how to improve soompi

[Guest Malice_Kaiser]

Just out of curiousity, what subforums do you guys generally visit? I think it might be more of a subforum topic, seeing that I frequent the "performer's" forum, which has hit rock bottom. no comments @ least very rarely. I've also heard from various sources (and this thread) that the art forum and fan fics forum has been dying as well, but I don't really visit those much...

so i guess in all and all it DOES depend on 1) which forum you visit. 2) what your own definition of "death/decay" is...

i hear a lot of people complaining about the layout, and i for one is annoyed BUT layout is a pretty subjective thing, i mean, that really shouldn't stop me from posting or commenting as much as i use to (unless there is a very deep and psychological reason why this layout doesnt work lol)

i also hear a lot of people complaining about k-pop, but we all know that isn't the only topic here on soompi. i guess that's what the majority of people came here for...

i honestly liked this forum because i met a lot of cool people and discussed/talked about topics that were interesting to me. i was literally ADDICTED to this forum for a while lol, but this isn't happening as much as it use to... it could just be an individual thing though,

anyway, thank you guys for your inputs, i'm sure mods are reading and trying to figure something out for all of us complainers , and if there IS in fact a problem, then im sure they'll try to make things right.

To answer your question, I mostly visit Love & Relationships and Current Events. I also go to Helath & Fitness, Beauty & Fashion, Anime/Manga/Games, and general discussion regularly too but not quite as often. Then the music and entertainment sections I visit every once in a while but hardly ever, really.

I mean I've noticed changes in these sections too but they're probably not nearly as dramatic of changes as in the K-pop sections, which is probably why I don't notice the forums "dying."

[Jen.]

I was thinking maybe it seems like it's dying because there's this trend of creating fan forums for artists now (ex: forum for SS501 or Wonder Girls, etc.) unlike before where I don't think there was any or a lot (was there?) so a lot more people come to soompi for news, etc. Now, they just hang out at that certain forum and rarely come to soompi anymore. Then there's also kpop news site that are rather efficient in kpop news and probably easier to navigate than the forum format. And of course, people are growing up too...haha ^^

[Guest peppermintsugar]

^^ Yeah, I don't use Soompi for news, I have OMNTD for that. It's just easier in my opinion. Although, I do tend to read most Big Bang related news here first, before it ends up getting posted on OMNTD. Our Big Bang fans work at lightning speeds 8D

[Guest knockblock]

but I also agree with the moderators. Having deep discussions makes this place a more contraversial and inviting place. However these types of topics also guarantee that there will be problems such as bashing and the such.

I believe that the best that we can do to have these contraversial topics available is to keep loyal soompiers on the lookout for bullies or people who post innappropriate content and report them. This way the innapropriate posts can be deleted from the topic.

We must allow for some candid discussion as well to keep this website alive. Too much authority can ruin anything, but not enough authority can cause problems. Let's just give Soompi a balance.

Another thing I had in mind yesterday night was that maybe recycling old topics... such as topics written two years ago that don't have responses should not only be closed, but deleted as well. This way we are saving resources, but we are also giving the new or older soompiers create their own topics.

About deep discussions making this place a more controversial and inviting place. The mod I spoke to in pm said to me similarly to what you said. She said that deep discussions often lead to fights and insults because people can't restrain themselves. She also said "it gets that way in Current Events as well. People don't always read other posts carefully. The younger ones don't always care for deep discussions, there's a different set of priorities and what they're interested in, so that's just how it is".

Deep discussions can get controversial. But not necessarily. It comes in a variety of fashion. It depends on what the subject of the topic is.

There have been threads that lead to posters backbiting amongst each other during those years many people say were the best times on Soompi. But at least there were those that weren't boring.

I just wish for the forums to be fun and entertaining. Whatever there is we can do, we need to make anything possible.

I agree on many of your points. Except about the recycled threads. That could go either way.

Geneyoonit, I thought I recognized you from somewhere. But couldn't remember exactly where I thought your name sounded familiar. I looked back on an old thread and saw. I replied in one thread of yours in the performers section back in March of 2007. I used to be active in replying in threads for the performers section from late 2006 and somewhere until 2007.

This is a cool thread. Certainly has been interesting. A lot of people said good things that are true. Many of the things others spoke on I want to weigh in on too. I hope this thread doesn't ride off course just yet. I got more to say.

[Guest kayana20]

Well I can see why it is dying off. Many are new and people sometimes don;t like talking to new people because forums sometimes are close knit forums. I gotta say I stay coming here only because of the drama and SNSd forum they steadily a respond to my posts or any questions I have. In other threads i feel invisible so I just leave my thread blank and stop asking for help. I was here when soompi first started and their was not one day I didn't have something to talk t about.Sadly it is no longer like that only on certain topics is it. Soompi is dying but still have many followers who strive to keep it alive. I am happy because we all need a forum site like this.

[jenn]

An online forum is the place where everyone can share their thoughts,

regardless of how controversy it may be.

Yes, people should be respectful and

understand other have the freedom to express their thoughts.

However, by trying to create harmony within a community,

soompi oppresses the people who try to create a thoughtful discussion about topics.

When soompi and moderators start censoring the people who provide thought provoking subject,

we are no longer a online forum that provides opportunity to discuss/reply/think.

When people no longer have the right to express their feelings and thoughts on soompi,

they will look for another haven.

The basic skeletal structure of a forum is to create conversations and discussions.

Take away the kpop in soompi, then one can see it lacks something.

We need depth and diversity.

Soompi is based in America.

Ironically it does not uphold the value Americans deem true: freedom of expression/speech.

That's my perspective on the topic, based upon my experience of being an active member for atleast 6 years.

[Guest Pinkyx]

i dont think soompi is dying.

i always go on it everyday to check up the updates from the fanfix and the humour forum! and when i design a fanfic poster or any graphics plus get some infor about celebs, soompi is the first website!

you know whats dying? asianfanatics!

[Guest FDTxtianshix]

I too agree that soompi is less active than before and I know many people aren't as active because of the layout/forum upgrade. I almost stopped coming here as well had it not been for my shop and thanks to that, I got a bit more used to the new soompi.

Is it possible to just go back to the old layout? I really really liked the Soompi Royale layout too

[Guest marmaladeboy]

There are a lot of members still logging on, and i can't honestly say that i'm active in every part of this forum,

but i am active in the Selling & Trading forum, and i noticed that there are only about 10-15 users that are active in that forum.

I remember my friend telling me that there would be as many as 50-100 members regular on the S&T forum, and now it's even hard to get 10 to be active.

From what i can see, there are too many strict restrictions in the S&T forum, and the mods just barraged it with rules ontop of rules--which really don't even "protect" us from being scammed, it's just become an eyesore to see all those big bold red letters at the top of every screen. My friend told me that the S&T thread used to be really popular, and FUN to be on, but now since the overload of power on it, people have stopped going. And also, she mentioned that she has talked to a couple mods about her shop etc etc, and that they were always very curt, and very unfriendly. I'm not saying everyone has to  be nice--but at the same time, there's no reason to be rude either, especially if you're a mod--who are supposed to be looking out for the users

And it seems like the forum is dying in other parts too, since this thread was put up. Maybe the soompi mods and admins should just get together and re-vamp this place and ask the members what they can do to fix it/what we as members are looking for.

Because i know that i would like the S&T thread to become more enjoyable and not so threatening

[Guest Rainie]

I grew up with Soompi...back in day when I was in jr. high, I came here for the fanfics. Soompi was best known for its fanfics...the forum existed, but I was uninterested at the time. Later when I got out of the fanfic stage, I noticed the other topics outside of the fanfic topic of the forums. I think the biggest aspect that made soompi so successful is the fact that people my age had similar interests and soompi provided a place for everyone to discuss about those interests. One of the biggest differences today is that not many young people are interested in fanfics anymore, and as these years have gone by, the original soompiers have grown out of soompi. The newer fans of k-pop tend to go to other k-pop sites, so essentially the fan base has dispersed into all-kpop and other official fansites. One of the older sites that started out with soompi was Asian Fanatics, and I've found that it also isn't doing so great anymore. I still think it has room for growth, but soompi needs some new strategies to make it happen.

I've also noticed that there's been too many repeated topics, arguments, etc. I think the population that uses soompi have their own favourite artists, actors/actresses, but there are many who just like to bash on other soompiers. So when individual forums of these celebrities pop up elsewhere, people tend to leave soompi and go to a forum where everybody supports their favourite celebs. There's just too many arguments and bashing in soompi that drives people away.

[CarolinaDannie]

Maybe it's the economy...

or maybe there's a (better) forum that competes with soompi for the same services...

or maybe it's due to the "new & updated" look/interface/systems...

But there is one thing definite. Soompi is dying!

I guess this topic has three reasons for being started:

1) A question: Why is it dying so suddenly, if this is, in fact sudden, or a general trend it was leading to?

2) A follow-up question: What could we do about it??

and 3) I have a (pretty radical) suggestion: Possibly it's the fact that not a lot of us likes the "new & updated" look and feel of Soompi? I don't know, just my opinion....

Please feel free to close if there were previous topics such as mine.

I'm just a little sad this is happening to a community where I feel like I was once a part of building it up, word by word...

So if anyone cares, maybe we should try finding out the problem and do something about it? lol.

*edit*btw: guys, i'm not banned LOL i just changed my "member title" to zBanned XD sorry for the confusion

I am an American from North Carolina and love Soompi. This site has allowed me to keep up with SHINee, my favorite K-pop group. There are tons of us from the USA  (asian and non-asian like me) that rely heavily on this site to keep up with the K-Pop world. The only problem we have in the USA is understanding the "posting rules." I think with this post I might be able to finally post on the Official SHINee thread, who knows. A lot of us are visiting Soompi every day, we just can't post to let you all know that we are here.

[Guest sheilapiglet]

to me, one of the reasons that soompi is dying is because of the voting system that's been put into place due to the new forum layout....I know many people that have felt ganged up on or completely hurt because people couldn't just agree to disagree peacefully and instead had to thumb them down repeatedly....there's no longer the freedom and safety people once felt in voicing their opinions and discussing different points of views on a DISCUSSION forum like before...instead, it has become a popularity contest....whoever is liked will get alot of green numbers while those that are disliked get alot of red numbers....people hate being judged like that, especially since we all know each other online only and are literally strangers...having this power to hurt people emotionally in an anonymous way is wrong in my opinion and negatively affects people enough to the point that they're scared to post and be as active as they want to be.

[Guest yooniceland]

^ agreed. I often don't want to post because i've had instances where people neg my comment just because I shared my thought. I wish we could get rid of that function honestly.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but i feel like a lot of people who are active in soompi are active in the korean celeb forum. I used to post a lot (excessively almost) before there were a bunch of "picture threads". I enjoyed the random threads about this and this event that so and so attended, or a thread regarding some k-pop news. but now all the news are being posted in individual celeb pic thread. To be honest, I'm not going to check every single pic thread to get some news if I'm bored. I liked how easily accessible the news was in the korean pic forum. but now, I feel like it's been closed off to newcomers.

Soompi was so addicting for me before, and maybe it's because i've grown older, but i'm not as attached to it anymore. I agree with the others about the new layout of the site. Over time, I've grown accustomed to it, but I know that at the very beginning, I had a hard time adjusting and didn't log on for a while. I truly do miss the old soompi. I was born in korea and moved to the states in elementary school. If it wasn't for soompi, I wouldn't have been able to connect to my own culture. I would never have been able to experience k-pop or dramas at all, and I would never have been able to make the friends that I made here. Soompi's so much stricter now, and when a new member makes a mistake by breaking a rule, the other members are not forgiving (referring to the pos/neg-ing comments). I just wish that soompi could go back to its roots.

[Guest kayana20]

All these posts are so spot on. I used to be a soompi newb a few weeks ago now I just am trying to figure the forum and just fit in where I can. I don;t know if I will make any friends but I do love talking on the forums and the tips I learn on here are helping me shape up in life and realize why I am so fascinated with kpop and a foreign culture from my oww. I will be on soompi even while it keeps dying down I now realize why I love it.

[raini]

the new interface bugged the heck out of me at first. Couldn't get a new icon or siggie up for hours. Or maybe I'm a bit on the dim side haha! And then it messed up my old posts too. But, in the end, I survived. It makes me sad to see 2 people on in the artworks section though, when it used to have 40+ and that was mainly the reason why I practically lived in soompi like a year or two ago. It's not just happening to the kpop section, and that makes me a bit depressed to see other forums moving so slow.. *sighs*

also don't like how the korean celeb photos section is over-saturated with "official threads"

it used to be a fun forum that I'd randomly click into threads to see the newest photoshoots or random pic spams of funny ngs.

As much as I respect how a forum would have to go through updates and new managing ways, it's hard for me to say goodbye to the good old days~

Maybe I'm just getting to old for soompi? None of my friends come on any more. I don't really feel like hanging out in the "real world" forum either.

[Guest GreenTeaGraffiti]

I can definitely see where both sides -- the ones that say Soompi is dying and the ones that say otherwise -- are saying.  Like some posters here, I was a long time Soompi poster, coming in 2000 and experiencing the 2005 server crash.  While the old layout was very memorable and perhaps even better than the current site's layout, this layout is pretty efficient as well.  It's clean, has a lot of space, and presents the news/articles very well.

With that being said, I do think it's a combination of two major things: that people are getting older (e.g. jobs, college, kids, etc) and new competition from other Korean pop sites.  With the first point, that one's pretty self-explanatory.  You grow up and as much as you want to visit Soompi, life has this curse of getting in the way.  So the daily Soompi visits may become every two or three days, which turns into weekly, which turns into monthly, etc.

As for the other Korean pop sites, they have sprung up everywhere since the Hallyu Wave explosion in 2004-2005.  Many Asian pop sites report on the latest news and gossip, which are short and sweet... and exactly what most people want to read about.  Whereas older fans before would get into these deep discussions about SES, Wheesung, and all the earlier 2000 and 1990s artists, the newcomers have changed that.  The newcomers aren't bad at all (after all, new fans to Korean pop is always good), but many of them cannot relate to us older Soompi loyalists who listened to the older music.  The news premium has shifted from reading a good article about your favorite Korean artist or song to simply "who's the hottest Girls Generation member" or "who's dating who?"  Hopefully, over time, the newcomers will inject some new blood not only to Soompi, but to the Asian pop culture community with engaging topics.

As for Soompi dying, I would say the site has a lot of staying power.  I, for one, respect the hell out of Soompi and its vision back in 1998.  

[Guest the last hour.]

for me it's the:

new updates that kept happening, now I see this new fancy layout. I was with soompi for so long, and all these updates and upgrades really changed the feel of soompi for me.

a bombardment of new users registering and soon enough there are 13 year olds flooding the forum and anyone I use to know disappeared. So the 'community' aspect I once knew and was accustomed to is gone. I rarely log into soompi now. But I reminiscence about the days where it was my #1 website I go on :3

[Guest dancingdreamer]

mm..just for me, after the buying and selling forums got all haywired and my stuff got all weird, i stopped going on as much.

plus, life just caught up to me for now >.<

i checked back if the buy/sell forums is back and up, most ppl seem to have gotten it, but after about 4 tries, mine doesn't seem to be running :o/

[Guest MC_Lee]

I mostly think that layout is what is causing all this change.

Before Soompi seemed like a place where people were eager to visit, since you had all these features. Now that the site looks different it's harder to communicate with people and have your own profile like before.

[Guest EHNerJI]

^ Yeah, there were a bunch of people I used to talk to before the change.

We'd leave comments on eachother's profiles and stuff, but after the layout changed and the cafe was introduced,

I just couldn't be bothered to keep up with it anymore.

Plus, you can't see who visits your profile or anything... that used to start up a lot of conversations lol.

v LOL. Yeah, I just noticed that happened to me after I posted this. =__= Need a notification.