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Support Dramabeans

You’ve helped make Dramabeans the wonderful drama haven it is today. As our community and site have grown, operating costs have grown as well. We have our whole family of minions to take care of, as well as the costs of keeping a decade’s worth of Dramabeans posts and Beanie discussions up online. We want to avoid a paywall scenario, but we need your help!

How can you support Dramabeans?

    Subscribe to the BeanieBox, our monthly subscription snack box. It’s full of tasty Korean treats and other surprise goodies. We might argue over drama ratings and favorite actors, but we can all agree that K-dramas are fun AND the food PPL temptation is too real. We need a minimum of 5000 subscribers in order to support the current costs of the site.

    If you’re not located in one of the countries we ship to, help us spread the word about the BeanieBox by sharing on Twitter or Instagram to any foodies or snackers you know!

    Follow our official Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts and share our content directly from there. Our writers and editors put a lot of thought (and squee) and heart into our articles. Please don’t copy-paste them.

All BeanieBox subscribers will get their name on a soon-to-launch Dramabeans Supporters’ Wall and virtual badges so you can be loud and proud with your support.

We have other projects planned on the horizon that will be accessible to the whole community, no matter where you live, so please stay tuned. Thank you for staying with us through the years. And for those who just arrived, welcome!

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Hello DB team! As an editor with a Kpop editorial site that also doesn't use a paywall, I understand the financial difficulties of keeping a site like this afloat but also free to use.

I was wondering if you guys would consider other forms of receiving support, such as a Patreon account? I'm sure many Beanies are happy to help, but we don't necessarily need the snacks in the BeanieBox, or we may not live in a country that BeanieBox ships to but still want to help, or we may prefer donating a smaller amount than the subscription fee regularly, or making a lump sum donation every couple of months. Other options would provide more flexibility in the ways we can help!

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I've seen podcast and blogs take give some perks to Patreon supporters. Like here they could vote on the theme of the month every quarter or so or maybe vote on a drama to be recapped if the minions are up to it. Maybe even an older one, a j drama, or another version of variety roulette for the month.
Also, there is affiliate links. I see blogs do this around certain times of the year with curated lists that appeal to their audience.

I dont know why things like badges and supporter walls do not appeal to me.

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Yes, please give us a way to support DB directly. The boxes seem inefficient because a lot of the money must go for shipping and the snacks, etc.

I said it before, but besides Patreon, how about giving us an address of P.O. box and telling us who to make the check out to.

And BTW, I have a lot of food-intolerance issues so the snacks would be pretty useless to me.

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@lordcobol,
I have a severe food allergy, and am in a similar boat to yours. I wish I could try the snacks, but anaphylaxis is no fun. I second your request for an option to pay by check. Thank you, DB! ;-)

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Thirded - even if I was in the right area, I couldn't risk buying the box.

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Re check vs Patreon...
Patreon seems to take a non-trivial percent of the donations, more than the U.S. post office takes for domestic mail (but less than I guess goes to shipping & manufacturing for BeanieBoxes).

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Yes @lordcobol. I would also prefer direct support.

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I also would much prefer to support DB directly. I actively try to avoid snacks! And thinking about the hard numbers, as much as I love DB I'm not sure it's worth almost 5x the price of my Viki/Kocowa subscription to receive lots of snacks that I don't want to eat. I'd rather spend half that in a straight donation. Also I think it's important to be able to include all the Non-US Beanies who want to support the site. 5,000 US subscribers sounds daunting, not to mention the challenge of the service in Korea finding new snacks every month. I will join the Beanie Box subscription because it's the only thing I can do to help now but it's under protest! 😉
Please give us another way to join in and help 😁

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Same, I'm not in the US+there are things I actively need to avoid eating and I'm not always going to be able to figure out whether a package in a foreign language is telling me it contains them.

I would very much prefer to give a donation directly, whether it's a one-off or recurring.

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I like this idea as well. I think we all love DB so much, all of us would be happy to donate smaller amounts each month. I think it’s way more efficient than subscribing to the BeanieBox:

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Agree, although smaller amount each month sounds like a subscription, and you guys want to avoid paywall scenario, but the box is also a subscription, I don't know now what I am talking about....
But I suppose, yeah, something like PayPal may help?????
Even for us who are outside the US....

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I actually wouldn't mind a paywall, but that would cut out a lot of beanies, I think. The voluntary subscription sounds like a good idea, like Wikipedia does (I'm a contributor, since I get 97% of my information from Wikipedia, for better or worse).

The pay structure in place for the Beanie box could stay the same, just the product would be supporting DB. Or maybe we could even pay for leveling up, if we're tired of being an Errand Boy forever *hint hint*.

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Oho, @blnmom!
Bribing the gwageo officials to level up... is a brilliant idea! I love it! Perhaps it could involve a parallel range of levels along with the issuance of spiffy digital certificates or posting on Ye Olde Notice Board -- since the flowery antennas for winged caps would be a pain to mail. ;-)

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lol @ Errand Boy Weariness
"Bribing" our way up sounds like a plan!

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I thought I was the only one stuck in Errand Boy eternity. Haha.

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God, no....me,too. I would do *anything* to get out of errand boy hell

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dear, there are trillions of threads on here devoted to complaining about the Errand Boy Purgatory. ha ha ha ha
glad you don't feel so alone anymore.
*dashes off to yet another errand...*

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Hhhhmmmmmm bribing sounds fun *justkiddinghihihi*

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It seems as if dramabeans has discontinued or inactivated the ranking system for comments. I couldn't even find the meaning of, or order of, the rankings when I searched the site, and someone ended up finding it in an old thread.

I don't want a box of snacks, and would prefer a method of voluntarily making a financial contribution, like I do Wonkette, Wikipedia, and other sites I read/use regularly. I think a mandatory paywall would significantly decrease the number of participants.

I follow on Twitter, but rarely see anything show up in my feed. I would love to see more discussions on twitter, as my Kdrama and Cdrama followed accounts seem to be very young, and usually have dramatically different taste than I do (ie: So many of the LURVED MMS, and even blocked or muted anyone who very validly pointed out what total dreck it was).

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Patreon is a great idea! I support many artists and communities with Patreon.

BeaniesBox don't work for me as I travel a lot for work and therefore never get subscriptions for physical products.

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I agree. I don't eat sweets and sugar which I'm sure some of the items in these have so they would go to waste. There is also the issue of those Beanies who can't receive the Beanie Box due to location problems. The other issue is some Beanies can't afford the cost of $40 but might be able to afford something lower, like $10.

It seems really weird to make such a restrictive donation option. Giving the option to simply donate through something like Patreon, Pay-Pal or even Ko-Fi I think would really help.

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I'm not completely sure how blogs make money besides ads and links, but I do think there is ways it happens. I should google, but I'm not very business minded. Though decreasing I do think this blog must get a lot of hits a day.

This is going to sound cynical and im grumpy a bit this morn, so....

But the more I think about it this seems like a way for the Beanie Box to become more popular, if they want us to use our social media to get the word out.

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Patreon sounds like a great option, I'm in if you create an account!

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So @melovestage & I are thinking of sharing a beaniebox subscription, but got some questions before we go ahead.

1. I assuming it's USD $40 per box so it's around SGD $54? 💸
2. Is it possible to have both our names on the supporter wall if only one of our account is used for the subscription? If not we are considering to create a new account just for the subscription so both our names r included. 😂
3. Any possibility of introducing a mini beanie box at a cheaper rate so we can afford one each? 🤣

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This is funny because I thought I'd get one for a Christmas present. Maybe just one month maybe more. But now I see name on a wall and I want to nope on out, lol.

If they are looking for Beanies to help advertise for them, well, I'm not a social media person.
I wonder if they've reached out to other drama blogs or reviewers to do unboxings.

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I’m not sure if you all want to consider cutting down on some of the stuff on the site that doesn’t get a lot of traffic/comments/discussions?

Not trying to sound unappreciative or anything but I kind of miss parts of the old DB site sometimes for how uncomplicated it was and easy to see what was going on and what everyone was saying.

I love DB because of the drama discussions and support and love for dramas and each other. And i wouldn’t like for some people to be unable to join in or feel left out due to the need to pay.
But of course I know that running such a site doesn’t come free as well.

So between a rock and a hard place. I have no perfect solution, just my thoughts on the matter.
And please other Beanies do correct me if you feel I’m wrong.

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I wonder if part of the agreement with its sponsor is for DB to include those videos that hardly anyone comment on. I won't miss those if they are removed. 5000 Beaniebox subscribers will be hard to achieve because, judging by comments, traffic on this site has decreased dramatically in the last year. Drama news seems to easily generate the most comments, but it's far and in between, and honestly a bit puzzling to me. I would think news posts would take far less than to put together than a recap.

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Ever since the redesign two years ago, the site takes a lot longer to load on my phone when not on WiFi (and I've been puzzled by the drama clip feature too, but I think it's no longer a thing given that there haven't been any for months).

Side note, I'm also puzzled by the news that some guy claims to be the founder of db in news articles ... javabeans and gf aren't men!

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Yes this is news to me too! I didn’t realise that in order to grow bigger they needed to sell? the company to someone else.

I just realised and am in shock and sad about it. I miss GF and JB.

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Same :( Also it bothers me to see some man I've never heard of or from on this site, taking credit for what they built - 'owner' is one thing, but 'founder'? :/

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So, here's my two cents on this. Well maybe. When DB was very visibly struggling and the community was clamoring for answers and ways to support it, the idea of a Patreon or GoFundMe, or something of that sort was suggested. At that time I would have gladly paid a small subscription fee to help @javabeans and @girlfriday keeps the lights on.

Well, they did what they had to do to keep the site going and to maintain their own sanity, and I'm glad for them. But let's be honest here, the site is not same because their presence and voice is very missing. And to be brutally honest, their voices and personalities are very very much missed in the recaps and news.

While still a unique island on the internet, Dramabeans feels stripped and streamlined to me now. There is a corporate feel to it, which in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but speaking for myself, I am wary of giving my financial support to an entity that is essentially an unknown.

As I said, I would have easily given support to JB and GF to support this site, but right now I don't know who that money would be going to. While I do appreciate that the cost burden of maintaining a site this size, as well as paying the staff, (yay for paying writers btw), is not minimal, I kind of need more transparency before I make that commitment. To state it more clearly, given the state of the world we live in, I'm very hesitant to give money without knowing who exactly I'm giving money to.

The Beanie Box is fun, but not, I would guess, a sustainable cost for the majority of the beanie base here, and I do hope that whatever other ideas you have brewing are more affordable and accessible to Beanies all over the world.

Well, aren't I just a downer today.

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I agree, egads. It does feel a bit of a shame that javabeans and girlfriday didn't reach out to the community while they were struggling. Those two made the site feel like a home, and I'm sure many Beanies would have come to their aid. I do understand why they took the route they did, but without their voices, there is a hole in the Dramabeans community. Along the lines you said, many of the newer recaps read more like a newspaper article that share the same tone and seemed to have been stripped of individual voices. Many times, reading them no longer adds to the drama watching experience as they lack added insights and commentary throughout. I could see why the site would want to have a more "unified" sound/look, but it does take away the charm that was so vivid before. That being said, I still appreciate all the hard work that the recappers are doing, and hope the best for Dramabeans.

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I admit, it's been a long long time since I've been interested in reading recaps. Even if I wasn't watching a drama I used to love reading recaps for the personality and humor and fun that was injected into them. Now they feel so bland and like they have no personality. Which I'm sure is not the recappers faults, and I'm not blaming them and appreciate the hard work they do. This feels like it's the direction the site has decided to move towards and I'm personally not a fan of it.

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This is me exactly.
Beside the unique tone and humour, JB and GF had a genius for selecting screencaps that conveyed the exact feel of the scene. Nowadays the screencaps are just close-ups of some characters. I don't get anything from them.

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+1000
Miss JB & GF.
Site is a bit bland lately. More personal touches might help. Drunk podcasts?
Would like to know more about who owns & runs DB now, although willing to support anyway if some cost-effective way is offered.
I actually offered to donate back in the JB & GF days, but they didn't seem interested. It would be ironic/sad if I end up donating to the new outfit when I would have preferred to donate to JB & GF, and enough donations back in their day might even have kept them afloat (?).

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Drunk podcasts! Yes.

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I don't think you're a downer egads.

Ignoring for a minute that I can't afford the beanie box (assuming they shipped to my country, which they do not). And ignoring the way in which the new editorial direction is a bit... antiseptic... I'm happy to offer support but I'd prefer to know exactly who I'm supporting first.

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Not a downer at all. If someone asks for money you have the right to ask where it is going.
I appreciate the minions and how hard they work, but do miss the personality in some of the old recaps.

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You said what I wanted to say and more. Although I'm grateful that DB is still around, there is so much that is missing that I used to enjoy here.
I would have gladly donate to JB and GF because everything they do with this site was enjoyable.

I'd buy the snack box if it was a bit on the healthy side or if it has beauty products like face masks etc. Something that I can use before the next month comes around.

I like the suggestions from the fans so far. Keep it coming!

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@egads You made very valid and important points.

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I couldn't agree more. I started my drama watching days with the help of @javabeans while watching Coffee Prince many eons ago, learning all the cultural references I was missing, but it is just not the same now.
I also dislike the new layout so much that ever since the revamp I hardly visit the site.
I know we can't turn back the clock but while I felt an emotional connection while Javabeans was around I just don't feel the same any more.

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But JB and GF launched the "Shop" too which they eventually had to shut down because most probably there was more cost on it and lesser people were willing to buy. I do agree with everyone that DB has lost its touch. What it does have is an amazing community and OT (the only post by DB that I check and post on).

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As a customer of the short-lived DB online K-beauty shop, I'd say the SK side that filled and shipped orders had issues. I vaguely remember DB ended up issuing a lot of refunds. Instead of breaking even, DB might have incurred a loss.

Normally, a new business takes months become profitable, if it ever does. DB shop lasted much shorter than expected. I suspect something else was happening behind the scenes.

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I had no idea, and this explains so much.

When I first found dramabeans, I read the recaps for all the Kdramas I had watched, which were often the older classics. Often - especially in the sageuks - the recaps helped me keep characters straight, explained plot developments I didn't quite get, let me in on "inside jokes" in the dramas, and also seemed to cover a variety of interesting dramas, rather than just dozens and dozens of totally forgettable romcoms. (For example, Goblin was the first, and Return of Iljimae was the second drama I watched when I subscribed to Dramafever, and when I later found and read the recaps of those shows on Dramabeans, especially Return of Iljimae, I was thrilled to see that javabeans and girlfriday gave it an A rating (whereas the romcom loving crowd that makes up the majority of the Viki watchers are totally uninterested in it, and rate in in the low to mid 8s, while giving crap like SWDBS and MMS almost perfect 10s, which is ridiculous).

So, finding out they don't even own the site anymore, much less participate in the rating process and recapping, explains why I often find the more recent show choices for recaps not as interesting.

However, the people who COMMENT here are awesome. It's an older crowd, I think, than the people I see on twitter or commenting at Viki, and their taste in dramas is much better.

It also probably explains why things like the ranking system for commentors has kind of disappeared from the site.

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Yeah, the community here is quite witty, and more often than not, their comments and conjectures about dramas are more entertaining than the dramas themselves. [cough] Vagabond.

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So true! The voices of @javabeans and @girlfriday are the core of Dramabeans. Without them, the site and the recaps just aren't the same. :(

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If you are a downer, I am downer-appreciative today.

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Hi DB Team! Although I really appreciate the hard work you have put in to keep the website going, I am struggling to have an interest in the content posted over the past two years.
Dramabeans was a website that I would visit daily, eagerly wait for Friday's OT to comment and debate about currently airing dramas. Unfortunately this isn't the case anymore and without the fanwall, I don't think I would be visiting the website as often as I do.

There is a very loyal community here and if you would consider a few changes, I'm sure that things can be turned around.

1. More transparency.
As the previous posters have mentioned, since the revamp, we have no idea who is running the website, where the money we give is going or any idea about the future developments.
DB is no longer a passion project created by two drama enthusiasts, it is owned by a company and you have to be upfront and transparent.

2. Lack of Personality
If you take the time to read the early recaps, articles and compare it to what is being posted now, there is a stark difference. The voice of the writers and their personality has been edited out.This is the reason that the views have declined, please give the recappers the freedom to voice their opinions and react authentically. I have noticed how some big budget dramas have been recapped and hyped up even when the quality of the writing/direction is subpar.
You have such talented, dedicated writers on your team but their creativity is being stifled by trying to please the sponsers. This results in recaps that don't offer any insight and actually discourages debate in the comments.

I also miss the little things, there used to be a track listed in each recap or banter in the comments section between recappers and the beanies.

3. Scheduling of recaps
At the moment there is an overwhelming number of kdramas being released each week. It is crucial to be selective about the shows being recapped and to actually post the recaps on time. There have been several occasions where recaps have been posted weeks after the previous epsiode. By the time the recap goes up, we would have discussed the show, formed our opinions only to read a recap that doesn't offer much insight. This results in fewer comments, fewer views and is very frustrating for everyone. It would be great if you could have a live calendar for posts. For example Monday dramas will have a recap posted on Wednesday. I would like more information about when the "Name That Drama"posts are uploaded, I look forward to reading these posts a lot.

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4. Clearer guidelines
Since the revamp, I have noticed more and more inappropriate comments on the open thread and recaps that have nothing to do with korean dramas. I'm disappointed that no action has been taken despite contacting you directly about this. This should be a safe space to discuss dramas and letting users continue to troll others is unacceptable. It gives off the impression that you don't care about the views of your audience and surely as a business, you would not like your website to be seen as promoting this kind of behaviour. I think it would be worth including a statement in the weekly posts and on your website that there is a zero tolerance for this type of behaviour and if these rules are broken, there are consequences.

5. More input
Please engage more with the community, there are so many beanies with exciting ideas and suggestions to improve the website. It would be great if there could be a beanie takeover for a TOTM. How about a beanie interviews a recapper or a piece on the ins and outs of casting for drama. So many dramas are based on webtoons, how about a roundup on the latest webtoon inspired dramas.

6. Beanie box
I would love a beanie box containing a book or DVD, something that isn't easily available outside of Korea. I am less interested in the snacks as they are affordable and I can usually buy this on amazon etc.

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Overall I hope that you will take the feedback we have mentioned seriously and give some thought on what your goal is for this website.
You can continue with the same posts and put up a paywall, resulting in the readership and views to continue to decrease.
Or you can make a change and continue to grow this website from strength to strength.
You have all the tools and resources to make this website a success.
As one of the early korean drama review websites, you have an enormous potential to spark postive change in the industry. Highlighting new writers, directors, providing a sounding board for korean entertainment companies trying to get their shows popular internationally.
You have an amazing USP that you are failing to take advantage of.

I would like to make clear the issues I have are with the management. The recappers do an amazing job and I really want to thank them for their hard work. You should reward them for their great work ethic and please do not censor their voices anymore.

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@ayaan, you have laid out some really great points.

I'll be perfectly honest here, if there's a paywall, I'm no longer invested in the content that DB is currently providing to pay for it. What drew me to the site was the personality, insight, and fun that the writers provided. And while I know the writers and editors of the site are still working hard, I also sense an entity that squashing some of that very personality in order to sooth and even pander to some larger outfit. To be even more honest, the only reason I come to DB these days is the community of beanies, and I have other resources to interact with them. A paywall would kill this site.

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Yes I completely agree, the industry has changed so much in the last few years. We no longer need to rely on recap sites as more streaming services are investing and creating new exciting content on instagram, youtube etc for free.

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Precisely. Although I'm infrequent on our other websites, I can easily look for the wit and humour and warmth I find in this community there - the only reason I'm on this website so often these days is because it's convenient and love talking to everyone in a space where the comments are not buried.

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And what are those other resources? I'd like to know if you guys use discord or sth else because yes I also only come for the community now. DB is the only secure and sane place on the internet tbh. I don't use facebook and instagram as much as db but even if I'd like to support it, the beanie box doesn't ship to my area and I'm unemployed currently. However, i also wouldn't want to wake up one day to realize that I've lost such a good community that is mostly kept sane by moderation and the wonderful beanies.

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@wapzy, we use Discord, and sometimes even Kast to do group watches

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Wow. I love you, @ayaan, I couldn't have said this better myself! ❤️

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FWIW, they don't need Patreon to accept donations at all. Their box subscription system says they already accept credit cards & Paypal, so all they would need to do is tweak that system to let us pay some amount without asking them to ship anything to anywhere.

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As I re-read the original post, it sounds really scary.

We need a minimum of 5000 subscribers in order to support the current costs of the site.

Seems like ad revenue isn't paying the bills, the new owners aren't willing to eat the loss, and the site might be in danger again. OUCH!

I have a long chain of guesses about the new owners and the current situation:
- They are government affiliated, or connected to some networks?
- They were willing to eat some loss in order to promote kdramas and enhance S. Korea's soft power?? (Because of the ownership)
- Which might explain why the site is "antiseptic" as said above?
- Site visitor numbers are declining???
- But the change in tone of the site might contribute to decline in visitors?
- Ad revenue is declining? (I think that is a general trend, not just this site)
- Web hosting costs are increasing. (No "?" here).
- Losses are now too high even in proportion to whatever the site does to promote kdramas and Korean culture in general?
- Recent fan enthusiasm about C-dramas doesn't help?? (If the site is owned/subsidized by people who want to promote S. Korea)?
- But fan enthusiasm about kpop or k-movies and even Korean food might be fine?

Back to the "5000 subscribers" bit:
Subscriptions are $40/month. I don't know how much they make after shipping & other expenses, but if we guess they clear $10 on each shipment, that puts total site expenses (or maybe total deficit after ad revenue) at $50,000 per month, which is more than I would have guessed. Of course, they might clear much more or much less than $10 and my totals might be way off. If they only clear $2 per shipment, total deficit is only $10,000/month and it becomes somewhat easier for some direct donations to make a noticeable difference.

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Also, if they want to give credit to subscribers/donors somehow, please give people the option of being anonymous.

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I'm curious, but what is it that would make a blog so expensive?

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Guesses:

Office space: JB & GF might have been running it from home, but the new outfit doesn't strike me as that type.

Web hosting fees: traffic (all those refreshes we do ) + disk space. I'm sure new site takes a lot more space than the old one did.

Programming for site improvements?

But still, I imagined a low-budget operation that couldn't possibly be losing as much as I now fear.

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Also the interviews of the actors... can’t imagine it’s all free.

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I follow 3 cdrama blogs. They have been pretty quiet in the last couple years too. Maybe fewer people are getting their drama discussion fix from blogs in general, or maybe there are many more choices.

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That's upsetting to think Dramabeans makes only $2 a box. That's quite a low profit margin.

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I love this site and I think I would have gladly parted with my earnings to help @javabeans and @girlfriday when the site was struggling back then. The reason was it would have felt like helping my siblings keep our home. It was that personal. I hadn't had a part in designing the site, but somehow it felt like it was mine, like I owned a small part of it so of course I'd step in to help. But now since the new owner/The Man came, I'm a bit hesitant. Like @egads said, I too am wary of giving money to someone who didn't even introduce themselves to me. It's not the giving I don't like, it's the lack of transparency. This site and the community within it kept me sane so I would be open to giving back but let's have a conversation first Owner-nim.

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Gosh I really was gone for so long and had my head in the sand- I didn’t even realise someone else took over ownership of DB over GF and JB! 😱😱😱
Which does explain a lot.

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I’m actually sad, borderline in shock about it. 🙁

I have a Favourite gelato shop Ive been going to for the past 3 years where I know the owners, chat with them regularly, it’s my sons second home almost; we get to taste the new flavours in advance, offer ideas and I even gave them some cake I made....
If one day they got bought over by some unknown corporation and I never saw them again I’d be gutted and it wouldn’t be the same shop even if the ice cream still tasted amazing.

Kind of how I feel now. The Beanies are still amazing but somehow the place doesn’t feel the same anymore and I didn’t understand why, (I thought it was me) but you all are right, it’s missing the personal touch it used to have before.

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Ikr. There was just something about the way JB and GF wrote their pieces that made it feel like my eonnies/sunbaes were watching dramas with me and explaining any cultural context I may have missed and just spazzing alongside me. It really felt like home. Now it feels a bit like boarding school. I like school, I have friends there and we hang out and it's fun but it's not home anymore. 😔

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Yes not to mention when one of them actually replied to a comment made, it was almost life changingly awesome how great it felt 😝

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It would definitely be a 'Mama I made it!' moment 😆

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awwwww, remember Beans of Wisdom? Good times 😢

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I remember those! I miss it 😔

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Yeah but mary said there were too many comments to keep track of so... :( but I get it. Would be insane. Especially now with the walls etc....

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@michykdrama I do see how it would be insane with the new setup. Then they'd have to hire more minions and the costs would rise even more and we'd be back here again.

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I do remember it did feel awesome to be chosen for this as well! Haha.
Like omg I said something Wise! 😝

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Yes, I think mary did the preparation and I always thought it must have been a monumental weekly task. But it sure was fun!

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Yoooooo I miss that!

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Loved Beans of wisdom! Omg I miss it too!!!

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I actually LOGGED ON for once to say that, not only do I agree with so many of the points made, but I have such respect for the community JB and GF built up and remains here. This is a really unique, awesome community, full of people who are willing to help and give respectful opinions. No "screw yous" in sight. I hope the site overlords take note of this and harness not only the constructive criticism, but the desire to support from Beanies.

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I love the idea of The monthly beanie box and am seriously considering it and looking over my budget. Some months are tighter than others, so I’m reviewing reconfiguring options.
Are you close to 5000 subscribers?

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I don't believe for a minute you'll get 5,000 Beanie Box subscribers. "...To support the current costs of the site..." Does this mean they're losing money or just not making enough profit? I don't understand who owns the site now - is it a group of individuals or a corporation?
I remember when ATT took over Time-Warner and I knew, I just knew we might as well say goodbye to DF as it wouldn't make enough profit. I'm having that same feeling again.
Sorry I'm being such a cynic, but I'm old enough to have seen this time and time again. It's hard to describe the sickening feeling.

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This may be the "wrong" thing to say, but if I had to pay, I would much sooner pay to save the contents created personally by @javabeans and @girlfriday (pre 2018) than to keep the current site running the way it is today.

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I haven't been reading stuff from dramabeans (exception if the fanwall) for a while now and I've always thought it was just me feeling like it's not the same anymore. Reading beanies' comments above made me realize that it did feel different; it wasn't just my imagination.

The beaniebox is just too much for me to subscribe (not that it ships to my country anyway) but like a lot of beanies, I would be able to do something like patreon pledges to help out.

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I agree with the beanies regarding supporting DB directly and not through the snack box. Patreon seems like a viable option.

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As a long time reader (well, I haven’t really followed DB anymore), I think there is a steep decline in the content itself. I miss the old layout with minimum number of recaps, but high quality contents.

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I wouldn't mind paying a small amount for premium content, but not the videos, interviews or the Kdrama news. I can get that elsewhere. I would pay for ratings and watchlists. Let me explain...

I go to Dramabeans because it's smart -- the reviews, comments, recommendations. My biggest problem as a Kdrama fan is that I don't have time to watch all the shows. I need an unbiased and intelligent community who can help me choose what to watch next. Other forums don't help because it's just 100+ comments of "OMG, Oppa is so cute" or "I cried so much after watching this." NOT helpful.

I would pay for a function or an app where I can easily find comments/reviews/votes on shows (old AND new), or scroll through a particular Beanie's watchlist. Heck, I'd even pay for an ebook like 100 Shows To Watch. It would be more useful for me than a box of snacks, because it saves me the agony of sitting through 16 hours of a trainwreck.

This is the era of TOO MUCH CONTENT, so the rarest and most valuable service is content curation. The fanwalls are great, but they're not searchable in the sense that I can see what Beanies thought about a show. I mean my favorite post every week is What We're Watching, and I actually take notes too! It's helped me discover shows or actors or even an entire genre (Exhibit A: Untamed).

Just my two cents!

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Logged in after two months to second your comment x1000 . I don't have a lot of time to watch dramas lately, so I haven't been active, but I never miss What We are Watching, to be guided by Beanies and minimise the chances of wasting 16 hours of my life on my next choice (e.g. I adore Ji Chang Wook, but it appears I should sit this one out). Other sites are less helpful, both because of the "OMG oppa" factor, and the format of comments. Dramabeans offers an intelligent community, easy-to-surf threads, and a treasure of a recaps archive.

So, I would gladly support Dramabeans, not because of goodies that don't ship to my area anyway, or an online shop that I am not particularly interested in; I would contribute to a site that provided intelligent, thoughtful, unbiased reviews, both by users and staff, and *author* recaps with a personality, informed commentary and some wit, to add to the drama-watching experience. I don't really need purely objective reports of what I have already watched myself.

So, I hope the new Dramabeans overlords don't lose sight of what pays, and focus on that, rather than the bells and whistles...

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A bit off the point but - I wouldn't call Dramabeans "unbiased". In fact, I love when one of the recappers lets their personal views come through, even if I don't agree with them. But I do agree with everything else you expressed. :)

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By "unbiased" I meant, not praising a drama to high heavens just because oppa is in it :-) . Part of my point about recaps was precisely that I want to hear the recappers' voices, including their opinions and honest reactions. Bias and opinion to me are two different things :-).

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As a lurker and reader for years..what I missed the most is end of the year award fashion comment and up to date recaps. I loves reading witty fashion review be it potato sac dress or award winning statement earrings, emphasize on the witty part. And I miss the thrill from the old days when I can predict the day the recaps will be up, refreshing DB website many times. Can I get those back please? I’m up for Patreon. Many small amount for Patreon should be better than a few beanie box right? I don’t need videos, interviews, that’s not what I’m here. I like reading recaps and other peoples’ thoughts and that’s what I’m here for.

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Very much agree! I don't think the new management really understood what Dramabeans is all about. For a while there (based on Instagram posts and such), they seemed to want to change the site to something like AKP or Soompi, with additional focus on celebrity and Kpop gossip. The videos and interviews also feel like an attempt to appeal to the celebrity factor. While the actors' and actresses' time is appreciated, I don't think New Management really understands that the Dramabeans community is more literary and analytical... we're here for the "meaty analysis" and the "good storytelling" (see: http://www.dramabeans.com/about/). It feels like we've drifted so far from the original spirit and vision of the site. Frankly, if we're going to get videos and interviews, I'd be a lot more interested in hearing from writers and directors!

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Thanks for the link. I used to come to Dramabeans because usually the recap would answer my questions about something that I just couldn't understand culturally. I too used to log in daily and frequently, throughout the day, check for new recaps and news. Now I might log in once a month. Back in the day, if I missed logging in for 3 days, it took a lot of time to catch up on all the news articles. Now I can go for months anand catch up in a couple of hours.

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$40 a month is far too expenseive. I'm not saying anything negative about the box itself. If it were filled with my fav, chocolate truffles, it would still not be a doable monthly expense. That's as expensive as the emergency alert system that I need but am weighing can I afford!

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Wow. So now that I've read all of the comments on this thread up to November 26th at 8:13 a.m., I've gracefully given up the fight. Kdrama, like everything else is a changing and leaving me behind.

Netflix was the first monster I'd been fighting, what with their airing half a series and holding the other half thereby causing me to miss out as recaps moved forward without me being able to ask questions of recappers or the community. (By the time i asked them in a "dead thread", the Korean speaking community had moved on.)

Learning that @javabeans and @girlfriday no longer own Dramabeans... well, it's over. It was great while it lasted. Unless... we can convince @Mary to branch off and start her own site that we thousands of community would be happy to donate $2-5 a month toward (and later she could convince Girl Friday and javabeans to return to writing recaps once in a while...)

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So I've secretly had suspicions for months now that Dramabeans was going to be the next beloved drama site to shut down, and....this post feels sort of like a confirmation. If you need 5000 people to subscribe to the beaniebox and that's something you are definitely not going to get then....kind of looks like the writing's on the wall, doesn't it?

I haven't personally felt the same way about the recaps, etc. as others here have expressed (I generally don't pay attention to most of the news articles though). Anytime I read something on the site, I find it well-written and enjoyable. But that's also only when Dramabeans happens to be recapping a drama I'm watching (and those recaps are coming out later and later these days, which I Do have some complaints about) or they put out an article about an upcoming drama I'm interested in. I have, however, noticed site usership really petering off in recent years which I think says something. I myself have never been an active user of the site (except during the King of Savvy recaps and then earlier this year when I was all gung-ho about being more active before...going inactive again, lol), but I've been checking in on the site for years and things just feel...different now.

First and foremost, does Dramabeans even Have 5000 users, active Or inactive, at this point? Judging by the number of comments most posts on the site receive, it seems highly unlikely. So where are you (I'm speaking to the overlords here, not Java or Girl or any of the other wonderful writers) expecting to get all of these subscribers from? Maybe if the box were themed around dramas themselves it might be a more popular sell, but even then, Dramabeans has never been...that kind of site, for lack of a better way to explain it. And again, there's no way there are enough users anyway for the beaniebox to bring in the money needed to run the entire site. It's just not realistic.

Something no one has mentioned (at least that I've seen) is that there are already a number of established Asian food subscription boxes out there, so what exactly makes the beaniebox so special in comparison? Why should I get your sub box over theirs? Especially if theirs is cheaper?

Truthfully, I was never active enough on Dramabeans for it's demise to actually really affect me, and yet I can't help but be kind of heart-broken over this. First they took MySoju, then Dramafever, now maybe Dramabeans? It's enough to make you shy away from taking part in drama communities completely.

Why must you take away the things I love?!?!

I hope after whatever inevitable change happens to Dramabeans and the dust settles, Javabeans and Girlfriday and all of the other amazing contributors to the site have a sit down together and tell us exactly what happened. Not because they owe that to us, but because it must be hard dealing with this, whatever it is, alone and we want to support you guys. That and I kind of want the tea, lol.

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If there was dramabeans merch I would totally buy!!

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Valuable information. Lucky me I found your website by chance,
and I am stunned why this twist of fate did not came about earlier!
I bookmarked it.

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