ARMY Appreciation Post And Update

      It's been one long month. Somehow the weeks seem to have blended into one another inside the bubble of ARMY and social media. I want to thank all ARMY who have been in this with us from the beginning of this K-media bullying Yoongi fiasco. ARMY who fought relentlessly and who continue to protect all 7 of BTS members, thank you. If you streamed, reported accounts, told others when they posted and shared misinformation that they were wrong, if you sent positive notes to Yoongi on social media, shared the positive blog posts, streamed, bought songs, watched videos, made block lists, or anything positive that I missed you are seen and we thank you. Thank you Philippines ARMY for putting up the banners near Hybe and any international ARMY who helped with funding. Thanks ARMY who participated in block lists and got people on board with keeping clout chasers in check (more on that in a bit because I have some thoughts, you know I do).  

     I have been ARMY since 2018 but I didn't really become active in the social media part of the fandom until BTS did "My Universe" with Coldplay. I had a Twitter but it was for keeping up with politics and news and I followed a few Coldplayers on there. I used my personal Twitter and it turned into a stan account then. Things were cool for a while until things changed the deeper I got into the fandom there. I learned a lot but I also saw a lot that was really bad. I deleted my account this past spring and haven't rejoined. I probably never will. I'm not bothered about it because I am on Threads and IG. I don't do Tik Tok or Facebook for the same reasons (way too much toxicity in a lot of areas I don't want to be exposed to). So coming to Threads the first day the app launched and being there since the beginning has been interesting. 

     What Threads ARMY started as a safe space that was supposed to be non-toxic is being tested by haters and clout chasers. I honestly don't know anymore who is worse, antis or attention seekers. Now lets get one thing out of the way. We all want attention but the way we want it is different. I don't care about followers. I never did. I'm not getting paid on any of these social media platforms. I have 0 blue checks and I don't have 1000 IG followers so I don't get paid there or on Threads. The attention I like is how we all get hype on release days, how I have a post about "Are You Sure?" that has over 5k views in less than 24hrs (a lot for my small account). That means locals may watch the show and it means good things for BTS ratings on Disney+. Other so-called "ARMY" among us are clout chasing and making it look like they have good intentions and I am not here for it. With everything happening with Yoongi and with antis attacking the other member's accounts and MHJ still up to her nasty tricks I am not playing with anyone here. 

     When knowledgeable ARMYs tell you to delete tabloid drama just do it. Do not argue. I had someone show on my feed who posted something that was a lie from Koreaboo about Jimin's dad. This lie had been proven false with receipts over a week ago. I tried to tell her her info was wrong and not to spread it and she said basically to keep scrolling if you don't like it. I said 'OK bye' and blocked her. Then I see someone spreading old ass Samsung lies again. The Samsung thing about them deleting Yoongi was one insignificant Samsung account on Twitter that deleted one pic. It was not one of their major accounts. This got blown up by Koreaboo and turned into the lie that ARMY was boycotting Samsung. Where? I'm not boycotting them and no other ARMYs I follow are either. I have been Team Samsung since before BTS were ambassadors. I have been Team Samsung since some ARMY were in diapers. I was using Samsung before iPhone came out. No stupid post by someone who doesn't have the common sense or decency to fact check before rage posting is going to cause me to "go break my phone" so I can get an iPhone as someone posted. 

     NewJeans has a contract with Apple and shot one of their videos on iPhone. MHJ is their manager and has made it no secret that she wants to destroy BTS so that NewJeans can take their place at Hybe. There has been speculation that she is behind all the media bullying of Yoongi because she has a friend who wrote at least one of the malicious stories against him. What are these people who are quick to call for boycotts of anything going to do if it turns out that MHJ paid off the media to smear Yoongi and her girls represent iPhone? Are they going to jump to Google Pixel next? No shade to any of the companies because all of their phones are good. People just need to be conscious of what they are saying when they use their platforms to call for people to do something like this based on gossip and rumors.  Sorry not sorry but if you run with rumors and share without fact checking and share rumors out of anger as if they are facts then you deserve to be on a block list and you are not ARMY. Does anyone bother to think that if this blows up more Samsung might say they will actually go with others as ambassadors because ARMY is being a pain in the ass over nothing? I know contracts end and Samsung already has promos with TXT and Enhyphen. BTS likely has not done anything with Samsung that's on hold to be released later so any promotions that are already out featuring BTS members is probably all there is for now. NONE of the more major divisions of Samsung deleted any Suga pics. Only Samsung Germany on Twitter. Stop spreading misinformation. We have been over this. Fact check and ask before posting or sharing. 

     The thing with block lists needs to be addressed because the people sharing misinformation should be added to these lists too. If you are told that you have made a post that is misinformation and the person explains why and you like their post for a boost and don't delete, what that tells me is that you are here for clout and to boost your followers or likes and not here for BTS. How so? Some people join fandoms and use the group so they have something to post about and so they can have a community of followers, then use fake news and scandals from the group or artist to post about. They know there are those in the fandom who will seek out these gossip stories or seek out the drama and will feed that and they know their likes and follows will go up if they post something controversial. This happened this past week with fake ARMY posting Yoongi's photo lineup at the police station. As soon as ARMY found out that he was going to go to the police station to participate in this and we found out how humiliating it is intended to be for anyone accused of a crime, we posted Purple Ribbon Project posts and forewarned others that if they were seen posting video or pictures of Yoongi at the police station that they were going to be immediately blocked. So why then when they had at least two or three days of warning would they post anyway? For attention. All the ones who dared to post police line pictures with captions saying things like "Yoongi we stand with you" were particularly disrespectful. I need people to start using their brains. There are hundreds of thousands of pictures of BTS out there -official ones- and they chose the photo lineup to show support. One account posted this type of post today. Literally this morning. Days later! Be for real. This is all done for clout. I know I use that word a lot but that's what it is. They want a type of attention that's achieved by doing something performative rather than from doing something genuine. I guess that's the best way I can explain my use (and probably over use but I don't care) of the word. Good attention=ARMY sharing things they like, supportive photos of Yoongi in good times// Bad attention and clout chasing= "OMG can you believe this?" and proceeds to post Koreaboo screenshot and pics of Jimin's dad's restaurant taken out of context. This is the difference in normal attention and what I call attention seeking behavior. They will take negative attention because to them that's still attention and it also equates to anti behavior in my opinion.

     No one is forcing you to block anyone if you see these block list posts. Common sense says don't just block blindly and I would assume most of us have that. You should always go through the account and look for yourself if you don't mind seeing what you find there. Now I will warn you, there is an account on the block list that we encourage Twitter users to block. This account has graphic sexual content being used to bully a member of BTS and it is in the form of drawings and vile cartoons. We cannot post that kind of stuff and say "hey block this account here's why" and share screenshots of that on Threads. I didn't want to see it when it was sent to me and brought to my attention but now if I see that name on a block list I know exactly why it's there. We go through these accounts so you don't have to but you have the ultimate say in who you block. I was told that we have power and that people are going around blindly blocking people because of these block lists.  How do you know that? Are people going around bragging "hey I blindly block people no matter who made the block list." I doubt it. I think we struck a nerve with people who are scared to be blocked. Well that's just the way it is. Some people are annoying and I usually just mute before I block but these people doing actual harm to Yoongi by spreading his police line pictures and people libeling the names of family members of BTS and potentially getting themselves caught up in libelous company slander need to be blocked. Don't like block lists? Don't participate. Keep scrolling like I do when I see posts about things I disagree with. It's not that hard.

    The thing about social media is that it is all built around being social. Blocking keeps things off of the timeline whether you block or someone else blocks to keep it from you (protect you from it). On Threads, any and everything you respond to is shared with your followers. On a daily basis I see my moots congratulating people on random things, fighting the patriarchy, talking about other groups and fandoms they belong to, sharing Korean learning advice, etc and if anything doesn't click well with me I swipe it away or click "not interested' and keep it moving. If you see a post of something that belongs on a block list and you engage with the post guess what? Now that post is on all of your follower's feeds with your response to it. It's best to DM someone and ask them to remove a pic rather than to ask on the feed. I have done this too but now I am trying to do better. If you block it it's likely less people will see it. 

     I understand that some people might use block lists to try to get rid of people who haven't done anything wrong but frankly what's stopping people from going into a group chat and saying "Jane Doe is annoying lets DM all the ARMYs we can to block her"?  Absolutely nothing. If people block you you should just get over it because maybe they weren't for you and you weren't for them. It happens. I haven't seen anyone add anyone to the block lists I have participated in that didn't belong there and I have no control over what someone else decides to do on their end if they end up being inspired by something me and other ARMYs do. We already know solos have block lists on Twitter where they add OT7s -who cares? We don't want to see or deal with them anyway. Maybe some saw names listed on the block list then went to block them and didn't see the Yoongi photo line pics so they assumed it was a "witch hunt." That's because some deleted them when they found out they were being added to lists and blocked. You can tell if something has been deleted recently on Threads because a block sometimes shows up grayed out that says "Content Not Available." That something that was deleted isn't always something bad but in the case of these posts it was. I still ended up blocking all the ones like this on the list because they all had other things I didn't like on their pages on Threads or on their IG (yes I check there too before I block). There were toxic shippers making inappropriate comments about the boys sleeping arrangements in "Are You Sure?' and some with edited pictures shipping members with girl group members intended to start dating rumors. Unacceptable.

     I will do a post about Threads in the future because there is a lot to get into about how things work there as opposed to how things work on Twitter. Lots of new people joined this month that are coming from Twitter as ARMY (or fake ARMY seeking attention) and we have to clean up our space because it is definitely not how it was even two or three months ago. We will be OK though. ARMY always pulls through and this too shall pass. Great work this month on protecting and showing love to all members and putting shields up to protect Yoongi. We will be fine and the guys will be fine. This too shall pass. 

Apobangpo! <3

Stop Reading And Sharing Posts From Korean Gossip Blogs

     Due to recent events surrounding unethical news reporting by Korean media, I thought now would be a good time to address why ARMY needs to stop giving gossip rags attention. I know we still somewhat need to know what is being reported so we can send emails to Big Hit legal team about it, but as far as using them as sources- DO NOT DO IT. These gossip rags do not have the best intentions and all of them tell lies and start malicious rumors about BTS members. I thought I would look into the biggest offenders of the lot and look at who they are and why they are so terrible.

Koreaboo

     I'll start with Koreaboo since they are one of the absolute worst blogs out there for Kpop news/ gossip. The name itself should be a red flag. The term koreaboo is actually very similar to a racial slur that has been used against Black people so the word itself makes me cringe. I won’t say what word but I’m sure you could look it up. Koreaboo is a term some people use for those obsessed unnaturally with Korean culture. Some throw it around to anyone who is interested in Korean culture and that’s not right. It’s xenophobic to make fun of someone for being interested in other cultures. If that person likes K-dramas, K-pop, and Korean food that doesn’t make them a koreaboo. If they appropriate the culture then it would (but damn I really hate that term and lose respect for people who use it). That would mean people who fetishise Koreans like Oli London. Regular fans don’t count as koreaboos. These people decided to name their blog after a derogatory term. Red red flag!

      So who is the owner of Koreaboo? Its CEO is Flowison Shekar. The COO or chief operating officer is Omega Chen. They’re Berkeley and Stanford tech bros. Basically rich dude bro types who went to prestigious universities. I would be embarrassed to churn out the rubbish that they do and have people know that I was actually pretty well educated. You would never know that seeing the garbage bin slime type of posts they push on their blog. They really went to two of the best schools in the United States only to become owners of a notorious gossip blog that takes shots at K-Pop stars. Oh but they founded K-Con so that counts for something I guess (not!).

     According to Pitchbook, Koreaboo is an “information service” and that makes me laugh. That’s like calling Mcdonald’s a gourmet eatery. We can all use flowery language if we want to make something sound better than it is. "Misinformation provider" is a more accurate term. Maybe they don’t have a category for blogs or gossip rags. 

     Koreaboo is funded by angel investors and venture capitalists. All that reminds me of is the K-drama “StartUp” and the show that used to be on HBO “Silicon Valley” because they are based in California. Venture capitalists and angel investors make investments in startups at various stages to fund their development and they get a stake in the company. Apparently their writers are paid well, upwards of $60k plus a year. Of course with all the people clicking on their clickbait articles and trashy stories they probably aren’t hurting for money as most blogs make money from advertising. They have the readership to charge a lot for ads to run on the site. According to Rocket Reach they have about 40M users who visit the site. It's also probably why they don't seem to be afraid of getting sued. They have the money to afford legal representation and to afford to take a financial hit if they lose.

     Koreaboo is one of the biggest offenders of spreading clickbait and misinformation. They put out hundreds of articles on the Yoongi e-scooter situation, each full of more misinformation than the last,  and made it abundantly clear that they are not to be taken seriously as journalists. But you know when they have tons of money to throw around and they know that there’s an area that people are interested in (K-pop and Korean culture) and that interest keeps growing, they figure they will cash in on it one way or the other. They trash the whole industry with toxic clickbait articles defaming artists. Fans still read it for entertainment knowing that it’s all lies and they know people will still read it. Kpoppies use it to post their mean comments on Twitter for fan wars and here comes some ARMY getting offended and sharing it as if it was truth and spreading it to Threads. Some of us left Twitter to avoid all of that only to have to deal with it all over again in a space we all hoped would be an ARMY safe space. It’s better to screenshot and email articles to Big Hit than to share on social media. If you feel the need to talk about it then it’s best kept in DMs and group chats than being shared on socials. On Threads someone with 80 followers might post a Koreaboo article to say how horrible it is and how they shouldn't treat people that way. If someone comes along to react to it and comments and that person has say 500 followers that now has a reach of 582 people. It grows as people like, share, and comment. Your followers see everything you reply to FYI. 

Pannchoa 

      Pannchoa is another of the gossip rag blogs that specializes in stories related to K-pop idols and K-drama actors. Pannchoa translates Korean forum comments and articles from Korean sites. Their articles/posts are always clickbait and are pulled from The Qoo, a Korean forum site and a couple of other Korean forums. They have a disclaimer on their page that says that none of the articles posted reflect their opinion. I guess this is to try to cover their asses if they get sued but that technically does nothing. They are facilitating the dissemination of misinformation and flat out lies so they are liable still. By translating these articles from other sites into English, they are making it easier for others to read them. They make sure the Korean only articles gain a bigger audience. 

     I poked around the site while writing this post and I noticed they have a comment section on one of their anti-Suga articles that has hundreds of antis on it and one or two real ARMY defending him. What I got from that was that these hater comments being passed off as K-ARMY are really antis from other fandoms. The way they talk is like haters and not like ARMY so there’s a lot of cosplaying as ARMY going on. I tried to leave a comment but they ask for your email address and they need to verify your email address before they will allow a comment to post. I refuse to do all of that. They want proof that you are a human and to have access to you later via email yet they allow malicious comments to stay up on the site.
    I haven’t been able to find anything on who actually runs Pannchoa but from what I have seen is that it’s a small group that does the translations. There are rumors that they got sued earlier this year but I didn’t see anything confirming that. If they got sued, I would hope they would learn their lesson and shut down completely. The chatter around it was interesting though because there were comments where a few people were happy and wanted all K-Pop gossip blogs to go away. Then there were the ones who wanted them to go away but realistically noted that they would just resurface later anyway because there will always be readers. I also saw a comment where someone said “Pannchoa was my morning news! My morning coffe [sp], my breakfast.” The type of people who eat, sleep, and breathe gossip are the ones who keep these blogs alive and running. It’s sad because if it was all good news and true news it might not get as many views because of the drama seekers who love to see other people struggle and go through difficulties.

     In my opinion, Koreaboo and all the blogs/ “news sites” like it need to go away. Yesterday wouldn’t be soon enough for me. Either go away and stay away or start writing real news and being a reputable source of information. I know it can be done. I doubt they ever will though because there will always be people who read it and enjoy the fact that it is trashing idols and actors. It’s cyberbullying but monetized and dressed up to look like a legit business and online publication. It’s sick what these people get away with. ARMY needs to stop sharing and quoting these articles even if it is to bring awareness to their malicious posts. If you see something mean defaming BTS just report it to Big Hit (email to protect@bighitmusic.co.kr). No one else has to see it. If you have to talk about it, keep it to your group chats or individual DMs-basically off of Threads or Twitter feed. The more you comment or share there are more people who will see it. The more people who see it the more people who may believe the hype and lies and continue to spread them.

     Some people like drama and thrive on it because that gets them attention. I’m not talking about antis and trolls here. I mean seemingly normal people, fans, some ARMY. They think it’s cute to use comments from haters and clap back then post it. You’ll usually see it a lot from shooter accounts on Twitter (shooter is the term used for fans that fight in fan wars online) and now I’m starting to see it on Threads and I really don’t like it. Other than trying to get attention, I don't see a reason to clap back at someone who is probably never going to see your post. And bringing a screenshot of a post from Twitter to Threads to drag someone is just stupid. Everyone sees it but that person. If they did see it all that is going to do is start fan wars and if you came to Threads from Twitter for that then I suggest you go back. Threads ARMY moves differently. We don't do fan wars in case you didn't get the welcome memo.

I want better for ARMY. Namjoon said in one of his live streams that ARMY has changed and that’s not a good thing to me. I think we have an opportunity with Threads to build ourselves up to be a better ARMY. We can combat misinformation without spreading it. We can send tabloid article screenshots to Big Hit legal team for investigation without plastering them all over social media.  If you feel you have to talk about it, it’s best to just keep conversations to your DM and group chat. I’ve had ARMY moots DM me on Instagram and run things by me to ask if they should send to Big Hit and ask how to send it or for a template. I don’t mind that. It shows we are doing the right thing for our 7 and that’s the most important thing because that’s why we are all here. Our goal as ARMY is to support and protect BTS. Lies and rumors don’t protect them. Stopping them from spreading does.

     

Why You Shouldn't Care That I'm A Single Group Stan

       *Note: This post is in no way aimed at all multi stans. This is only referring to multis who shame single group stans and who try to force others to listen to the groups they stan. I have nothing against multis who stay in their lane and don't bully ARMY or other one group stans. *

  I have a confession to make. Many of you may share the same sentiment as me and will confess also for the good of all mankind, but I have to get this out in the open now. Here goes… I am a single group stan when it comes to K-Pop. I only stan BTS. I have thought about stanning TXT and Le SSerafim but have since decided that I am perfectly fine being a casual fan of both. My casual fan behavior is often more dedicated than some so called “stans” anyway so I’m proud to be BTS ARMY and only stanning BTS. Even if this earns me ridicule in some circles. “Why would anyone care if you or anyone else only stans one K-Pop group?," you ask.  Well let’s get into it. 

     Last month there was an engagement bait post on Threads posted by a young multi-stan that rubbed me the wrong way and turned out to be quite funny by the time ARMY finished chiming in on the subject. By engagement bait post I mean a post that is structured to make people argue in the comments so that the poster gets tons of engagement in the form of comments, mostly likes, re-shares, quotes, and views. I have blocked and unfollowed several popular accounts for posting things like this because it always ends up blowing up at the expense of someone and I just don’t like it in general. This particular post was obviously aimed at ARMYs to get people in the comments to mention and complain about us. The post was asking how multis feel about single group stans and goes on to call out single group stans saying it could never be them because single group stans are “missing out” and several other things I disagreed with. So here’s my take on stanning in general. 

     The term comes from the Eminem song called “Stan” from 2000. The song is about a guy who is a psycho fan basically and keeps demanding attention from Eminem. Over time the term has come to mean someone who is a “superfan” of a group or artist (according to the person who posted the Thread). It has been argued that it doesn’t mean superfan but that’s what I am going to go with as a definition.  Being a stan means you are more than just a casual fan and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a casual fan, though some people act like being a casual fan is the kiss of death to admit. 

     I am a Coldplay stan as well as BTS. I only purchase physical albums from those 2 groups. I listen to hundreds of other artists but when it comes to merchandise and where my money goes, it goes to BTS and Coldplay. You don’t have to have any merch or albums at all to be a stan but in my case these are the only groups I own anything from.  I have seen Coldplay live twice but I have never seen BTS live before, not yet. You don’t have to attend concerts to be a stan either. Stanning to me has to do with loyalty to the artist, voting, and streaming. If you genuinely enjoy the music the artist puts out and support them then you are a fan. As a stan of BTS, as an ARMY I stream and vote. I don’t vote for any other groups when BTS is concerned. My loyalty belongs to BTS. I don't really listen to other groups in their generation (3rd gen). I love TXT, who is 4th generation, and if I did stan any other group it would be them but I feel like if I cannot give them the same attention I give BTS I can’t fully consider myself a MOA. I do show up for all of their comebacks and stream with MOA on Stationhead when I can and I’m learning their birthdays. In 4th gen if they are nominated for awards I vote for them. Stanning for me goes beyond listening to the music and that’s my interpretation. It may be different for you and that’s fine. 

     

     One thing that was brought up as a reason they (multis) don’t get single group stans is that they don’t understand how we don’t get bored and stan other groups when our one group isn’t releasing new content. I think this was the funniest point to destroy as ARMY. I stan BTS. No content! Where? I cannot even begin to relate. Now if your faves release an album or EP once every five years, or have been around for more than one year and have not produced a full length album and all you get are two or three song slices here and there then I guess you have to supplement your musical diet with songs from elsewhere, but ARMY stays fully fed. BTS has an amazing discography spanning 11 years so far and counting. Stanning them as an OT7 is stanning a group and seven amazing solo artists. Every member has solo work as well as group work. During this enlistment “break” we have gotten new songs or albums nearly every other month. That’s a LOT of music to keep up with, not to mention all of the videos and shows. As I am writing this we are getting ready for two new shows from them premiering this month and waiting on Jin’s solo debut album while we still digest critically acclaimed “Right Place Wrong Person” by RM, “Hope on the Street Vol. 1” by J-Hope and the latest “Muse” by Jimin. Those are just the album releases from the past 6 months not counting single releases. When I say we stay fed, I mean it’s a feast. It’s a full on all you can eat buffet. And we love it. I understand why other fandoms would be envious but that’s on their artists for being more interested in other non-music related endeavors when they signed up to be music idols. Get you a group that is here for the music first and foremost rather than the fame. 

     Another thing that seems weird and almost cult-like about multis who have an issue with single group stans is that they assume if single group stans branched out and stan other groups that it would be some of the ones they stan. I am very picky with what groups I give time and energy to. I can’t get into music that isn’t about anything. The message has to resonate strongly with me or I won’t be bothered to keep listening, let alone be a serious streamer or buyer of that artist. With Coldplay whom I have stanned for over 20 years, they are all about peace, love, and adding positive vibes to the world and sharing that strongly with others. Their message is that things will get tough because that’s life but the sun always rises after the darkest dawn. Sounds a lot like our BTS and that’s why they click so well together. Hopefulness in the face of adversity and pushing forward is the message. Le SSerafim has a message of strength and resilience woven through their music as well and it’s empowering to women. Le Sserafim spells I'm fearless and the fandom name is Fearnots. I love their girl power message. When I have tried to listen to other K-Pop groups (outside of the three or 4 I listen to) nothing else stands out or hits me enough to stan or want to stan. I hear the same tired metaphors over and over (food used as metaphor for sex), culturally appropriated AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) used in cringeworthy contexts, and plagiarism of lyrics from 90’s rap groups being called interpolation when it’s not because interpolation involves sampling and melody rather than words but somehow certain K-pop writers get a pass for it. It has to stand out and be something special enough to grab my attention and keep it. I do listen to K-Rock and I love The Rose and Se So Neon as well as Balming Tiger. To see me only stanning BTS and thinking of me as "missing out" is laughable. K-Pop isn't the only genre to exist.

Some of these multis move like a cult pushing their artists by giving unsolicited recommendations in comment sections begging people to try their groups and getting pissy attitudes with you if you say you’re not interested. That has happened to me several times and it’s just weird. They move like MLM scammers who get paid or level up when they bring in enough recruits to the team. Do they have a secret club where if they turn enough single group stans into multis then they get points and level up? That's the only way getting pressured to stan more than one group by random strangers makes any sense. What do they hope to gain if you decide to stan three groups? If I decide to stan more groups and enter Multisville do get a membership budget so I can buy merch? Is there a portal where I can add more hours to my day? I'm busy enough as a wife and mom and ARMY. I don't have time to catch up to all of the content other groups put out if I can barely keep up with all that BTS puts out. I love BTS but I have never tried to force them on people. You like what you like and you’ll find what’s for you on your own. I don't care if people don't like BTS because not everything is for everybody. What I don't like is the disrespect shown to BTS and ARMY for whatever reasons. There are a lot of popular artists I don't like and I have my reasons. I don't go into their comment sections and talk about how great BTS is or Coldplay or how they're missing out by not listening to them. I don't give unsolicited recommendations then argue when politely turned down as if the person insulted you directly. People like that need to touch grass.

     

     What I don’t get is if you’re a multi and you talk about stanning all of K-Pop (a comment I have seen posted as a flex strangely enough) then how do you vote if two or more groups you like are up for the same award? I know I will always go for BTS no matter what but how do you choose? I guess that’s where “ults” or ultimate groups come in and I hate to break it to you but if you have an “ult” out of like 15 or 20 groups you “stan” then wouldn’t that mean you stan that “ult” group over the others and you’re probably more of a casual fan of the others? Make it make sense. Because by that logic I stan BTS, TXT, Le SSerafim and P1Harmony but BTS is my “ult.” I participate in all of their comebacks by streaming, I follow them all on social media and I know their names. This is where I start to get a headache because I asked the multi stan poster what is the difference then between stanning and being a casual fan and they said stan means superfan and casual fan is self-explanatory. Ok, then why did half of the multis in the comments sound like they have “ults” but are more so casual fans of all the other groups they mention. "Enthusiastic casual fan" is what I like to use when people ask me if I’m a MOA. I say no but I love and support TXT as a casual fan who streams with MOAs and supports their comebacks even though I don’t know all of the inside jokes, backstories, or the deal behind the PPulverse. 

     It would be funny if ARMY decided to stan one of these groups that multis try to push on single group stans all the time. I know exactly how that would go. Let me share my gift of foresight with you. First, they would be excited to have us stanning whatever nugu group is the group du jour that is trending at the moment. The streams and hype surrounding the group would be through the roof. They would win on music shows and use that for their fan wars. The chosen group would rise up the ranks quickly off of ARMY clout. It would all be cute until they couldn’t get concert tickets because they sell out in five minutes because of ARMY. When merchandise sells out in under an hour and when albums sell out meaning they can't collect their precious exclusive photo cards because they have to wait on restocks of albums and they will be complaining. They will end up hating us even more and will probably move on to the next, next big thing. They will make the excuse that the group they wanted us to stan is now too mainstream because too many people are into them. They don’t get to be in this exclusive “we stanned them at debut” club anymore. That’s another odd thing I notice, how quickly a group can be abandoned by some multis. People actually ask what group they should stan this summer or this year and take suggestions from other people online. I could never ask people who I should become a “super fan” of because that’s something that should come from your heart. What resonates with you the most? What group’s lyrics and overall message is one that suits you the best? That’s how I choose though it feels like BTS chose me at the right moment. 

    I'm a single group stan. I don't say that as a flex or to act like I'm better than multis. I say it because I don't need people coming into my comment section telling me to stan another group because BTS is friends with them, or to be nice if I expose voting cheating of another fandom (I stan groups not fandoms), or when mentioning BTS in general getting whole thesis pages written in comment sections begging me to listen to other groups. What other people listen to and the artists they stan is none of your business. The sooner people realize that the better off it will all be. Go touch grass and enjoy real life before it passes you by while you're busy worrying about something as trivial as how many groups someone else stans.

Bullying Other Artists Online Needs To Stop

     Depending on who you talk to, BTS ARMY is either a toxic fandom and one of the worst in Kpop or one of the best, most organized and dedicated, loving fandoms. I have seen a lot since I became ARMY and I believe the latter. ARMY is an amazing fandom that I am proud to be a part of. I am even happier being ARMY knowing the community that we have started on Threads that is focusing on being more positive and having hard conversations but keeping them civil. That’s why this topic of cyber bullying other artists needs to be addressed as well. I know the majority of this won’t apply to the real ARMYs reading this but the solutions will so bear with me for a moment. 

     On July 26, 2024, Fred Jewelry announced that they had signed Chinese actress and singer, Guan Xiaotong as their second jewelry global ambassador. The 26 year old Xiaotong is very popular and is considered the Nation’s Daughter in China. She comes from a family of actors, has been in a ton of films, and has won several awards. Fred Jewelry made an announcement on their official website but I found out via their Instagram feed. Of course many ARMYs like myself followed Fred Jewelry's Instagram because of Kim Seokjin’s becoming their first global ambassador ever. My first thought seeing Guan Xiaotong was, “wow she’s gorgeous.” Then I went to the comments and that quickly changed to “damn it here we go again!”

       I was annoyed at the comments complaining that people wanted to see Jin and asking where he was. There were comments saying that Fred weren’t using Jin enough despite him having dropped a full campaign with W Korea a week prior and that whole series being all over YouTube and social media. He also has a page on the Fred site where you can shop the exact looks if you are financially equipped to do so (and assuming they are in stock with BTS being the “sold out kings” that they are). If they wanted to see Jin as an ambassador for Fred there was plenty of newly released content for them to watch. The problem was they decided to go on this woman’s announcement post and be rude which is unacceptable behavior.

     The accounts I noticed doing this didn’t seem to be ARMY. They seemed to be Jin solos. Going through screen names and profiles told me as much.  I went to Threads and asked for ARMY to go to the post and leave positive comments to drown out the bad negative ones. Leaving fresh positive comments and liking the other positive comments makes the negative comments get pushed to the bottom as least popular. ARMY went and left positive comments and now you have to scroll to get to the bad ones. Some of the solo accounts called out the other ones that were being rude and told them that they were potentially damaging Jin’s image by being disrespectful to Guan Xiaotong. It makes perfect sense that a jewelry company would have both male and female spokespersons because they sell jewelry for men and women. Even if it is mostly unisex, buyers want to see what it looks like styled on both men and women. A larger ring on a man may look too gaudy on a woman whose hand might be smaller and likewise a smaller ring may not be as noticeable on an man who may have a larger hand. You get the picture. 

     This was a milder version of something that happens way too often. Last July when Han So Hee starred in the video for “Seven” with Jungkook, her comment section on Instagram was bombarded with negative comments. Besides strings of vomiting emojis, people were commenting accusing her of dating Jungkook (not that it was any of their business anyway even if that was true), openly admitting their jealousy (which in my opinion is not a compliment and makes the commenter look bad), and accusing her fans of shipping her with Jungkook which they argued that they disapprove of (as if they have a choice in the matter). There are over 168 thousand comments on her post for “Seven” and luckily the good comments did a great job of drowning out the bad ones. If you scroll far enough you will still see a few. The ones that mean well in trying to reprimand the negative commenters are still there and are annoying as well because of the ones where ARMY is specifically mentioned and called toxic. Yes some of the comments were ARMY however there were solos and shippers (whom ARMY doesn’t claim) and a few people from other fandoms who want to make ARMY look bad. The post she made the same day about something else also has negative comments on it as well as comments intending to do damage control but still seeming to make the situation worse by calling out “toxic ARMY.”

A small portion of the comment section of Han SoHee's Instagram on a post from the set of the "Seven" video where she starred as Jungkook's love interest.

     Another such incident that was uncalled for was one involving pre-MHJ drama NewJeans. There apparently was a record for streaming that they had broken that was previously held by BTS or a member of BTS individually. When some ARMYs found out about it they took to the official Instagram account for NewJeans and left comments attacking them. Of course as usual there were solos and other fandoms involved--some other fandoms not even bothering to change their screen names or fully change their bio details as they cosplayed as ARMY.  This was as bad as the hate that was thrown at Han So Hee only this was directed at teenagers. They are literally children who did nothing wrong. Streaming is on the fans to take care of and if they out streamed ARMY then that’s on ARMY to take responsibility for. Either congratulate them or say nothing at all. I don’t care whether you like them or not. There are other Kpop groups (and non K-Pop artists for that matter) that I don’t like that place higher or break records that BTS holds or beat us on the charts here and there. I keep my mouth shut and stream. I would never leave hate comments on another artist’s page. Records are made to be broken and another one will eventually replace that one. We need to learn when to hold nasty comments and channel those into positive things like streaming and voting and otherwise supporting the guys.

      Leaving nasty comments makes us look bad as a fandom, even if we aren’t the ones doing it. People with BTS member names as their display name, a little 7 in the display name, or a photo of BTS members as their main photo end up representing ARMY. People don’t always stop to go through an account to determine if the person seems to be ARMY or a solo. I usually do if I have time but that’s just me.

When there’s a slow news day in the tabloid world where K-Pop is concerned, these tabloid “journalists” will pull comments and posts and everyone speaking in a capacity that seems like ARMY to them is ARMY. They write their articles/blog posts and they won’t differentiate between solo or anti or ARMY if they see a picture of BTS on a profile or the name of a BTS member being used in a screen name. They will take any posts that seem relevant to whatever story they are running and use them and because the posts are public on a social media platform (posts or comments) they can be used without permission. So say a random tabloid did a story on the cyber bullying of NewJeans by ARMY they would use that as their title to get attention and they will pull these comments and assume everyone making them is ARMY. They may not even pay attention to all of the ones telling people to stop being rude. Even those sometimes look bad once the bad ones get scrubbed from the account (deleted in large numbers by admins) because they tend to not go back and clear the ones admonishing those making negative comments. If you didn't know there were negative comments there, the comments scolding others for making them let you know there were negative comments left before they were removed.

     As ARMY we represent BTS when we are on the internet. It is up to us to control what our image is as much as we can. We can’t really do a whole lot about haters except block, report, ignore and not engage with them or their content. We can control what we choose to post and decide that rudeness and bullying is not acceptable. Reporting and blocking when we see it in these circumstances on other artists' posts is the best way to handle it. These comments would be reported to the platform and not to BigHit legal because they only handle legal issues for BigHit artists. The platforms may not do anything but it’s a good idea to report anyway. Call on other ARMYs to drown out the negative comments with positive ones and to like other positive ones. Liking and replying positively to other positive comments pushes them to the top and pushes negative ones to the bottom so you have to scroll to get to them. You don’t have to like all other artists, I mean I certainly don’t but being respectful is free. As JHope says in “Equals Sign,” “it costs you nothing to be kind.”