#got blocked by all the K x J shippers

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: The importance of curating your space and the cyclical life of ships

by Admin 1

From anon: Hi! I'm a new Army/vminie (4 months) and I have a (maybe dumb) question... When I joined, I saw so many j*/k*okers analysing every small moment between jk and jm and these ppl were everywhere and I couldn't avoid seeing j*/k*ok ship content. However, the past two weeks or so it seems to have shifted and suddenly I see t*e/k*ok ship content everywhere. I wonder, is this shifting a normal occurence? And how do I get rid of these ship contents in spaces that are supposed to be free of these 2 ships

Having been around for quite some time, I’ve come to think of the big ships as something very akin to extremely sensitive seismometers. Instead of detecting even the smallest movement or noise in relation to earthquakes or volcanic activity, these ship seismometers react to any and all activity (as in any kind of “moments” or what they perceive as such) in very “volatile” manners, for a lack of better words.

What do I mean by that?

Like you said, there was a long phase after Dynamite came out where the mood had shifted toward J*k*ok because we got more content in which we could see those two interact, even if later on we also got content from the same sets and time in which both members involved were seen interacting with other members, but that didn’t matter. So, obviously, shippers took this as grand sign, the seismometer drawing numbers like ones you’d get when you have an extreme earthquake, but in this case it was a positive thing. Every new “moment” or anything they perceived as such caused big reactions, loud enough to even reach far beyond their space and instead was heard also in general ARMY spaces or those of other shippers etc. But, there’s also the opposite effect, as in, volatile reactions, or big reactions, when there are several pieces of content one after the other where said ship doesn’t interact or doesn’t have any “moments”. In cases like that euphoria quickly shifts into “insecurity” (though they would never admit to that) and worry, occasionally also defensiveness and attacks.

Imagine a scenario like this: lets say we get five Bangtan B*mbs. The first one has main ship A interact, the next one doesn’t have either of the two ships, the third one was has main ship B interact, as well as in video four and five. 

Those who were happy with the first video will be casual/neutral about the second one, but as they get the third, fourth and fifth, the seismometer for them inevitably turns from extremely positive to extremely negative. While for B it’s the exact opposite, going from negative to extremely positive with YT and sns exploding with announcements of “B ships is back” or “B are in love after all, BH has freed them” or anything along those lines.

What I’m trying to say is that yes, this is normal. The big ships and their shippers lead a very cyclical life, which also means they never quite “disappear” either. They are always there, waiting, and then jump on any piece of a moment they get with big reactions, and in the time where they have nothing, chances are the toxic part of their community will go into attack mode instead, like that will change anything at all. We’ve seen other ships come and go, nearly disappear just to have some kind of revival months or even years later, or “new” ships win the favor of the masses. There are also a few ships that have steadily existed for most of the past eight years without any volatile shifts or changes, but those are generally the quieter ones ignored or actively campaigned against/discredited ones by the big ships and their shippers. 

Hyung line ships are generally seen as more “niche”/overlooked, or just some background extras for fanfics or something ML shippers enjoy since the aren’t an active “threat”, like Namjoon x Yoongi or Yoongi x Hobi which have been around forever and I don’t think I’ve ever really seen (or heard about) anyone have fights about them or even fights between those two camps, since most shippers have an almost laser like focus on the maknaes and especially JK.

The funny thing in all of this, if you can even call it that, is that none of it really depends on the members themselves. In all this time they haven’t changed their behavior much at all, their bonds haven’t drastically or dramatically changed, and certain members didn’t magically go from “hating” each other to suddenly becoming couples over night or vise versa. It’s all shipper interpretations, theories and conspiracies being layered on top of what people see on screen to make things more “interesting”, even if that means actively going against what the members have said themselves and who the members are, as in their personalities but also in relation to each other.

And this brings me to my next point, the importance of curating your own space.

Here it’s important to know what kind of a TL or ARMY sns experience do you want. Do you want to just focus on your bias with a side of OT7 with gifs and pictures and nothing else? Do you want to have more of an eye on how BTS is doing on the charts? Have more discourse and discussions on the TL you can follow or actively participate in? Or do you want a mix of it all?

Personally I’m very picky in who I follow and what kind of content I add to my TL by following an account. Generally I think it’s important to check every account you consider following to make sure they aren’t one of the following things: akgae, manti, solo stan, toxic shipper, or a victimizing sheep. While I do follow a number of ship centric accounts, because I like seeing vmin and namjin on my TL, I find it extremely important to follow several trustworthy ARMY translators as well as a number of non-ship centric ARMY accounts that just focus on Bangtan as a whole.

The block button is your friend. I know it might seem drastic or mean to just block random people, but in the long run you will be thankful for it since it will keep toxic content away from your space, regardless if toxic in a solo stan sense or a ship one. If you’re on twt you can also mute certain words and # so they don’t show up on your TL either, make use of that if you feel a need for it. Eventually though the algorithm learns what you gravitate toward, and if you follow a well curated number of accounts, the things you don’t want to see simply won’t appear where you can see them.

On YT, as far as I’m aware, in the recommended section you can mark videos you don’t like as not being interested in them and even mark whole channels as something you don’t want to have recommended to you. Since I don’t watch any ship related videos, I never get any recommended to me despite watching BTS videos (though I mostly stick to their official accounts and wherever else they performed).

It’s important to create a space in which you just see the content you want, but still pay attention to not just bury yourself in a ship bubble since that can be a slippers slope and you might end up accidentally turning yourself toxic on accident, too sure of your thoughts and end up growing resentful moments where a member of your ship interacts with someone else in the group. That’s when you know you’ve gone several steps to far, since above all else, we are ARMY before we are vminnies or namjinists or anything else. We can love our chosen duo, we can love our bias(es), but we should always listen to what the members have to say and trust them. After all Tae (and the other members) has asked us several times to love all seven, so that’s what I do. They are all incredibly lovable, and their bonds with each other all precious and wonderful in their own ways and worthy of appreciation, so I don’t understand those who feel hatred against any of them.

Curate your space but always keep a healthy mix of general ARMY and ship content, if you are someone who partakes in shiperverse activities, and stay as far away as possible from manipulative YT videos and accounts with toxic narratives and motives. 

From anon: hey! read your new post re: curating your own space. don't know if you'll answer this, but is there any "must follow" accounts on twt (for translations, vmin, and bts in general) that you can recommend? I'm new to the site and made an account for bangtan only, but there's just so much going on there that it can get confusing. Also found out that there are many troll accs, fake 'nice' accs, too much drama accs etc that can give you a bad experience.

Here’s a large selection of translators and a smaller selection of other accounts that I think are worth following, especially BTSChartData. Also, whatever you do, don’t follow the BTS ARMY twt account with 4M+ followers or however many they might have at this point.

I’d also be very weary of member specific fanbases and chart accounts since they are known as perfect breeding grounds for solos, akgae and mantis, unfortunately, and some have been exposed for being akgae themselves.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Nicole’s small rambling: Remus & Sirius’ Relationship

Okay, okay, okay, let me start - this isn’t going to be those twenty messy blocks of text you’re used to during the ramblings, but still - it is a biased opion and it’s mine. Shall we start, then? 

I am now re-reading every HP original series book and... Sirius has been my favorite character (except Fred & George) since the very first moment he spoke, whether in the books or movies,yet especially when Gary Oldman was portraying him (which makes sense when Prisoner of Azkaban was literally the only Harry Potter thing I wanted to watch as a kid).

And when I grew older I noticed... A SHIT LOAD OF PEOPLE ships Remus and Sirius... So I tried to see it in the books from that moment, to see the dialogue and other stuff regarding their relationship. To which I have only one word - N O. Let me elaborate. 

I, myself, am a LGBTQ+ person (I am a pansexual), so please, don’t come after me for being homophobic or whatever the fuck reason you’d come up with. And I personally don’t like the idea of forcing a character into a sexuality they aren’t displaying, hadn’t mentioned or aren’t describe to be. I don’t mean it in a rude way, but fandom tend to do this all the time. 

As for Remus, I think he can be a closeted bi/pan, no problem there. He got married to Tonks in the end, he fell in love with her and had a son with her - therefore we know he’s into women, at least partially. However, there’s not an instance of denying in his story arc in which anyone would say that he is not atracted to men. 

But as for Sirius... Bro, I really don’t think it’s happening. Either he is a heterosexual man or an asexual (which I gathered from Sirius was never mentioned to date someone). Sure, there isn’t no denying about his hidden gay side either, but the inclination of posibility isn’t as big as in Lupin’s case. Let me tell you why I think so. 

First off, there are instances in the books and other materials (I don’t think it made it into the movie) in which Sirius is called out for being a flirt (on Remus’ Pottermore page, for instance: ’He always got the women,’ Remus said when Tonks implied Sirius was handsome). 

Second of all - he had muggle women in bikini posters all over his fucking bedroom. Sure, this was a rebellion against his mother Walburga, but if he’d be gay, I think he would put up muggle actors/models up there. 

And the last valid point... It is never explicitely said anywhere at any point in the books that Sirius would display any other afection than the friendly/brotherly one towards his friends and Harry - so I think that Sirius is either a cis hetero or an asexual. 

And... IF THESE TWO WERE GAY, J. K. WOULDN’T BE CAPABLE OF SHUTTING UP ABOUT IT, FOR FUCK’S SAKE. NOT THAT I TAKE HER SIRIUSLY (HAHA! DUMB JOKE!), ESPECIALLY AFTER THIS INSANE WOMAN TOLD US MRS. WEASLEY CAUGHT RON JERKING OF FIVE SEPARATE TIMES (THANKS FOR THAT, J. K., I HATE IT!), SHE EVEN OPENLY DENIED THESE TWO BEING GAY. 

To end this on a good note - I don’t mind shippers at all! Some of the Sirius x Lupin content is sweet, fun, nice and all! I don’t mind bumping into it, I kinda dig it but I still don’t quite agree with it. Thank you for understanding, do what makes you happy. ❤️