor and correct such a common type of error.
And now they’re all gone, it’s all so irrational.
😂 Carnival! That’s it, Wenchanteur! That’s the word.
The forum sounded like the gaudy “Carnival Cruise” kind of package instead of the tony “Royal Caribbean Cruise” kind of experience, with those changes.
🎡
But someone higher-up should have pre-approved Hanyeoun’s changes, and Hanyeoun should have kept receipts. He needed proof he had approval and that this project wasn’t something he conceived on a whim.
The abrupt termination of his services didn’t look good on him.
And the change I really wanted was deletion of “Richard Simmons” as the curse word filler. That should have stopped a looooong time ago. Have they changed it?
Less is more. Small is beautiful.
@packmule3 I can happily report that I just went to see if poor headband Lycra wearing Richard Simmons has been used as a placeholder for colourful metaphors. And it looks like some kind soul has tapped him out…
Bitches over dramas? Is “RickRoll’D over dramas”. 😂
What? What? Say that again?
lol.
If in lieu of “Richard Simmons,” the curse word filter/placeholder was replaced with “RickRoll’D over dramas,” then I’d take it as a compliment…no!…an HOMAGE to Bitchesoverdramas.
Bitches > Rick Astley
lol.
Seriously, I’d been complaining about that from the start… whenever they changed servers, I’d question why they didn’t do away with that Richard Simmons filter. RS may or may not be homosexual (that’s none of my business anyway), but that placeholder was engendering homophobia.
They could have used an anodyne “Fiddlesticks” or a pretentious “lorem ipsum” but not an actual person’s name, especially a LIVING person. 🙂
@packmule3 I meant “Richard Simmons” was replaced with “RickRoll’D” (sorry for the confusion)
Bitches was flagged as a swear word (don’t ask me why) and replaced as such. 🤔
Oh I see. RickRoll’D. 🙂
But bitches is considered a swear word in polite society. 😈 We’re just accustomed to using it here in mockery and self-deprecating humor so the sting is diminished.
@nrllee Thanks for the information about the mods situation at Soompi Forums. Good to know that they are there in some form.
@pm3 I also never liked they way they use a real person’s name for expletives/bad words at Soompi. I am glad that Richard Simmons is gone, but the problem remains now that they are using RickRoll’D. Poor Richard Simmons never did anything to deserve that treatment but neither did poor Rick Astley. Like you, I wish they would just use a neutral phrase or nonsense words (like bibbety or even #@!%&*)
🙂 There’s a slight difference between Richard Simmons and Rickroll’d. Rickroll has been added to the English lexicon, and it means to bait-and-switch someone. Although the origin of the word is the 1980s singer Rick Astley, the word itself isn’t his name. The usage has evolved, and the word has become a meme. Rick Astley saw a renewed (but temporary?) interest in him among the younger generation.
Richard Simmons on the other hand is the name of an individual who ran a successful fitness company. Mr. Simmons would have registered his name as a trademark. It would have been advisable to drop the use of his name as filter word for legit reasons. It would have been humane to stop using it a long time ago because it mocked a certain type of people. Admins and mods would have done better to fix that issue first before focusing on the little emojis and tags. And eating fish rather than steak would have extended my life by a good five years.
But it’s water under the bridge now, Table122000. I’m just glad they finally fixed it. 🙂
I am told by someone in the know that it (RickRoll’D) was a recent change. Hanyeon’s legacy before he departed. Hanyeon had (has?) as thing for Rick Astley.
Soompi is carrying on as normal with new blood. It has the critical mass to survive. Being the sole provider of KDrama and KPop news in the main site, the forums would attract many – if only lurkers just to read. There are usually over 1000 lurkers (guests) at any one time I visit the site.