Threads Is Not Twitter, Let's Keep It That Way

 TW: talking about things that have happened on Twitter so I feel like I may need a TW for self-harm, suicide, cyberbullying

 This week’s post is somewhat of an extension of last week’s post in that I want to discuss my thoughts on Twitter and Threads. They are two different apps and I feel like the influx of new users (and some older ones) on Threads don’t get that. I made a post on September 2nd in the morning reflecting my thoughts because I scrolled and saw three posts nearly in a row that would never have been there on ARMY Threads six months ago. Two were fan war starters and I was like, “nope, I'm definitely saying something,” so I did. The first comments were in agreement then came the noobs (new ARMY accounts that haven't been on the app longer than six months). Some of them seem to be the ones causing drama or excusing the drama. I was told I should go try Blue Sky if I wanted a “clean” app. I don't expect any social media to be “clean” whatever that means. I do expect ARMY to do better though, and if you call yourself ARMY you should want to do better. We don't do fan wars. Certainly not ones we start by saying “I hate (insert fandoms)” and proceed to post screenshots of hate tweets from X/Twitter or “proof” the fandom is trash based on one person acting maliciously. We keep it in the group chats and not out in the open instigating arguments. 

     Threads came to be a year ago in July 2023 in response to Twitter being taken over by Elon Musk who ran the platform downhill fast. The shit show that Twitter became under Musk is all his doing. I was on the app and I followed people who worked for Twitter/X that lost their jobs. They explained that things were going to get a lot worse before they ever got better. I watched as security that handled protecting people from abuse became pretty much non-existent. Then there were the glitches or so called glitches where users couldn’t post or could only like a set number of posts per day or over a 24 to 48 hour period and were restricted from then on. Rumor was that if you paid/subscribed to Twitter Blue (I think that was the name of it) then you could like more posts and comment more without restriction. So Musk decided to start trying to push users into payment plans/subscription tiers in order to have a better user experience on the app. I wasn’t paying for that. Not when an app that I used to enjoy decided that “free speech” (read: hate speech) was allowed unless it was directed towards Musk or anyone he defends.  So for a while I bounced back and forth between Twitter (which also went through a name change to X but no one calls it that) and Threads. 

     I learned the best things from Twitter ARMY and I also have seen the worst bullying that I have ever seen in my life happen on Twitter. The thing is all the crap is not worth wading through to get to the good part for me. I will never forget how kpoppies all came together in a mostly fake show of solidarity the day Moonbin passed away. I stayed out of the conversations surrounding mental health because to be honest, they were largely performative and it made me sick to my stomach to see some of these fandoms pretend to give a shit when they put people in the hospital or grave by bullying. Suddenly fandoms who photoshopped BTS members with self-harm marks, celebrated the death of cancer victims who were family members of ARMY or artists who worked with BTS, and mass shooting victims who were ARMY or friends of BTS, and doxxed others to put their info on porn sites gave a shit about mental health? Yeah spare me the fakeness. I would find out just how fake the "mental health matters" posts were less than 24 hours later.

     Another vile part of Twitter is all the solos, antis, shippers and all manner of weirdos who can’t bother to be normal fans of all the members of BTS. Solos are antis who hate all members except the one or two they stan. They are akgaes. They leave traps sometimes in order to start fights or they will go fishing for like minded solos to join their side of fandom, the dark pathetic side. Nothing wrong with having a bias because that’s not the same thing. You can be OT7 and have a bias like I do or just not have a bias at all. Solos openly express hate for all other members except their favorite. They stan the one member and not the group and will go as far as to exclude other members from their streaming and consuming of content.

     That being said, the day after Moonbin passed, I was on Twitter and some J-Hope anti made a post excluding J-Hope. I didn’t realize it was an anti account and don’t remember who they were a solo of. I didn’t realize it was a set up post either. It was set up to bait people like me who are OT7 into arguments. The screen name suggested they were a BTS fan because they used a member’s name and something else -maybe they had a little seven in the name too (a lot of us do including some fake ARMY). Seeing this post, I quote tweeted them and said something harmless like “Don’t forget Hobi.” Apparently that triggered an alarm for them to bring out the psycho bitches and out they came. I was getting comments like, “Go die,” “kill yourself.” and I was called stupid when I responded trying to figure out what all of this was about and I spelled a word wrong. I was so done with these losers. All this vitriol because they were downplaying a member of the group I thought we both were stans of. I realized after looking through their account that I had been played by antis. I took the bait and they came to chew me up and spit me out. I blocked the ones commenting but reported them first (of course nothing happened to their accounts because it’s Twitter, they don’t protect you from bullies anymore). Then, I ran a nuke block on everyone engaging with that post (nuke block was a site where you put in the URL of the tweet or link to it and it blocked everyone who liked it). I was so upset I took 48 hours or so off of Twitter. I logged out and stayed off. So much for everyone coming together the day before to advocate for mental health awareness and being kind to one another. Such bullshit. 

     I did some research when I got back online and the person running that account turned out to be a guy from India posing as a girl who pretends to like BTS. He has multiple accounts for rival fandoms who are always in ARMY business bullying ARMY. Makes sense. His IG account gave him away. I blocked him on all of my IG accounts and from that point further, I engaged less and less with anyone’s Twitter accounts. Not that I got that much engagement there anyway. It says something when you comment on a post or make a post and you get the notification that someone responded and you cringe a little because you automatically anticipate that it's some troll or some anti coming to your comments to be a jerk. You kind of develop a bit of anxiety about commenting or getting comments back. I don't know if anyone else gets that but I had that when I was on Facebook and on Twitter. This incident made it worse. I don't get that anxious feeling about my notifications on Threads though. 

     I had been on the app (Twitter) for 6-8 years I think and my personal account just became my stan account when I decided to join ARMY online. At first it was fun but it quickly became clique-ish. I noticed big accounts all talked to each other and people who talked a lot about voting and streaming got a lot of crap from solos. Playlist accounts even got bullied for posting playlists. Why? Because they were OT7 and solos didn't like that they spread focused playlists that included all 7 members as well as the focused releases. Meanwhile these solos were spreading looped playlists that sabotaged the streams and caused plays to be stripped on Spotify resulting in sabotaging the member's numbers they were trying to boost. Brainless behavior on full display there. 

     Over a year into learning Korean self-study I could tell that some of the translators were playing with words for engagement. I never said anything but waited till one got called out for lying. When I knew she lied about what was said I blocked her and others backing her up. A mistake is one thing but a full on mistranslation that a beginner/intermediate speaker picked up on–yeah get out of here with that. 

     As Musk’s antics got worse and worse, stupid things continued to happen to push my buttons and push me right out of that dumpster fire app. I got suspended for 24 hours for saying I hoped a guy’s Tesla would catch fire. There was a video going around of a guy chasing other cars on the road, cutting them off, and blocking them so they couldn’t go anywhere, and bashing their windows out. I wished for the downfall of a car and got suspended but people wishing death on others daily got no punishment. I started getting offensive ads that pushed fascist ideology (I’m in the US) and pushing Christian Nationalism. I tried to block ads which I could do, at first, and then I kept getting pop ups saying this was no longer allowed and I needed to subscribe to get rid of ads. Nope! Not paying to keep from seeing things that shouldn’t be there. So I deleted my account this past spring and never looked back.

     Let me reiterate that, I never looked back. I wish I had saved my bookmarks with receipts and links to some info but other than that I don’t miss the ever burning dumpster fire. At first I thought I would miss out on information about BTS, but I realize the best information will come from the official Big Hit Instagram and Weverse accounts. Yes the guys are still on Twitter and the account still posts but anything there will eventually be on their Instagram or Weverse. Even if it isn't, I have accounts I follow like @/dalbitbangtan and @/samaya_bangtan_girl on Threads who keep me updated on official news from BTS_TWT the official Twitter for the members. For me it wasn’t worth going through the hellscape to get information. I’d rather be a little later getting info than getting it ASAP and risking seeing something upsetting or being bullied on the way to getting info. Some people pop back and forth and that’s fine for them but it’s not going to work for me so I only have Threads and IG and I’m fine with only those as my socials. 

     Having Threads and having it be new at the time, I sought out other ARMYs and we came to the collective conclusion that we have a unique opportunity on Threads to redo what went wrong and continues to go wrong on Twitter. We want to create a space where ARMY of all walks of life feel safe and able to be themselves. No bullying and no spreading Twitter drama and fan wars in our spaces. No clout chasing with gossip from tabloids or unauthorized photos (real or faked with AI), no spreading rumors, and no age shaming. ARMY like BTS is also LGBTQIA+ inclusive so there’s obviously no discrimination allowed nor ableism. I also don’t believe in being a larger account than someone else and not responding to people. That’s so middle school. I experienced that a lot on Twitter where larger accounts wouldn’t even acknowledge that you said happy birthday to them with a like or comment back. You could ask a genuine question and no one would answer you. Sometimes other small accounts would answer, hours or days later. I try to help everyone and engage with everyone who engages kindly with me regardless of how many followers we have. 

     There are a lot of ARMY just coming over to Threads and we welcome you. Those that are relatively new may not be following anyone who was there when we first decided to make Threads an ARMY safe space and may not know but I’m saying it and have been saying it. We need to get it together because there are people trying every single day to tear ARMY apart and not to get into that, but we need to decide how we plan to move forward as a fandom. Some things need to be put aside and others just need to be handled better.

     One thing I really want to address here is anger and spreading hate and negativity that comes from Twitter. I left Twitter because of all of the hate being spread by antis. Why are there people bringing it from Twitter over to Threads? I don’t need to see screenshots of what some anti account says about BTS while I am scrolling Threads. There is no point in posting a Twitter screenshot and clapping back at the hater in the post on Threads. They can’t see it unless they are on Threads and in that case you should find them and tag them because we do not care. Anyone that wants to see that kind of rubbish can go to Twitter to see it. Why not clap back to them right under their post on Twitter? Oh because you don’t want drama? Well don’t bring it onto Threads because we don’t want it either. Don’t start fan wars on Threads because we don’t do that there. You aren’t adding anything valuable to the community by sharing drama. I am blocking the accounts that do this because I left Twitter for a reason. I’m not trying to see people make Threads into Twitter 2.0. We can choose the kind of content we want to see and participate in and boost that. 

     So if you see anything on Twitter and it upsets you because haters are in ARMY’s business, instead of spreading that, you can send it to the Big Hit legal team (via their website ) and block and report the account/post. You don’t need to run to Threads with it. You could leave something positive on either or both platforms to combat the negative. If you need to talk about it keep it to your DMs or group chats because sharing it spreads it. You are spreading negativity. Haters will always hate and there really is nothing we can do about it but try to get as many of them sued as possible. When it hits them where it hurts they will probably tone it down but sharing it and complaining won’t do anything but upset people who didn't know before you brought it to their timeline now more people are upset and ranting. 

     I don’t say any of this to try to be bossy or control what people post because ultimately they are going to be posting whatever they want to their pages but in case people wonder why they get less engagement or aren’t getting more followers I will be blocking negative posts from Twitter that aim to start drama rather than to inform. I hope other ARMYs will do the same. I know there are some that like gossip and rumors and even some that like fan wars. I don’t and I don’t want to see it. The difference in energy on the timeline when it's release day or during a release week vs when a bunch of drama is being spread and everyone is chiming in their opinion on something some loser on Twitter said about the guys is so different. Basically if it isn't an update from the official Big Hit Twitter or the guys Twitter, a fact checked update from a chart account about a milestone, something fact checked from a fan base that's not a stalker post or something otherwise informative that's not shade throwing or negative then keep it on Twitter and not on Threads. 

      Leaving Threads for another platform isn’t it for me right now. Eventually all of the trouble makers will make additional accounts on the other apps too and none of them will be any better than the others. At this point all we can do is acknowledge the spread of negativity and misinformation and try to do better at keeping it out of our spaces.

Update: 12.10.24 I joined Bluesky but I also keep Threads. What led to me joining Bluesky was the influx of negative accounts joining Threads and Meta/Threads lack of moderation to protect people from bullying and misinformation. The downfall of Twitter and mass exodus to Bluesky has led to many good informative ARMY accounts going to Bluesky and I found accounts I used to follow there that aren't on Threads. Bluesky does have better moderation in the form of filters and blocklists. Staying on both apps for now.

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.