Hello DB team! As an editor with a Kpop editorial site that also doesn't use a paywall, I understand the financial difficulties of keeping a site like this afloat but also free to use.

I was wondering if you guys would consider other forms of receiving support, such as a Patreon account? I'm sure many Beanies are happy to help, but we don't necessarily need the snacks in the BeanieBox, or we may not live in a country that BeanieBox ships to but still want to help, or we may prefer donating a smaller amount than the subscription fee regularly, or making a lump sum donation every couple of months. Other options would provide more flexibility in the ways we can help!

Patreon sounds like a great option, I'm in if you create an account!

So @melovestage & I are thinking of sharing a beaniebox subscription, but got some questions before we go ahead.

1. I assuming it's USD $40 per box so it's around SGD $54? 💸
2. Is it possible to have both our names on the supporter wall if only one of our account is used for the subscription? If not we are considering to create a new account just for the subscription so both our names r included. 😂
3. Any possibility of introducing a mini beanie box at a cheaper rate so we can afford one each? 🤣

I’m not sure if you all want to consider cutting down on some of the stuff on the site that doesn’t get a lot of traffic/comments/discussions?

Not trying to sound unappreciative or anything but I kind of miss parts of the old DB site sometimes for how uncomplicated it was and easy to see what was going on and what everyone was saying.

I love DB because of the drama discussions and support and love for dramas and each other. And i wouldn’t like for some people to be unable to join in or feel left out due to the need to pay.
But of course I know that running such a site doesn’t come free as well.

So between a rock and a hard place. I have no perfect solution, just my thoughts on the matter.
And please other Beanies do correct me if you feel I’m wrong.

So, here's my two cents on this. Well maybe. When DB was very visibly struggling and the community was clamoring for answers and ways to support it, the idea of a Patreon or GoFundMe, or something of that sort was suggested. At that time I would have gladly paid a small subscription fee to help @javabeans and @girlfriday keeps the lights on.

Well, they did what they had to do to keep the site going and to maintain their own sanity, and I'm glad for them. But let's be honest here, the site is not same because their presence and voice is very missing. And to be brutally honest, their voices and personalities are very very much missed in the recaps and news.

While still a unique island on the internet, Dramabeans feels stripped and streamlined to me now. There is a corporate feel to it, which in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but speaking for myself, I am wary of giving my financial support to an entity that is essentially an unknown.

As I said, I would have easily given support to JB and GF to support this site, but right now I don't know who that money would be going to. While I do appreciate that the cost burden of maintaining a site this size, as well as paying the staff, (yay for paying writers btw), is not minimal, I kind of need more transparency before I make that commitment. To state it more clearly, given the state of the world we live in, I'm very hesitant to give money without knowing who exactly I'm giving money to.

The Beanie Box is fun, but not, I would guess, a sustainable cost for the majority of the beanie base here, and I do hope that whatever other ideas you have brewing are more affordable and accessible to Beanies all over the world.

Well, aren't I just a downer today.

Hi DB Team! Although I really appreciate the hard work you have put in to keep the website going, I am struggling to have an interest in the content posted over the past two years.
Dramabeans was a website that I would visit daily, eagerly wait for Friday's OT to comment and debate about currently airing dramas. Unfortunately this isn't the case anymore and without the fanwall, I don't think I would be visiting the website as often as I do.

There is a very loyal community here and if you would consider a few changes, I'm sure that things can be turned around.

1. More transparency.
As the previous posters have mentioned, since the revamp, we have no idea who is running the website, where the money we give is going or any idea about the future developments.
DB is no longer a passion project created by two drama enthusiasts, it is owned by a company and you have to be upfront and transparent.

2. Lack of Personality
If you take the time to read the early recaps, articles and compare it to what is being posted now, there is a stark difference. The voice of the writers and their personality has been edited out.This is the reason that the views have declined, please give the recappers the freedom to voice their opinions and react authentically. I have noticed how some big budget dramas have been recapped and hyped up even when the quality of the writing/direction is subpar.
You have such talented, dedicated writers on your team but their creativity is being stifled by trying to please the sponsers. This results in recaps that don't offer any insight and actually discourages debate in the comments.

I also miss the little things, there used to be a track listed in each recap or banter in the comments section between recappers and the beanies.

3. Scheduling of recaps
At the moment there is an overwhelming number of kdramas being released each week. It is crucial to be selective about the shows being recapped and to actually post the recaps on time. There have been several occasions where recaps have been posted weeks after the previous epsiode. By the time the recap goes up, we would have discussed the show, formed our opinions only to read a recap that doesn't offer much insight. This results in fewer comments, fewer views and is very frustrating for everyone. It would be great if you could have a live calendar for posts. For example Monday dramas will have a recap posted on Wednesday. I would like more information about when the "Name That Drama"posts are uploaded, I look forward to reading these posts a lot.

FWIW, they don't need Patreon to accept donations at all. Their box subscription system says they already accept credit cards & Paypal, so all they would need to do is tweak that system to let us pay some amount without asking them to ship anything to anywhere.

As I re-read the original post, it sounds really scary.

We need a minimum of 5000 subscribers in order to support the current costs of the site.

Seems like ad revenue isn't paying the bills, the new owners aren't willing to eat the loss, and the site might be in danger again. OUCH!

I have a long chain of guesses about the new owners and the current situation:
- They are government affiliated, or connected to some networks?
- They were willing to eat some loss in order to promote kdramas and enhance S. Korea's soft power?? (Because of the ownership)
- Which might explain why the site is "antiseptic" as said above?
- Site visitor numbers are declining???
- But the change in tone of the site might contribute to decline in visitors?
- Ad revenue is declining? (I think that is a general trend, not just this site)
- Web hosting costs are increasing. (No "?" here).
- Losses are now too high even in proportion to whatever the site does to promote kdramas and Korean culture in general?
- Recent fan enthusiasm about C-dramas doesn't help?? (If the site is owned/subsidized by people who want to promote S. Korea)?
- But fan enthusiasm about kpop or k-movies and even Korean food might be fine?

Back to the "5000 subscribers" bit:
Subscriptions are $40/month. I don't know how much they make after shipping & other expenses, but if we guess they clear $10 on each shipment, that puts total site expenses (or maybe total deficit after ad revenue) at $50,000 per month, which is more than I would have guessed. Of course, they might clear much more or much less than $10 and my totals might be way off. If they only clear $2 per shipment, total deficit is only $10,000/month and it becomes somewhat easier for some direct donations to make a noticeable difference.

------

Also, if they want to give credit to subscribers/donors somehow, please give people the option of being anonymous.

I love this site and I think I would have gladly parted with my earnings to help @javabeans and @girlfriday when the site was struggling back then. The reason was it would have felt like helping my siblings keep our home. It was that personal. I hadn't had a part in designing the site, but somehow it felt like it was mine, like I owned a small part of it so of course I'd step in to help. But now since the new owner/The Man came, I'm a bit hesitant. Like @egads said, I too am wary of giving money to someone who didn't even introduce themselves to me. It's not the giving I don't like, it's the lack of transparency. This site and the community within it kept me sane so I would be open to giving back but let's have a conversation first Owner-nim.

I actually LOGGED ON for once to say that, not only do I agree with so many of the points made, but I have such respect for the community JB and GF built up and remains here. This is a really unique, awesome community, full of people who are willing to help and give respectful opinions. No "screw yous" in sight. I hope the site overlords take note of this and harness not only the constructive criticism, but the desire to support from Beanies.

I love the idea of The monthly beanie box and am seriously considering it and looking over my budget. Some months are tighter than others, so I’m reviewing reconfiguring options.
Are you close to 5000 subscribers?

I don't believe for a minute you'll get 5,000 Beanie Box subscribers. "...To support the current costs of the site..." Does this mean they're losing money or just not making enough profit? I don't understand who owns the site now - is it a group of individuals or a corporation?
I remember when ATT took over Time-Warner and I knew, I just knew we might as well say goodbye to DF as it wouldn't make enough profit. I'm having that same feeling again.
Sorry I'm being such a cynic, but I'm old enough to have seen this time and time again. It's hard to describe the sickening feeling.

I haven't been reading stuff from dramabeans (exception if the fanwall) for a while now and I've always thought it was just me feeling like it's not the same anymore. Reading beanies' comments above made me realize that it did feel different; it wasn't just my imagination.

The beaniebox is just too much for me to subscribe (not that it ships to my country anyway) but like a lot of beanies, I would be able to do something like patreon pledges to help out.

I agree with the beanies regarding supporting DB directly and not through the snack box. Patreon seems like a viable option.

I wouldn't mind paying a small amount for premium content, but not the videos, interviews or the Kdrama news. I can get that elsewhere. I would pay for ratings and watchlists. Let me explain...

I go to Dramabeans because it's smart -- the reviews, comments, recommendations. My biggest problem as a Kdrama fan is that I don't have time to watch all the shows. I need an unbiased and intelligent community who can help me choose what to watch next. Other forums don't help because it's just 100+ comments of "OMG, Oppa is so cute" or "I cried so much after watching this." NOT helpful.

I would pay for a function or an app where I can easily find comments/reviews/votes on shows (old AND new), or scroll through a particular Beanie's watchlist. Heck, I'd even pay for an ebook like 100 Shows To Watch. It would be more useful for me than a box of snacks, because it saves me the agony of sitting through 16 hours of a trainwreck.

This is the era of TOO MUCH CONTENT, so the rarest and most valuable service is content curation. The fanwalls are great, but they're not searchable in the sense that I can see what Beanies thought about a show. I mean my favorite post every week is What We're Watching, and I actually take notes too! It's helped me discover shows or actors or even an entire genre (Exhibit A: Untamed).

Just my two cents!

As a lurker and reader for years..what I missed the most is end of the year award fashion comment and up to date recaps. I loves reading witty fashion review be it potato sac dress or award winning statement earrings, emphasize on the witty part. And I miss the thrill from the old days when I can predict the day the recaps will be up, refreshing DB website many times. Can I get those back please? I’m up for Patreon. Many small amount for Patreon should be better than a few beanie box right? I don’t need videos, interviews, that’s not what I’m here. I like reading recaps and other peoples’ thoughts and that’s what I’m here for.

$40 a month is far too expenseive. I'm not saying anything negative about the box itself. If it were filled with my fav, chocolate truffles, it would still not be a doable monthly expense. That's as expensive as the emergency alert system that I need but am weighing can I afford!

Wow. So now that I've read all of the comments on this thread up to November 26th at 8:13 a.m., I've gracefully given up the fight. Kdrama, like everything else is a changing and leaving me behind.

Netflix was the first monster I'd been fighting, what with their airing half a series and holding the other half thereby causing me to miss out as recaps moved forward without me being able to ask questions of recappers or the community. (By the time i asked them in a "dead thread", the Korean speaking community had moved on.)

Learning that @javabeans and @girlfriday no longer own Dramabeans... well, it's over. It was great while it lasted. Unless... we can convince @Mary to branch off and start her own site that we thousands of community would be happy to donate $2-5 a month toward (and later she could convince Girl Friday and javabeans to return to writing recaps once in a while...)

So I've secretly had suspicions for months now that Dramabeans was going to be the next beloved drama site to shut down, and....this post feels sort of like a confirmation. If you need 5000 people to subscribe to the beaniebox and that's something you are definitely not going to get then....kind of looks like the writing's on the wall, doesn't it?

I haven't personally felt the same way about the recaps, etc. as others here have expressed (I generally don't pay attention to most of the news articles though). Anytime I read something on the site, I find it well-written and enjoyable. But that's also only when Dramabeans happens to be recapping a drama I'm watching (and those recaps are coming out later and later these days, which I Do have some complaints about) or they put out an article about an upcoming drama I'm interested in. I have, however, noticed site usership really petering off in recent years which I think says something. I myself have never been an active user of the site (except during the King of Savvy recaps and then earlier this year when I was all gung-ho about being more active before...going inactive again, lol), but I've been checking in on the site for years and things just feel...different now.

First and foremost, does Dramabeans even Have 5000 users, active Or inactive, at this point? Judging by the number of comments most posts on the site receive, it seems highly unlikely. So where are you (I'm speaking to the overlords here, not Java or Girl or any of the other wonderful writers) expecting to get all of these subscribers from? Maybe if the box were themed around dramas themselves it might be a more popular sell, but even then, Dramabeans has never been...that kind of site, for lack of a better way to explain it. And again, there's no way there are enough users anyway for the beaniebox to bring in the money needed to run the entire site. It's just not realistic.

Something no one has mentioned (at least that I've seen) is that there are already a number of established Asian food subscription boxes out there, so what exactly makes the beaniebox so special in comparison? Why should I get your sub box over theirs? Especially if theirs is cheaper?

Truthfully, I was never active enough on Dramabeans for it's demise to actually really affect me, and yet I can't help but be kind of heart-broken over this. First they took MySoju, then Dramafever, now maybe Dramabeans? It's enough to make you shy away from taking part in drama communities completely.

Why must you take away the things I love?!?!

I hope after whatever inevitable change happens to Dramabeans and the dust settles, Javabeans and Girlfriday and all of the other amazing contributors to the site have a sit down together and tell us exactly what happened. Not because they owe that to us, but because it must be hard dealing with this, whatever it is, alone and we want to support you guys. That and I kind of want the tea, lol.