K-pop Voting Frenzy: Why, oh why?

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

This post isn’t a statement of opinion as much as it is a question. I’ve spent quite some time in K-pop, and while I admit that I’ve become rather jaded in regards to fanatical K-pop fandom as a whole, there’s still one thing that continues to puzzle me: voting. Or rather, why are polls so important to fans, and why are fans seemingly obsessed with doing whatever it takes to push their bias group to the top?

There’s a little bit of meta in this, as our own set of polls here at Seoulbeats seems to have attracted quite a bit of attention from the non-Seoulbeater fan constituency — that is, the part of the K-pop world who, as aforementioned, view these polls not necessarily as a measure of popular opinion, but rather as an opportunity to carve another victory notch into the reputation of their K-pop bias. The fervency with which fans have been voting for their choice of “Perfect Leader/Singer/Dancer/Rapper” is alarming, to say the least, and one has to wonder exactly how a fan plans on reveling in a victory that, empirically speaking, holds absolutely no real significance. But looking at the rest of the K-pop world, it’s easy to see that our Seoulbeats poll is one among many, all of which receive virtually the same exact treatment by K-pop fans everywhere.

The frenzy surrounding these polls can be quite staggering. As seen in our most recent polls at Seoulbeats, it seems that once word of a certain poll reaches a specific fandom, members of that fandom begin swarming to the poll and casting their votes, hoping to see their bias rise to the top. This seems to be especially prevalent in Asian fandoms, particularly in Korea and China — a quick glance around K-pop fandom hubs like Baidu or Shakizi reveals tons of message boards encouraging fans of a certain artist to vote for the latest online poll. Many of these board messages hold little to no real discussion over the purpose of the poll itself, with most replies consisting of a simple “Voted!” message. Other times, users ask if the poll allows unlimited voting, to which other users provide instructions on how to bypass IP restrictions, thus allowing votes to be counted an infinite amount of times. But overall, there seems to be little interest over the actual content or purpose of the poll — that is, apart from the winner.

There are times when maniacal fan voting can be understandable — it seems as if ELFs everywhere have been obsessed with helping Super Junior win the Golden Disk Awards, as well as every other major end-of-year music award decision that is influenced by fan participation. In this case, the motives are clear: who doesn’t want their favorite group to win a major award? What kind of fan wouldn’t want that for their bias group, and what kind of fan wouldn’t do everything in their power to help that group win that award? A bad fan, that’s what. In the end, Super Junior emerged victorious this year, with dozens of different awards given by different establishments — all with the help of an ELF army that worked with a simple goal: Win. Considering this mentality, perhaps it should be no surprise that fans want their bias to win at everything, meaningless polls included. Or rather, maybe fans just don’t want their bias to lose at anything. Maybe the shame of losing a meaningless poll outweighs the pride in winning a meaningless poll. And with that, fans flock to the polls, doing whatever it takes to see their bias rise to the top.

But even so, it doesn’t explain why fans are so committed to winning these polls on behalf of their favorite idols. No one has enough waking hours to invest in voting in meaningless K-pop polls, especially when this voting involves illegitimate ways of gaining votes through IP hacking. On top of that, many fans keep track of multiple polls at the same time, voting in all of them with equal fervency. Does the sting of having one’s bias lose in a meaningless poll really hurt that much? I don’t get it, guys. Please, someone explain this to me so that I can sleep a little easier at night — or rather, a little easier than the fans who are probably sacrificing sleep and sanity whilst duking it out on the polls.

To give you the context of this article, or what I think is the context, you should just take a look at seoulbeats latest poll "The Perfect Boy Group: Rapper". There's kind of a fan-war going on, opposing shawols to... well the rest of the world tbh.
It's now to the point where non-VIP teamed up with VIP so SHINee wouldn't win... people are crazy. Really.

Source: Seoulbeats

Comments

[edanz-castle.livejournal.com]

Yep that's it. Having that pride to stick it all up in someone's face.
I have my moments with them poll's I ain't gonna lie.

[unreal.livejournal.com]

and what kind of fan wouldn’t do everything in their power to help that group win that award? A bad fan, that’s what
Well then I'm a bad fan. Because If I like a group but they released something not that good then I won't do anything to let them win. If you put out a good release you deserve to win. If you put out a bad release you don't. And if that makes me a bad fan then so be it.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Makes you a smart fan imo.
I do the same. I'm crazy addicted to K8, yet their last album wasn't so good so I didn't buy it.
Actually what I don't understand is fan who spend time and money on a release they don't like.

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

Mte, i was called a bad fan in a certain kpop group community just because i didn't vote for the group for a stupid poll. I don't want to waste my time on voting something that is not worth it and i have other thing in my life u know. A fan is someone who supports the artist in good and bad circumstances but it doesn't mean we have to give our life while doing so.

[shuumi-miss.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you. It's just plain ridiculous, I dont remember how many times I was called "bad fan" or "anti" or "Hypocrite" just because I criticized (With a good reason) something about my bias (member or group as a whole). Some people take this just too seriously, I have my own life to be serious, this a Hobby, it should entertain you, no stress you out.

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

I'm a bad fan, I don't care about polls.
SB, I really need to read source before I even begin to read.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

That was just weird. I had elf telling people they weren't true fans if they weren't spamming the poll. Like how delusional are you to believe you'll be opening Olympics ceremony in the UK.

[ari-meh.livejournal.com]

rofl, seriously? i had no idea this was going on.. do they honestly believe the olympic committee would allow some random korean group perform at the opening ceremony?
this is just as ridiculous as the official logo of london 2012 costing £400,000.

[6rystalis.livejournal.com]

Who gets sick of winning? It's addictive.
I think it's a weird mix of the 'halo effect', loyalty and 'show of solidarity'.

Treasure the time your fandom is that active; don't take it for granted because it won't last forever.

[mad-nux.livejournal.com]

lol srsly an article asking why cray cray fans cray cray vote

[setsuna16.livejournal.com]

I've moved beyond trying to make sense of why the cray cray kpop fans do what they do.

[kotetsu.livejournal.com]

the seoulbeats articles need to stop. if i wanted to read their half-assed opinions i'd go to the site, not when i scroll through omona.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

The same could be said about allkpop or soompi yet we post them here so... no
Scroll by bb^^

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

oh...shamewols should sit the fuck down and calm their tits. minho can rap but not significantly good. on the other hand vips shouldn't get their panties in a twist about a lame poll either. top isn't the best rapper either.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Actually (and I say this as a VIP) none of the really good korean rapper are on this poll.
But I think SE is only choosing people among idol group... so no real rapper

[deeinanutshell.livejournal.com]

I'm a horrible fan then because I can't be bothered to vote for anything unless I see a way my bias group could substantially gain from winning. I'm pretty sure they don't care or even know about half these polls anyway. Also, Thanks again seoulbeats for pointing out the obvious.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Polls amount to simple "Ha ha my bias won something so it's better than your na na nanna na". It's so childish I refuse to participate in something like that. I'll listen to their music and buy their albums, that's my devotion. The rest is on ignore.

[hyde-my-dreams.livejournal.com]

People should only be allowed to vote once, otherwise the results don't mean anything no matter what the subject is. After all, who is more popular: Person A gets 100 people voting 10 times each, or Person B who has 500 people voting once each. Person A wins the polls by a twice as much, but far more people like Person B.

[tabi.livejournal.com]

It depends. I don't really care for some poll on a website that won't amount to anything because the responses from the fandoms that didn't win are rarely pretty.

The most amount of voting I did was for the EMA and BNB polls.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Same here. I understand fans voting like crazy when there's something in it for the band.
But non-official poll meant to create a fantasy group that will never exist... I don't get it

[grapewhine.livejournal.com]

But SHINee doesn't really have any rappers. Talking 3-4 sentences in the middle of a song doesn't count.

[cottonowl.livejournal.com]

mte

[dbsked.livejournal.com]

well, I wouldn't care about seoulbeats poll etc, but overall polls can prove popularity and provide press attention. I mean some poll results are covered by news portals and even TV news..

also it can spark curiosity of potential new fans.

so I wouldn't say all polls are useless.

[ari-meh.livejournal.com]

i think these people should invest their time doing something more useful.

[apricotvodka.livejournal.com]

Poll results generate headlines and headlines equal exposure. The end.

[asth77.livejournal.com]

This.

[cuethemusicc.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I get embarrassed for my own fandoms, tbh. Especially when they bash a group, thinking it will get more votes or whatever. It only takes a few people to give a whole fandom a bad name =_=

[mandyyy.livejournal.com]

Perhaps because most fans are young, live at home, have no job, and in Korea the internet is everywhere. I will admit about 4 years ago, seeing my favorite group win was a highlight, but mostly because I couldn't stand people from other fandoms.