While I think the timing of this announcement is a bit, well, not great, it is good to see that the DB team has listened to what the Beanies have been saying for months. The Beaniebox is an unsustainable expense for many if not most, while a support program that costs less than a fancy cup of coffee or much less than a Subway sandwich is more doable for the members of this community.

That said, when Javabeans and Girl Friday were the clear owners and overlords of this site, I would have pressed subscribe immediately. But now, as I've said before, I would appreciate more transparency on the current entity that owns and runs this ship before committing to a subscription.

My hedging isn't just because I don't want to finance a site that may be owned by a giant corporation, although that may be part of it. My main hesitation is that I am very careful to not support businesses that have systems and practices that exploit labor and resources. I do what I can to not buy from companies that use trafficked or child labor for instance. I try not to use the products of companies that pollute or over use natural resources. While I am imperfect in this, I am trying to do better. Therefore, before I subscribe (and I want to, I really really do because I love this community of beans), I kinda need to know who you are.

Done and done! Thanks for giving us an affordable way to help support Dramabeans! Especially during this time of Coronavirus, I love feeling even more connected to you all.

I dropped by today to squee about Hyena and saw the banner at the top. I love Dramabeans and would hate for it to disappear. I was waiting for y'all to open BeanieBox to my country, but receiving shipments is a bit difficult in my location right now... I'm glad I can still contribute a little bit, even if I can no longer help run the site. :(

I'm already a Kocowa subscriber. Will they add on a couple months to my subscription? :-)

Can you do something about this Everlasting Errand Boys business too????? For real. Totally serious here.
(or not, but... :-( )

And yes, I understand the concerns of my fellow Beanies @egads , @gadis , @mindy and @bcampbell1662 . Is there anything Dramabeans in terms of its revamped corporate stance etc.?
I am glad to put my $2/month, but like these others, it would be nice to read more about Dramabeans as a corporation (now that the Original GirlFriday and Javabeans are gone).

also, any chance for transparency on the # of subscribers as the #s ramp up to the minimum? this might encourage people to subscribe.

I understand your doubts and critics, but still, I think it's a good idea to help!

I could do without the cringy VIP bean tag, but I understand that keeping all this stuff online has a cost and I prefer the money to come out of our pockets (and probably the selling of some kind of big data provided by our visits) than from popup ads... Or worse, the owners deciding that it's not worth the cost and putting it down.
Last time DB disappeared for some hours I felt like a digital homeless, didn't know where to go, I really love this community and don't want it to disappear.

And, honestly, if I spread out those 2 dollars for the amount of time I spend on DB every day... It would mean like 0.05 usd/hour (actually used my calculator and a very modest estimation of my DB time to figure this out).

Of course, this is only an opinion. I totally get it if it's expensive for some people, or if they simply don't agree with DB's transparency policy

Possible glitches in recent site changes...

1: Sometimes the name of the poster/commenter lands on top of the date & time.

2: Upper left is getting crowded with "Support us", "Back to main page", search, notifications & avatar.

@db-staff

I’m so glad you finally listened to us Beanies about setting up a donation option that is outside of the Beanie Box. But let’s have a little discussion as the process is clunky and I have some issues. This might be an unpopular opinion but here it is…

I hate the badge and it’s what is stopping me from donating. I wish we could opt out or in. The reason I hate this badge is because it separates and pressures people. Look, I’m a VIP member, why aren’t you? I know this is the main reason to have the badge and I despise it. We already have issues with ‘they aren’t even a registered user’ now will we be saying things like ‘They aren’t even a VIP member?’. This is a tactic to force Beanies to donate, and I’m sure there are members who are too young or maybe don’t have much money to donate towards the site. I know $2 isn’t much but for some people out there it can mean a lot. But either way I hate the idea of having a very visible sign that you donated. I come to DB because for the most part it’s a very welcoming site where we can enjoy kdramas free of hate, and I know I might be blowing this out of proportion, but it really rubs me the wrong way. So can we please have the option to opt out of it?

Also, under the FAQ section this whole statement is kinda gross:

You can cancel before the next renewal day, but this is a support function that helps run the site so most of our premium supporters do not cancel.

First of all, you literally just set this up so you are lying with this statement. Are you basing this off of a few hours of data? And the whole statement in general is emotional blackmail.

I also strongly suggest you spellcheck and fix some grammar issues. You are trying to put yourself forward as a professional site, so I suggest you make your site also look professional. Especially your donation page.

I would be happy to donate, but please kindly remove the 'VIP bean' icon. Or give me an option in my profile to disable this. All Beanies are equal, just that some of us can afford this is not worth being called 'VIP'

Would be possible to pay by year? Between the exchange rate and the Paypal fees, I would rather pay 24USD than 2 by month.

If I decide to support, I'd rather not have a badge either, and definitely no VIP bean.

Kocowa is sadly not available for me, so the only perk for me would be the lack of ads, but I am OK with that as the donation is of course to support the site.

However, as you are asking for donations to keep this site running, it would also be nice to know who we are donating to and what their stakes are in DB, other than just paying to keep our data around for an undefined period of time.

Another vote to get rid of or at least have the ability to opt out of the VIP bean.

Hi DB team,
I have a few questions about this new subscription service.
1. Please let us know if there is a target you need to reach in terms of donations?
2. How long do we need to keep donating to support the site?

3. What does supporting the site mean? Is this running the fan wall, paying re-cappers? Where is this money going and what is it going to be used for? I mean the site has been running for 13 years without a subscription service, what has changed?

4. I'm worried about the site suddenly closing down after you have taken these donations. It would be a pretty easy scam to post a support us page and then get 100s to donate and then shut down.Everyone uses aliases on this website, who is accountable if things go wrong.

5. I would prefer not to set up a monthly subscription to support the website. Is there an option to donate in multiples of 5 as a one off payment? I do not have a credit card and am wary of using PayPal, is there another website you could use, like Patreon?

6. Please could you address some of the points raised in the previous Support Us post in November. I would really like more information about the security of this website. Is it possible to get an HTTPS protocol as the root address of the website.

7. A kocowa membership is not available in my region, is there a possibility of sharing this benefit with another db user, without my personal information being disclosed.

Javabeans might have re-activated her old blog.

Thanks for the option to donate to Dramabeans! I have come here almost daily for many years and am happy to have a very inexpensive way to support the site. I wish we could have helped Javabeans and Girl Friday in this way before they had to sell the site to keep it alive. I also vote for removing the bean icon. Thanks for keeping the site going for us :D

I'm relieved and grateful that the recappers have answered some of our concerns in the comments above. I am overly cautious about making payments online and I don't want to put my billing information on the website. A one off donation or option to pay 24 pounds upfront would be easier at the moment than committing to a year. Would it be possible to set up a go fund me page? It sounds like there is a lot more protection in place for the recipient and donor.

It's great to see the VIP option has been removed and I hope we get a clearer idea of how many donations are needed to save the site.

Having a yearly payment option is the only way I would support. I could use a different card for that. I've had really bad luck with PayPal.

I wish this was available during the JB and GF era. The amount of work they did with this site is irreplaceable.

While I have no desire to know who pays to support the site and who doesn't I'd be very interested to know how many registered users there are and in total how many supporters the site has.

I want to do this. I don't want it to be visible. No red ring around the dp and no bean star/sticker...
It would also be more convenient for me to pay once a year...
I feel that @egads has raised very valid points. I would like to know who owns DB as well.
My love for DB is also for this community and this space.
I will wait for the changes (which are being worked on, if I read correctly) to be put in place.
I hope that the answer to our question, 'Owner, who are you?' will also be forthcoming.
Thank you for your consideration.

seconding (thirding, fortieth-ing) what everyone else has said <3

I view this as a very positive development.

In my avocation (as opposed to my profession) I pay a lot of attention to economics. It has been apparent to me for a long time that the funding model for Dramabeans was utterly inadequate. Servers or server space are expensive and those who edit and write for this site should be paid. I have actually been saddened to see adds disappearing from the site.

The pandemic and the sharp (but hopefully short) recession will in the longer run be positive in driving change, because it forces re-thinking.
This is such re-thinking.

The Beaniebox idea probably contributes relatively little to Dramabeans after the costs are deducted. It is economically much more efficient for us to make a donation (except those who cannot afford it- and those who temperamentally never give to anything). Those who donate are spending far less than the cost of a Beanie box yet with far more direct support going to the site. Think of it as a voluntary subscription to a valuable virtual news and commentary publication.

This site is not owned by a giant corporation standing ready to pull the rug out from underneath us (remember Dramafever?). If it was they would have gone straight to a paywall and charged us $10 per month or more. If you want to worry about giant corporations then worry about VIKI- which is owned by Rakuten, which IS a giant corporation. At least once per month I read a story in the ASAHI SHINBUN about Rakuten being in trouble with regulators or some other problem. And every time I read such a story I worry about the possibility of Viki being lost.

I do agree that the virtual 'badge' is unnecessary and perhaps even counterproductive.

Just want to add my two cents and say that 1) I'm glad the team listened to some of the constructive criticism and have decided to offer an alternative way of supporting the site that isn't a subscription box. While I'm actually kind of interested in the current box theme, I'm not generally interested in a long-term subscription to a snack box. I definitely plan on doing the year long supporter option once I'm able. 2) I'm gonna be a little contrary and say that I actually like the little bean. I think a bean And a red circle are over-kill, but I think the little bean is cute, and I just like having a cute little icon next to my name, lol. So I vote giving us the option to toggle it on/off if we wish.