UPDATE MAY 5, 2009: We have opened up the K-music section so that guests can now view posts. If you notice any increase in "bandwidth exceeded" messages, please PM a few links to julanrouge. k- thanks!


waddup party peeps

we wanted to give you a quick update about some small changes coming to the forums next week. after getting advice from one of the biggest forums on the internets, we decided to open up the korean music and k-drama forums for viewing to all guests. this is to promote more knowledge and discoverablity of korean pop culture to everyone interested. and we are all about knowledge and discovery - you know, k-pop for the masses!

because these forums have historically been protected, we wanted to give everyone advance notice that they will be opening up for anyone to read, with or without logging in. if you have anything posted in those forums that you do not want available to guests, feel free to go back and edit as needed. we are planning on opening up the korean music and k-drama forums to all on TUESDAY, MAY 5TH. no other forums will be opened up at this time, but down the line, we are thinking about opening up the photo sections if all goes well.
the concern has been raised that people may steal content and photos without properly crediting. of course, we can't stop anyone, inside or outside of soompi, from re-posting content without credit, but if you have any images you feel should be credited to you, be sure to watermark them (with your username or however else you want to identify them). another related issue is exceeding bandwidth limits on free services like photobucket or imageshack. we'll just have to cross our fingers on that one. if the whole forum turns into a bunch of broken images, we'll have to rethink things for sure ^^;

thanks for rolling with us!

-s

Hm, I don't know if I like the Kdrama forum opening since a lot of downloads are in there. I'd be worried about random people sharing links and what not outside the forum, but like you said, we can edit our topics..

I think it's great that you guys are opening up some stuff though, it's sharing to the masses. :]
I remember back when I was a wee lass of 14 discovering upon soompi! Haha, I made an account so I could see what was on the boards.

editeditedit

yeah, I agree with goldenGAZE. The Celeb section should be considered. More than Korean Dramas if you ask me.
I'm just worried about the links being spread out of the community.

I think this is a great idea (and the Kceleb section should definitely be considered too).
I remember how frustrated i use to be back in my earlier days of Kpop whenever i searched something in Google it'd always link me soompi (but since i wasn't a member i couldn't view anything). Eventually i decided to join (and i love it here now ^^).

It'll definitely get more people exploring and potential members used to all the rules and stuff here in Soompi.

i think this is a great idea

Hmm I am on the fence about this one...mostly because of the crediting issues.

I can't speak for all the korean music/celeb threads as I only visit a few, but I know a good number of users get their sources from korean fansites (with their permission). In the past, there have been issues with crediting within the soompi community...The original fansites that posted up the pictures/links/etc were peeved because their images/links were being spread both to soompi and out of soompi without credit. I think it's safe to say if that had continued, the site would have stopped sharing links with international fans altogether (I think they briefly considered it).

I know this incident can't be generalized to all korean sites/fansites, but I guess my point is that guests need to be educated somehow...or maybe users can just watermark the original credits from the source onto the pictures, if they're not already there. I just don't want fansites to close their doors to international fans because of guests who don't know any better.

i remember i used to lurk soompi for a month before finally making an account so i think that'd be a good thing but would it be possible to not have the links visible or photos just show up as thumbnails to non-logged in users?

I think this is a great idea & wonderful way to spread the K-Pop love. (: Hope everything goes well!

i think its a great idea!
to promote the kpop culture! ^^
thanks for doing this!

Perfect timing!
A lot of Korean artists are coming over-seas to establish themselves as U.S artists.
I'm sure a lot of non-kpop fans would get curious about these singers' backgrounds!
Spreadin' the Hallyu wave haha

hmmm i dont really like the idea of opening it all up to the public..especially reading the few posts above, about how the links may be distributed. but that may just be my possessive nature

but i do think that the Kcelebs section should be open, since there's a WHOLE bunch of information just waiting to be read about there!

yeap yeap that's a good idea!!
^ like they said it's perfect timing kekek!
and i remember when i first came on soompi.. it was hard to find lol
hopeee soompi becomes a HUGE INTERNATIONAL FORUM kekek

Eh, it's an okai idea, but wouldn't that cause a decrease in registering users?
Opening only specific sections would probably be a better idea, but oh well~
I hope Soompi gets even larger and larger! :3

i think opening the korean music and korean celeb section is okay.

i'm not so sure about the drama section since a lot of users upload drama themselves.
like many people said above me. there is an increase chance of spreading links without giving credits.

... i dunno ...
i think that the k-celeb and k-music being open is fine...
but the drama section would be a bit too much...
as what many people above me posted...
since a lot of users upload the dramas themselves it wouldn't seem fair~

like some have said already, the drama section has download links to dramas, movies and osts, so I don't think its a good idea to let guests see those things
unless soompi changes its drama section rules, but that would suck as a lot of users go to soompi for those things

I think we can do a hack that lets us hide links to guests. So they would be able to see the content, but not the links. let me see what I can find. This should answer people's concerns:)

that would be the best thing, i think. kinda like, "feel free to read but if you want to be in the conversation and all the fun, then join..."

i just have to say if there's a vote, i'd probably vote for the forums staying the way they are. *shrugs* it wouldn't feel like a community if "outsiders" are lurking. but that's just me, with a hint of selfishness and a bit of hypocrisy since i'm always in anonymity status.

that sounds like the best option



lmao i totally agree with you about the whole "community feel"
(and your size 1 also. im usually in anonymity status too... haha)

hm, i'm kinda iffy on this choice. the korean celeb thread is fine but,
opening up the drama one...
i don't know.


i feel the same way

truthfully, I do not see the problem in registering.

It takes two easy clicks, some basic information and then you can access the whole forum.

If someone isnt willing to do those easy steps, they shouldnt be allowed to view the forums!

and I agree with Ladytron.
Maybe somehow make the downloads available only to registered members?

If I had a vote, I'd vote to keep it as it is now.
It's not that hard to sign up for SOOMPI. If a person
wants to view a hidden topic, all he has to do is sign up!
It kind of loses the community-ness then...

There's one forum I visit where pics aren't loaded for guests. It's a very active forum with only a few sections opened for guests to read. They only show the link to the pic until you log in and then you can see the posted pic like normal. I believe this saves on bandwidth. Maybe soompi can implement something like this. If a guest really wanted to see the picture they would have to click on the link. And for download links, I agree that it'd be best to have a way to hide them either until one is logged in or until one replies to the topic. I assume guests will only be able to read topics and not reply to them, right?

I think it's a good idea to get soompi more attention from outsiders who are just stopping by the forums to check it out,
but I think these types of people are the ones who will take advantage of that and never sign up because they're too lazy? or its just convenient to not log-in every time?

It feels like an breach of the community ><

awesome idea
sounds great for ppl who were noobies like me (before). ^^

lol is a good idea of spreading the korean culture but the moderators and the old soompiers must be working hard to maintain the thread to be 'clean'( free from spam). Anyway, let's see how it goes ^^

i think having the kmusic section open is ok.
but the drama i think would be too much.
all those links, credit issues and things.
i think best way to go about it is to create a hack
that hides the links as was mentioned.
so the other users can feel secure is posting.
and the links will not be unavailable too much (ie. if the link expires after 100 hits)

i seemingly agree that the present setup has a more secure and community feel to it.
it's easy to register if your really interested it surmise.

i agree though its a good idea to spread kpop love..
but still people might just become lurkers and not posters?

how bout creating a set post limit? or something?

I like this, and I hope it happens because I am also concerned about the download links.
Why can people just register?

Personally, I think only the K-celeb section should be open to everyone.
Music and drama should be for registered members :/

thanks for the heads up Soomp! it's a good thing that we could share all info on K-drama and movies to guests, but the problem is the hotlinking and grabbing of pics. dl links and info without credits to the original poster, which happened to me when I created a drama thread and noticed that all my pics were hotlinked, resulting in all my pics getting over the bandwidth, I was able to fix that though but hopefully and crossing my fingers that it won't happen again, it's just goes down to respect for each member and visitors viewing the forums, that's what I'm scared of

Okay I did not read everyone's post so I'm sorry if this was asked and has been answered already.
Given that they can view both forums, that doesn't mean that they can reply right?
Are you guys also giving them that option?

Anyway, it's 50-50 for me, yea we need to spread kpop and all, but it really doesn't take you the whole day to register here in soompi.
But then again, some registered members are just lurking around soompi without even replying to the topics. lol. so it's pretty much the same XD

I'm not personally a huge fan -___-;

It isn't hard to join Soompi, it annoyed me until I joined the forums, but then I got addicted to them. It's good to open up all this info. It will lose some of the community feeling though. Hopefully we can get bigger and bigger!

I'm kind of skeptical about the kdrama threads too. I mean it's great that there will be more informing for the mass, but the download links might get out of hand. We'll see how it goes then? xD

I think download links should be hidden unless you join soompi.

Hmm...I'm kindda skeptical about this. The music section is ok but the drama section and possibly the k-celeb photo sections are what I'm worry about. First of all, not only the download links that members upload but also news translations, episode summaries are in there. Since it's already pretty hard to keep track of all this copyright and credit things, opening the forum to the public would make it even easier for non-member to steal these stuff and translators as well as unloaders would be discourage from sharing their stuff. And many have already voiced their opinion on the whole bandwidth issues so I'm not going to touch on that. But I agree with some that IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO JOIN THE FORUM, only a few clicks and voila...

However, if soompi staffs and admins really decided to do this then I guess it would be best if you guys can somehow hide the download links so that if anyone want to see it would have to register. I've seen a couples forums doing that and I think it's one of the best way.

That would be best. Some of us have links that we get permission to post only on soompi and if others were to post it elsewhere, it'll might be a problem.

Thanks for information.

This's a great idea.

but I think download part should only available for members.

Nope, I like the way it is now...
Joining Soompi isn't rocket science....

and abt Korean Celebs pix..
don't know.. coz now ppl have started posting news there
and the whole copyright and credit, pix hotlinks.. issues spring up..

yea, I'm concern a lot about people hotlinking our contents :[
Especially in the kdrama thread.
Is it possible that we can have a code where we can hide all the dl link and that only posters who who can see the dl link?

The other K-music mods and I are still uneasy about opening up the forum, but I guess there are sacrifices to be made if we're really going to be keen on spreading Kpop culture.




Something like this would be good to have. Could it expanded into some kind of general feature that lets only logged in members see the content? Some kind of hide code that could be applied to anything i.e. text, pictures, links, etc.?

^ yea, that's true.
And don't forget those threads about all those Korean Variety Shows too... o__o

I like this idea. ^^ It's just the Korean Music & K-drama parts of the soompi forums that is opening to the public right?? ^^ If that is so, then I think that's pretty great. ^^

honestly, i don't like this idea. >_<
like many have said, it's not difficult to register.
also, if it's free for the public to view... what's the point of registering or officially joining the soompi community when you can just easily read/lurk for info anyway?

there are many other ways to get to know korean artists/actors... it's called google, it's called wikipedia...
if they want more info, and want to keep updated with certain celebs, then it's a motivation to register at soompi to get the good stuff. isn't that we want? more soompiers? ^^

that's how i'd rather keep it.

hmm... dunno about the other sections but feel kinda iffy esp. the k-drama section...

I really approve of spreading the k-culture around part but things will surely get more messier than before.

There going to be more 'stealing' for sure. I already got some of my postings/translations stolen in a 'closed' forum, imagine what will happen during an 'open' one?
Going to have more discords especially for hot-linkers who will 'kill' the bandwidths of pics links that soompiers uploads or vids links posted in some other sites without credits.

I'm all for opening up the forums so people can see the awesomeness of Soompi and of course Korean music and drama culture and join.

But like the rest I do have concerns about the pictures being hotlinked and the K-drama forum's DLs

So I really think that having something that hides links and pictures to guests would be great.

I think as a guest they shouldn't be able to make any posts otherwise they may not register.

It's good that we want to get people to know more about kpop but i don't like the idea that the sections will be opened to public...people will lurk more and not want to register and not want to post. however saying that even registered members do that so it's a 50/50..

I guess what ever can help improve and make soompi bigger is worth a try..

suggestion for the picture bandwidth problem... on another forum I regular they require login to see pictures, but the posts are viewable to anyone. not sure if it could be implemented here... but a suggestion none the less

Although I want to spread K-pop culture and all,I'm not really into this. Signing takes up only abit of your finger energy.And and..what would happen if Soompi were to crash from overloaded viewers both sign and unsigned?I still feel the best way to spread it is by mouth and featurings on blogs or such.Old-fashioned but somehow you can make friends and I dunno,when the person is given the chance to dwelve in deeper, they would automatically get hooked.Still, the world is more connected now. I guess this is the best..I'm gonna miss this state of being..Lol..

I thought Soompi was just some forum untill I joined the forums and BAM.I'm addicted!But if seems more plausible then..okay..but Guest can't post or save/hotlink pics from the forums please!XD

I dont like the idea that much like what most people said it is not hard to sign up for soompi<3

most concerns will be the crediting issue and maybe there will be more lurkers in the forums
somehow I dont see alot of benefits in this T_T

Is it possible to try out how it goes with the music section first? More than the links that REGISTERED users post, there is even more of an issue with translations from Korean to English and then having that content taken without permission and reposted elsewhere. I also don't know what the difficulty is in registering. Is it possible for them to register with a free e-mail account? I don't want to be a downer, but a lot of registered users, like me will be hesitant to post translations. Although as stated, it's not a guarantee that REGISTERED users won't steal content either, but I would feel better knowing that at least, it's a CONTROLLED population of people within a community. I'm Korean, Korean speaking and literate and I often translate news and dramas/shows but I am now hesitant to do this in fear that there will be a dramatic increase of unauthorized distribution of content, posted by earnest registered users. I assume that people will have to register to post in the threads? And if that's the case, I really don't know what the difficulty is in registering anyway. But, I love this forum and the posters I "see" every day and I'll continue to visit, but just won't be able to participate in translating as freely as I've been doing. That's a shame in and of itself because as people know, Korean dramas and variety shows don't come subbed and a lot of people like myself and many others do our part in providing translations for those who aren't Korean OR don't speak Korean. And I feel that in our own small way, we're contributing to the "hallyu wave" effect worldwide on behalf of the Korean entertainment industry.

of course that's a good idea!
i've always been dreaming about that

but anyway i'm registered already