K-netizens Overwhelmingly Vote to Disable Comment Section in Entertainment News Articles
See, this is why people can’t have normal things because of the sheer inability to behave. A recent poll of readers and netizens in South Korea came in at over 80% plus voting to disable the comments section of entertainment related news articles in the wake of celebrity suicides. The last four have been Cha In Ha, Goo Hara, Sulli, and actress Jeon Mi Sun, all in the last year. Of course negative netizen comments are not the sole or even direct cause of celebrity deciding to kill oneself but it doesn’t help in the long run for people who live in the limelight to absorb criticism that crosses the line. Having an opinion that isn’t fawning is fine, and a star needs to be able to deal with someone simply not liking him/her, a work, a song, an outfit, etc. But so many comments go far beyond that and I suppose if people can’t behave then disabling comments may be a way to combat online bullying.
Good idea, especially after seeing how some people really crossed the line with poor Goo Hara even after her previous suicide attempt (which was known to be because her scum ex-bf threatened her), hell some people even bully children like the Return of Superman kids. The comment sections should never have been a thing celebrities in Korea were encouraged to read, it’s just toxic like twitter and fb.
I have goosebumps just seeing the faces of the four celebrities lost to suicide in this year alone. This has been a really sh:tty year in K-ent for so many reasons. I agree with the majority of Koreans, if the netizens won’t behave, then by all means disable the comments. It may give the keyboard warriors a rest from their malicious comments, but then again, maybe not. A venomous person will always find an outlet for their poison.
Imagine the number of non-celebrities who died every year.
True. I always say that the celebrities who died are a mere fraction of the actual casualties.
The kind of comments you see on some of those articles are shocking. Especially when it’s over and over again. You might have an article as benign as, so-and-so updated their instagram account with this nice photo! And then there will be comment after comment about a non-issue that occurred 10 years ago, or endless harassment over the actions of some relative of the person (sometimes occurring before said person was even born). Just because someone is famous does not mean they have ceased to be a real, living, breathing human being. It’s fine if you prefer a different style of music or if this drama from this actor resonated more with you than that drama. We can all have personal taste. But to endlessly (and for some people, it is truly endless) harass a person over their relatives (as if you can choose your relatives!) or their noses (real or plastic, it’s just a nose, if they can breathe, it’s working) or whether you personally approved of their awards acceptance speech (it’s over, move on)–that’s just too much. Most of the time these comments don’t have anything at all to do with the article. They are from people who merely want to spam hate at someone. Removing them is a good idea.