POSITIVE POST - Netizenbuzz

You said that you wanted it, so here it is - Kpopalypse's positive post about the well-known Korean netizen comment translation site, Netizenbuzz!  Yay!

Since Netizenbuzz has finally come to the party with the article that they owed T-ara in 2012, I'm going to reciprocate with a positive article of my own about all the reasons that you SHOULD be grateful for Netizenbuzz!


Observant readers will have noticed that while I've been quite vocal about some of the issues I have with the content on Netizenbuzz, I've never once suggested that people stop visiting the site (unlike Allkpop, who I've mostly boycotted since Aileegate).  Not only do I continue to recommend the site even when I'm critiquing it, I also consistently continue to link to Netizenbuzz articles.  Why is that?  Is it because I'm a colossal hypocrite?  No, it's actually because I firmly believe that Netizenbuzz is largely a good site which deserves praise.  So since this is a POSITIVE post, let's look at all the POSITIVE reasons why I like Netizenbuzz!

SOME REASONS WHY KPOPALYPASE THINKS THAT NETIZENBUZZ IS A GENERALLY GOOD SITE THAT YOU SHOULD VISIT OFTEN OCCASIONALLY

1. You can learn all about how awful Koreans are

Here's some of the things that I learned about Korea and Korean netizens since I started reading Netizenbuzz (hereafter referred to as NB to save me typing):

• Korean netizens love bullying celebrities
• Koreans love bullying in school too
• Koreans also can't get enough of bullying in the army
• The Korean entertainment industry is full of unfairness, plus a front for prostitution in many cases
• Koreans are very concerned about their image, so if bad things happen they will cover it up
• Koreans believe it's important to not have individual thoughts but to think the same way as everybody else
• Koreans love trend-following so much that they will choose trendy hate even when they know the facts are against them
• If you're Korean and have a history of doing drugs that's bad but if you're from overseas Korean netizens don't care
• Discrimination on the basis of professional occupation is considered fantastic and strongly encouraged
• Racism and mob mentality are also fine, and nationalism is great
• Idol girls are especially hated by netizens - they're damned if they do and damned if they don't
• Being discerning about fake evidence is fine if the target is male, but if it's a female the truth doesn't matter
• Doing charity work is enough for male idols to be forgiven for scandal but not female idols
• Going on a long reflection period is also fine if you're male, but it won't work if you're female
• If you're a female idol you'd better not act sexy, and don't try to be cute or different either
• Also netizens don't want female idols to be in the media too much either (not while they're alive, anyway)
• In fact, you idols should probably just vanish according to netizens who will always hate you, no matter what

I think that all this education is a good thing because netizens are given way too much relevance, and learning about how fucked in the head they are is step one toward ignoring them.  I'm not just saying this now because NB posted a T-ara article with actual true stuff in it for once, I've always felt that way.  For anyone in doubt, take a look at where I thanked NB personally for her exemplary services in unearthing the disgusting trash of Korean netizen thought back at the end of 2012:

It seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed her efforts - finally the word that Korean netizens are looking like shit in the eyes of the world thanks to NB has spread back to Korea, where the translations have been re-traslated back into Korean and the netizens themselves are of course horrified to see their own ugly reflections.  Naturally they reacted like bullies usually do, and NB herself details the various standover bullying tactics of Koreans to try and shut down the site's translations and/or pressure her to shut up - but don't listen, NB!  Kpopalypse supports you!

2.  T-ara's music is still good, and Netizenbuzz may have helped with that

Here's a list of some of the bigger groups that debuted around the same time as T-ara or had their bigger hits at times when T-ara was also having big hits, and what's happening with them lately.

• Girls' Generation - can't release anything worth a damn since "Paparazzi" in 2012
• 2NE1 - has been releasing mostly utter shit since "Scream" in 2012
• BigBang - are their two new songs "Bae Bae" and "Loser" as iconic as their 2012 feature tracks "Fantastic Baby" and "Monster"?  Or to put it another way, do Korean rape victims often get any justice from the legal system?
• Super Junior - has been on the downward slide since "Sorry Sorry" and has really hit the skids since 2012, after "Mr. Simple" came out.
• Wonder Girls - haven't released anything whatsoever since "Like Money" with Akon in 2012
• 4Minute - apart from "Crazy" have been releasing utter dogshite ever since 2012's excellent "Volume Up"

Notice a pattern forming?  Yes that's right, most of these groups simply stopped trying around the second half of 2012.  These k-pop acts had already secured large core audiences by that point, meaning that people who were rabid fans of these groups would care about them anyway even if they released total crap (which they mostly did).  Now what else happened in the second half of 2012  - T-ara's bullying scandal, the incident that rocketed NB to fame because she was willing to go where other sites wouldn't and translate and give context to what was actually going on.  As a result of the scandal, which was amplified across the world by NB's many hate-articles, T-ara actually lost a percentage of their core audience... meaning that their agency kept giving them decent songs, to try to regain lost fans.  As a result, the post-scandal T-ara catalogue (as a group, ahem) is so far almost all solid gold: the bigger feature tracks "Sexy Love", "Number Nine", "Sugar Free" and "Do You Know Me" were all excellent songs for the domestic market, and even songs for overseas markets such as "Bunny Style" and "Little Apple" were above average, because they had to be.  Okay, so T-ara fucked up with the confused-sounding "Jeon Won Diary" but even that song was enjoyable on a non-musical level just because of the hilarious sledging of netizens in the lyrics... and arguably none of it would have been this good without NB contributing in her own special way to strengthen the impact of the scandal internationally and give something for T-ara's agency and songwriters to rally against.  What didn't kill T-ara made them stronger.  Maybe NB had nothing to do with it.  Or maybe... just maybe, they couldn't have done it without her.

 

3.  The highlighting of international netizen stupidity as a community service is appreciated

Are you doing a psychology degree and need a case study in human behaviour, or perhaps you're just an amateur scholar of the human condition?  Maybe you just enjoy watching people wrest with their inner demons.  In any case, come on down to the NB comments section where the fun never stops and the logic rarely starts!  Witness as:

• Everybody knows the right business moves to make better than CEOs with decades of experience
• Cultural knowledge is always at a premium
• Everyone is always ready to tackle the big important issues
• Embedded pictures are always relevant to the discussion
• Nobody ever jumps to conclusions before they have all the facts
• Reactions to rumours are reasonable and level headed
• Speculation is kept to a minimum
• Frivolous rankings are never given too much importance
• Subtle legal aspects of the music business are fully understood
• Nobody is ever judgemental about personal situations
• People realise that opinions on aesthetic matters are subjective

NB is the place where international netizens go to prove that they really are equal in stupidity to their Korean counterparts... and we should be grateful for it.  Someone has to store and maintain all that mental clutter, and NB is doing it, for you, for free!  If you ever need example of stupid online behaviours, NB's comments section has got your needs covered!  Just don't get too heavily involved in any of the discussions yourself or you may get sucked up into the mental vortex known as "netizen-rot".

4.  Johnny Noh doesn't like Netizenbuzz, therefore how bad can the site be, really

Johnny Noh the head wanker from shitty non-news trash site Allkpop that I hope none of you ever visit doesn't like NB presumably because she's an ex-Allkpop employee who runs a site which is pretty successful and far more respected than his crappy site and that bothers him, wow what a douche.  Anyone who Johnny Noh doesn't like enough for him to actually complain about them in public online must be alright and is potentially a friend of mine.  Maybe me, NB and Ailee can all get together and go out for a milkshake one day.

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There you go folks, four fantastic reasons to be grateful and happy about Netizenbuzz!  NB has given a lot to the international k-pop fan community and she also seems to be going through a tough time right now with nasty Korean netizens bullying her so don't forget to visit her site sometime soonish and show her some love!  Tell her that Kpopalypse sent you, don't forget to say thank you for the T-ara article, and take a stand against the hurtful cyberbullying she's experiencing!  After all, she'd do the same for you... especially if you were a member of an idol group who was being unfairly victimised.  Okay, so it might take her two and a half years but she'll get around to it eventually.