"Breaking their savings, getting cursed out... Living as a Fansite Master"

Original article here: http://www.asiatoday.co.kr/view.php?key=20160516001105534



- "I heard if you take pictures of those guys you can make a lot of money."



In this case, 'those guys' refers to idol group members, and the 'you' would be idol fansite masters. This is an idea that has spread as these 'fansites' and their pictures have become a culture in their own rights, supposing that they can make as much money as full time workers through the creation and sales of idol photobooks. Not too long ago, these suppositions have become more detailed, saying that they could make as much as those working at large/well-known companies.



Truthfully, it's hard to find any evidence behind these more detailed statements. But statements like these have already begun to spread as if they're true among fans to the point that there are some younger fans who will say their dream is to become a fansite master. "It's really childish (to say/believe that). It's so frustrating whenever I heard that or see articles twisting the truth." 3 year fansite master N just shakes her head.



"I've seen a lot of articles just based on the stories going around, and fans who don't know better really start to believe that fansites are making millions of won. It's not that easy to sell our merchandise. I don't think even one out of a thousand fansite masters will make that much. Even if we do make a profit, after doing support projects and going to their schedules we eventually are losing money. My merchandise didn't sell that well, but I still ended up putting more than what I earned into the support."



It's a sort of tradition for fansites to put any profits earned from merchandise into support presents for the idols' birthdays or other special days and events. Fansite master N says she sometimes spends more than what she has earned in profits in hopes to get the idol she supports something that much better. "Even though we do that, some people will twist things in whatever way they want. It can't be helped that people are wary because of the few fansites who are doing it just for the money, but it's getting to the point where even fansites filled with love for the member(s) are suffering from everyone being over-wary."



In the end, the biggest problem in this fansite culture is the fansite masters who will switch between groups freely with the goal of making profit. Same with the sasaeng-type fansites who begin to invade the privacy (personal lives) of the celebrities. They can be considered the main adverse affects to this fansite culture, but they remain active because opinions on such sites are split even within the fandom.



- "So what?" vs. "A certain (standard of) manners must be kept."



An 'idol philanthropist, B, said, "When you like idols, sometimes you see fansite masters working on multiple groups at the same time, or just switching groups altogether. I do think it's a bit selfish/shameless, but there's nothing we can do about it. Working fans and young students don't have anything but those pictures." She then continued, "Especially for events that most fansites don't go to. There's no official pictures, so why is it so important who we're getting the pictures from? I'm just thankful/happy if I'm able to get nice pictures."



B is of the opinion that in the end fans can't help but to support even those fansites to see the pictures of their favorite idols. "Idols won't last forever. Even if you don't want to think about it that way, it's the truth. Fans want to see nice pictures of their idols as long as they last. Some fans wish to protect the privacy of their idols in that process, and there are some fans who are a bit more selfish like I am. It's a bit iffy, so it's not really something we can just talk about."



There have been movements working to keep the pictures of certain fansites, those known to/thought to invade the privacy of the group or simply use their pictures for their own profit, from spreading. They create a list of sites known to invade the privacy of the celebrities for pictures and encourage people to not take or re-upload the pictures to any communities. These sites have not been damaged much by these attempts at restriction.



"We can't help it if those sites have been born into money. And we can't ignore the fans who continue to support those sites, either. In the end, we essentially can't do anything except leave it up to that fansite master's own conscience." Another fan, H, said calmly. "Fans are the only ones who will be considerate of the idols, but recently that doesn't even seem to be the case. They assert their own affection and push their idols into a corner even though they'd hate being put in the idols' position."



According to H, however, Korean fans are on the tame side. Aside from certain fansites, most follow a certain set of standards and won't cross the line. "Foreign fansites, especially some fo the Chinese fansites, are especially surprising. They follow them everywhere. I've heard of some that have followed them to their hotel room doors. I want to tell them all that if you're doing that to them, you aren't really a fan. If you are a fan, you should give them (their feelings) at least that certain level of consideration/respect."



- "It might be possible if you're a 'top seed' site."



The small portion of sites with the possibility to earn millions of won are otherwise called 'top seed' sites. L, a fansite master for 8 years now, explained that the first sites for a group/member or those with superior picture quality naturally become the 'top seed' sites. "Those sort of sites get different treatment from the fans and, though this may just be my personal opinion, from the idols themselves at events like fansigns. It all sort of builds up and their pictures end up being of higher value."



This inevitably makes a "gap between the rich and the poor" among the fansites. This gap is also affected by the popularity of the specific idol. L has never made those sort of profits. "Though I was one of the sites that people would recognize the name of, I never was making millions in profit. Though I'm sure part of it was because the demand for (fansite) merchandise was not as large back then."



L said, "I think for more recent idols, like EXO, the top seed sites might be able to earn that much. They sell practically anything possible... photobooks, calendars, DVDs... I personally think those people aren't real fans, they're just trying to do business and make money." She said sharply before continuing. "Well, I do regret quitting being an EXO fansite." She said honestly.



Being a top seed site does not automatically lead to profit. J, who was a long-term fansite for an idol without that much popularity, said, "It's just talk that the fandoms keep spreading, and only that of a small portion of the fandom. For the member I liked, you couldn't even sell 20 copies of a photobook in a year, even though I was for all means and purposes a 'top seed' site." J gave as a counter-argument. "Do you know why I/we still do it, though?"



"If I don't go, there won't be any pictures of that member. I had to go." J, who has now quit being a fansite, is still annoyed by it all. "There are lot of shows and articles saying what they want about fansites recently. It's on all the online communities, too. But what's funny about that is that they'll still judge these idols based on the number of fansites. We have to keep going to these things despite knowing we'll be talked bad about for it, because we don't want our own member(s) to feel put out."



- "I want to quit. I've thought about wanting to die."



J continued to speak her mind. "There's nothing left for us after taking these pictures. We use up all our money, and all of our physical energy/strength. Going to one overseas schedule easily breaks into the $1000 range. It's not something easy for students or even full time workers to manage to afford. We hold back on food and clothes and other spending just do do this, but the fans think we're using the money we made on merchandise to go. Every time I saw someone making that misunderstanding I wanted to quit."



N continued. "If you're a fansite, it's hard to live your own life. I'm a freelancer, so comparatively I can work my schedule around the idols' schedules, but the ones who work company jobs have a really hard time. But they can't just throw away their social position(/status) by quitting, and can't manage that financially, either. It's already been a long time since I used up all my personal savings. Same goes for my physical energy. Going to these events and concerts that last three hours and holding up a heavy camera the entire time just makes me want to die."



What makes it hardest/most tiring on these fansite masters are the fans on so-called Twitter 'egg accounts' (temporary/anonymous twitter accounts, named after the fact that the standard Twitter icon is an egg) to send malicious messages to the fansites. They've long made a habit of passing judgement on these people's affection/love for their idols if they so much as slightly go against their personal standards, and in severe cases have dug up and revealed personal information on the fansite masters or created rumors to cause offense and trouble for the sites.



These accounts pop up the most around the idols' birthdays. They criticize the sites with things like, "Why is that all that's in your support if you're making millions of won?" Even if they've never made those sort of profits, the people behind these accounts will not listen to any explanation or reasoning. The scariest part is that these same people might just be regular fans on their main accounts praising and sending supportive messages.



Many of the fansites (we spoke to) said they're very tired of being a fansite. They really love the idols they support, but the surrounding environment/atmosphere continues to make it hard on them. Many people easily talk about what the fansites do, and think it's easy. Are they really able to think so little of something they can't understand without doing it themselves?



- "But why don't we stop..?"



"You might think it's nice to see the idols I like and make some money while doing t, but sometimes I want to just set the camera down and watch them with my own eyes. These pictures everyone looks at easily through their screens are taken through the hard effort and large expenditures of the fansites. It's hard to do something like this without loving the idol. I wish people wouldn't focus on the monetary side of it when thoughtlessly judging the sites' love for the idols." N said bluntly, pointing out a certain article.



Continuing to be a fansite is difficult without 'love', whether that be for the idols or for money. J reminisces about a time the difficult environment overcame her love for the idol. "I ended up quitting, but if I had been able to love that member more I would have kept being a fansite. Because in the end I was doing it hoping to show that many more nice pictures of my member to that many more people."



"That's right. I'm sure you wonder why on earth people would do this after what I said earlier, but the reason I keep doing it is because I like the member(s). Honestly, it's really hard on me, and I don't want people cursing me out, and I just want to be normal and quit doing this, and the only thing that pulls me through and keeps me doing this is how much I like the member(s). I'll probably keep doing it as long as I like them. If I stop liking them at some point, I'll also stop being a fansite." N said, nodding.



To the celebrities, fansites can sometimes be something that is more tiresome and consistent than good. Conscientious fansites thus put in large amounts of effort to be careful in their picture taking and the usage of what they get. In the posts for the images that the idols might eventually see they will leave messages clearly showing their love for the idols, as well as sharing whenever they've done something good.



Thanks to the efforts of these fansites, there is a significant amount of people who join fandoms after seeing these pictures. One of the first things new fans do is saving these fansite pictures. Though in some cases fansites can be troublesome for the idols, or an uncomfortable topic for the fans, nobody can deny the large part they play in the fandom culture as a whole.



There still seems to be many things left to be solved before a balance between idols and fansites can be reached. It has been a chronic problem for a large part of Korean fandom history, and in a way as a problem that has not existed before/separate of it cannot be solved by anybody else. The only thing to resolve problems within the fandom are the fans themselves. I suppose that if the fansite masters consider with what feelings and considerations they will take the pictures of their favorite idols, and the fans continue to think of how much they will support and respect those decisions of the fansite masters, fandom culture as a whole will be able to develop further/grow.

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