Welcome to Soompi!
We’re happy to have you here! Our goal is to cultivate a positive, smart, fun community for fans of K-pop and K-drama.
Basically, as with most news sites, we allow some comments, and not others. Depending on the severity and/or frequency of the comments, we may either delete the comment or ban the user.
These policies apply only to the news site. Our forum usage guidelines can be found here!
STUFF WE’LL REMOVE
Our moderators and editors reserve the right to remove anything we deem inappropriate, or anyone we feel is doing a disservice to the community. Here is a partial (definitely not complete) list of things upon which we will probably take action.
Spam.
This is obvious, right? We all know what spam is, and we all hate it. Zero tolerance.
Personal attacks.
This is pretty much the exact opposite of fostering a positive environment. Don’t call your fellow members names, don’t insult them, and don’t do ad hominem attacks. We may delete your comment, but more likely than not, we’ll probably ban you.
Discrimination.
Got something bad to say about a certain group of people? Feel free to say it – then face a ban. We’ll also come down hard upon loaded insults that “subtly” call out members of these groups.
Trolling.
Hard to define, easy to recognize. Basically, if you’re commenting specifically to cause trouble for our staff or our readers, we’ll take action. We’ll also take action against baiting, slandering, and doxxing.
Multiple accounts.
One person, one account. No alter egos and no reincarnations, no questions asked. If we see multiple accounts, we will get rid of them, and the primary account as well.
Accusation of bias.
Our editors and writers work very hard to bring you the news, but at the end of the day, it is simply not possible to deliver only the news that you personally wish to see. We are definitely not opposed to fairly stated critiques of our coverage; however, we won’t tolerate repeated commentary to the effect that our staff has a long-running, personal vendetta against your ultimate bias.
Posts that promote rape culture and/or victim blaming.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for us to have to report on celebrities who have been charged with domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault. We do our best to report in a respectful manner, and we ask that you treat both the victim and the suspect with respect. We also ask that you not trivialize the attack. Many people on Soompi have proven that it’s possible to support their favorite celebrity without attacking the victim’s identity and integrity – please follow their lead.
What is victim blaming? Learn more about it here.
ABOUT OUR POLICIES
We’re a site with rules, and our intent is to make this a positive space for people to discuss, share, and learn.
We don’t allow totally unchecked speech, but we do encourage healthy disagreements and dialogue. If you want to share an opinion that goes against the grain, by all means, go ahead! Just make sure that your comment meets our guidelines.
If you see any comments that you think go against our guidelines, please help us out by flagging the comment. This will make it much easier for us to spot and remove the comment. Try not to escalate – just flag.
If a comment receives a certain number of flags, it will be automatically be removed. We review all flagged comments and approve those that we think are not violating our rules, so don’t worry if you think your comment has been unfairly targeted.
Please note that comments are threaded. There may be times when we elect to delete an entire thread, which may include replies that do not violate our guidelines. This holds especially true if the original comment in the thread is problematic.
If we think that you’ve broken our guidelines, not by intent but by honest misunderstanding (or maybe even just having a bad day), we’re more likely than not to point you in the right direction and give you another chance. But if we’ve noticed that you have a regular habit of circumventing the rules, we’ll obviously be less tolerant.
A WORD ABOUT VICTIM BLAMING AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
Victim blaming is a devaluing act that occurs when you assume that the victim of a crime is responsible (either partially or fully) for the crime. Some examples include:
“She’s a prostitute. Was she really surprised when she got sexually assaulted?”
“She went to a man’s house late at night and they were drinking. What else could she expect but to get raped?”
“She was wearing revealing clothing. If she had covered up, the man probably wouldn’t have attacked her.”
When you ask why the victim wasn’t able to predict or prevent the crime, you’re implying that she (or he) deserved it, just a little. You’re saying that if s/he had made smarter choices, s/he would not be in this unfortunate position today.
Psychologists call this the “just world” fallacy – the false belief that people get what they deserve. Just imagine if we applied this kind of judgment to other types of victims.
“Maybe he shouldn’t have been openly gay. If he had pretended to be heterosexual, he wouldn’t have been the target of a hate crime. Gay people should know that they need to be extra careful.”
“Maybe she shouldn’t have gone clubbing late at night. Sketchy things happen all the time in clubs. If she had stayed at home, she wouldn’t have gotten shot.”
For most people, this line of “reasoning” doesn’t remotely hold up. We realize that neither of these people behaved in a way that justified the crimes that happened to them. We know that the only person whose actions should be questioned are those of the attacker. So it goes for sexual violence – all the more so because people continue to hold harmful misconceptions about it:
- Rape is more about power than sexual desire.
- Rapists are more likely to target women who dress modestly than women who don’t.
- The majority of sexual assaults happen not on the street, but at home.
- The majority of sexual assaults happen not by strangers, but by people well-known to the victims.
- Men can be rape victims too – 1 in 33 U.S. men will experience rape or attempted rape in his lifetime.
- Victims may inaccurately recount the details of their assault, not because they are lying, but because they are traumatized.
- Most rapists are repeat offenders. The average rapist has performed six rapes in his lifetime.
Victim blaming sends a harmful message that distorts the true nature of sexual violence. The truth is, sexual violence can occur anytime, anywhere, to anyone, and if one day it happens to you, it will never be your fault.
When you blame a victim for a crime that happened to him or her, you create an atmosphere in which other victims feel reluctant to come forward and report their abuse. Soompi’s demographic consists largely of young women, who are the group most likely to suffer from sexual violence. We will therefore no longer allow comments that blame victims – even potential victims. Nor will we allow comments that excuse or trivialize sexual violence of any kind.