Voted for "Hangouts", but I'd like all the others almost as much, especially editorials/essays, especially if those essays explained aspects of Korean culture that might not be obvious to foreigners.

Among the very pleasant surprises that I don't expect to see would be old-JB-&-GF-style drunk podcasts and Beans of Wisdom.

As for the Hangouts, if writing coherent summaries takes too much staff time, you could just resort to a canned one-sentence intro with spoiler warning like you use for What We're Watching. All we really need is a place to hang our comments.

Damn! It's quite hard to choose one because all the choices aren't exactly related.
Drama Hangouts are good for beanies to leave comments because tbh the korean drama landscape is becoming a lot like the Chinese one. There are way too many dramas and I don't think it will be realistically possible to leave even a weecap for every single one. But hangouts give beanies what they want, a place to spazz or rant about the show.
Theme of the Month helped in building the community here. While we do have the beanie wall now, it was a way to know a little more about the people who frequently visit this site. I may have not read all the entries while it was regular for a year, I guess, I definitely missed it when it was gone.
Does staff editorial cover all of the weecaps, recaps or general essays you guys post? I think the recaps can be replaced by weecaps for all the shows. The recaps were great when there used to be some time till the subs were available. With the arrival of Netflix, iqiyi and more platforms that provide subs within an hour or so, beanies just need a place to discuss the show. Though yes recaps do help to understand the cultural context better. So I'm hoping not choosing this option doesn't mean that there will be no recaps or weecaps at all. There's reddit for only leaving comments, we'd like to hear some from the staff too.
All of this has left me confused lol. So I'll reserve my vote for now and ponder over it later!

Honestly, all of the options sound great. I voted for theme of the month though, mostly because I love writing and I love reviewing content, but I'm the only person in my close circle who watches kdramas, so never have anyone to rant to outside of dramabeans, haha. It also would give more opportunities for beanies to write more fleshed out things, without being limited to a theme (if there's no inspiration for one theme, then it's easy enough to wait for next month)

This is my first comment ever on Dramabeans after lurking for quite a few years. But, what a great question to ask---it finally motivated me to comment. My preference has been to watch older dramas, or dramas that have stood the test of time. And, one of my favorite references to find dramas has been this post from 2017 from Dramabeans----A 10th anniversary list of 10 best dramas of all time. https://www.dramabeans.com/2017/02/top-10-favorite-dramas-of-all-time/ This list has introduced me to dramas that I may not have found without this list including: Return of Iljimae (Moon River), Que Sera Sera, Miseang and White Christmas. So, I would love to see Dramabeans use some of the knowledge and experience they have accumulated over the years to make some recommendations that go beyond the most current dramas. Recaps can be fun, but I don't need them except for the more complicated historicals. If I do decide to watch an airing drama, I am often disappointed when it is not recapped because of the lack of community discussion. So, hangouts would be nice, but perhaps they should be broken down so it is not just one hangout for an entire show. Weecaps are also nice. Great to meet everyone, and thanks so much to Dramabeans! You have given me so much to read over the years.

zombies. I want more zombies.

All of the above, actually.

Personally, I don't see the benefits of Drama Hangouts because with the exceptions of Bossam: Steal the Fate, The Red Sleeve Cuff, and unofficially Just Between Lovers, the threads rarely stay active after the first week, so if I want to comment on current episodes, I just post in this week's What we’re watching.

Does the staff converse on shows or news or oppas because conversation posts were a highlight of Dramabeans? https://www.dramabeans.com/tag/conversation-post/

If you're looking for other ideas too: Something that I know I'd enjoy would be along the lines of the "name that drama" posts. It seems likely that these posts can't happen very often because you're waiting for enough submissions first, but I found quite a few totally random, totally awesome shows this way.

I ended up finding Stars Falling From the Sky in a Name that Drama post, and I was mostly moved by the "all the siblings have colors for names" part of the description. It's one of my all-time favorites now.

Also, I only watched A Love to Kill because of the comments calling out *that kiss*, which I obviously needed to go watch to see what people were talking about.

I think if there were bite-sized descriptions of what was most memorable or compelling in a drama, rather than a synopsis, it'd be a great way to snag others who find the description intriguing. Could be gamified like "name that drama" is, or could just be a fun way to re-up old favorites without writing long posts about them.

More recaps, less celebrity gossip. Recaps are especially helpful for non-Koreans because sometimes things get lost in translation (or the subs are too westernized) and we may not get all the culture reference. Even the weecaps help with bridging the gap. Also, there are other places to read tabloid fodder and the kind of reader comments that go with them.

Along those lines, drama hangouts tend to be pretty useless. They get buried under more recent posts and forgotten. Besides, everyone comments under the What We're Watching posts, so save staff resources by dropping them. Or, make weekly hangout posts for each show. For those of us who aren't e-friends with other beanies, we don't have a place to go to (like a personal fan wall) to discuss dramas that aren't recapped.

Hire more moderators. There was a time on dramabeans that spoilers were forbidden. You could only talk about the show up to the point it had been recapped. Now everyone talks about both weekly episodes in the first post, and other people share spoilers from the source material.

I say this with love because there's still no other kdrama recapping site that can compare to here, and this is the first place I go to follow a drama. Looking forward to any updates and changes!

Thanks for asking!

One feature of weecaps I like (over recaps) is authorial voice - there's far more personal reaction and comments in a weecap which always gets me reacting/thinking/posting. I appreciate recaps are useful if you're struggling or want to catch up, but on the whole, if we're watching, we know. It's the response that is interesting.

Agree with others about weekly hangouts (rather than just one, and rather than on a fanwall). I missed out on a lot of good discussion just by not knowing when these had been set up or by not being connected to the person fanwalling. People theorising/guessing/disagreeing (politely!)/linking to other dramas is so much of what makes Dramabeans fun - and this most often happens when people are focused on one week's worth of one drama at a time.

Love it when people are able to correct subtitles or explain the nuance behind a phrase - non-speakers miss out on so much here.

I would like to see more coverage on current kdramas somehow.

Changing from full recaps to weecaps could be good. It might encourage more discussions and quicker comments when the weecaps are posted soon like a day or so after the live episodes. I feel bad that some shows' recaps are not getting much attention after all the time and effort that must have been spent.

I think weekly hangouts are good and can be more organized instead of one general hangout for a drama because I might be some episodes behind, but I don't want to scroll through one hangout thread and read a spoiler. There would need to be a drama hangout link/button/icon on the website because they are hard to find after the thread gets buried by news/articles, etc.

Because I'm often behind and that I'm not watching many shows, I don't visit the What We’re Watching threads much. I might skim a few comments, but I don't want to accidently read spoilers about other shows.

Honestly, I think it's very hard to choose which drama recap or weecap because we learned from 2021 that big names meant nothing in the quality, synopsis neither... So the important is to represent different styles (sageuk, romance, thriller, etc.) like that everybody can find at least one drama that he/she likes.

Hangouts is a good solution but it gets lost in other post, so maybe one for each week would be better.

A new type of post I would like is a Korean point. I think the thing I miss the most in the recaps now, it's the Korean details that I can't understand as a non Korean, words play, cultural differences, explications of the names, etc. Sometimes, there are some comments about it that are very interesting.

I’m in for More recaps/weecaps and essays.
Also a bit unrelated but I don’t mind a like button for the posts - sometimes you enjoy reading a recap/essay but don’t want to comment anything, so having it would be another way to show appreciation.

I think plain and simple weecaps would be great!, and yes to the authorial voice that many have pointed out here. I feel there is limited value in recapping the entire story for readers, who basically want to comment on what's happened in the past week. Some might want to "watch" through the recaps, but I think that weecaps serve that purpose very well. They're quick to read (and I imagine, quick to write too?), and succinctly capture the shenanigans of the week in the drama of choice. They're better than hangouts because hangouts get buried under, and tend to be forgotten; a weekly reminder of the show is useful.

A lot of the other features are also nice and worth retaining/returning to, e.g., TOTM, editorial team essays, but I think those require greater effort, if that is a constraint.

I would also like more hangouts. I’ve watched several dramas this past month that we’re not recapped, and missed the discussion. Although, not sure I would have had time recently to engage as fully as I would like to. One of the great things about Dramabeans is engagement of Beanies and strong writing. That’s what made it stand out. Just having more content would just make this like so many other k-news and drama sites. I like the writing the most here. I’m for abetting that shows that off. Writing of beanies and staff.

My Favorite segment is What are We Watching - anything else covered in DB is the cherry on top, for me. Greatly appreciate this blog and the community 💜

Definitely appreciate places for engagement (e.g. hangouts, weecaps) that come quickly after the episode. The things I really appreciate in recaps are
- if it’s a really elaborate set up and there are details I might have missed
- pointing out cultural/language connotations/jokes an international viewer won’t automatically understand.

I really like the old curated drama recommendations posts (eg top 10 favorite OTPs), I have found so many good dramas from them,and it’s nice to see which classics still hold up/how more recent hits stack up.

Personally, I don't really need or even want a full recap if it is just going to be a dry retelling of what happened in an episode. What drew me to DB was that in the past the recap writing made it feel like you were watching along with the recapper. I want personalities. I miss the authorial voices that were fun, engaging, and informative. I knew if such and such recapper thought this about a drama, then I was likely to agree with them or not, depending. Which isn't to say that the current recaps are not good. They're fine. And I know it's a lot of work to put a recap together, but you asked, and I'm saying I miss that certain something something that used to sparkle here. Maybe it will take some magic bean fairy dust to bring that back (or would that be gas? sorry, so sorry), but well, that's what I've got.

Oh, and I vote to bring back Theme of the Month. Maybe doing it monthly is too much for the editorial staff, so perhaps a quarterly theme might be more tenable. The themes brought a sense of connection and belonging to the site that further built the community here. It allowed people to proudly flex their writing and share their stories in a more formal manner than a comment can provide. They allowed for an even wider cultural viewpoint on the shared experience of drama watching, and that was very valuable in shaping my own drama watching experience.

I really like the recap, they cover the show the way the editor sees it. I like to compare what you guys felt/saw/think and what I saw. The best part of the recap being the Editor comments ;)

Re-caps are obviously a huge investment of time- and sometimes the best airing shows are not re-capped. More Wee-caps and Drama Hangouts would be the way to go. I get a great deal out of reading the comments.

I liked the recent News-bites as well. News about upcoming shows is one of the most valuable things that Dramabeans does- along with the What We're Watching articles.

I look forward every year to your editors' picks - and I'm hanging out for the picks of 2021!

I do vote for the weecaps , hang-outs and news bites / news about upcoming shows. I am with the other beanies re timeliness of the recaps. I remember a couple of shows in the past, where I had lots of things to say and share after watching , but since the recap went out after the next week's episodes are already shown, there is nothing much to comment anymore. So, since I recognize that this takes a lot of time and effort, weecaps should be the solution - or weekly hang-outs.

I like the variety of beanie brains for Theme of the Month, but hangouts are cool, too (hangouts fill the more drama coverage in another way than full recaps). Thanks, db staff!

One thing that would have been good for me as a new beanie would have been a guide to how the fan wall is supposed to work. Maybe I’m just not that bright but it took me ages to realize it was even there 😅

Here’s my wish list. I want more information about the Korean context of dramas, from the language nuances to inside jokes and references. I’ve always wanted to know more about what Korean viewers are saying about dramas, do we like the same things they like about shows and performances? What are they complaining about that we can’t even recognize? What parts of the show are catching fire, creating trends, making buzzwords there?

My other unrealistic wish is that we didn’t use the fan wall for discussion that belongs on a recap page. I believe this is why the recaps generally have low total comments (and what feels like low interest), because almost everyone has said what they want to say on the fan wall already. Even for timely recaps, people just can’t wait. There was a time when this was not so and Beanies self-disciplined, but it got out of hand long ago and I suppose there’s no going back. (It was also a time when you knew recaps would be there in one or two days.)

In the real world, I’d pick weecaps to cover more shows (with editor’s comments). Covering more shows will make the site appealing and significant to more fans. Hangouts are very difficult to keep hold of as the drama goes on. I guess I’ll classify that as “surprise me” with my vote.

I voted for more editorials.
I'm an African born in UK, so the cultural differences are often explained with your excellent editorials.

But I still have some questions.

For example, I can understand why the romantic male lead wears a lip covering. If they have to repeat the kiss scenes hundreds of times, it would stop lips sticking together.......but why does it have to be so red? Why does the heroine open her eyes to the extent they almost bulge out of their sockets when she is kissed for the first time? I've never seen that reaction in films in any other cultures than Chinese. And the male lead approaches the kiss with such glacier-like deliberation she has ample time to either accept or refuse the kiss so the horrified shock seems rather exaggerated. I've never been given that much time with a first kiss. Thankfully! I don't want to die wondering! And I would think that the man's face, growing larger and larger millimetre by millimetre as he approached you would be a real turn-off.

Why do modern Korean parents seem to care more about prestige and money when their children want to marry than whether the person is a nice person or not. It seems to be a thread that runs through an awful lot of dramas, so even allowing for poetic license, it must be a reality even in modern Korea.

Could we have a quick line on the deposit system for renting a flat or house? It seems to be hugely punitive, but nobody ever says quite how much it is relative to income.

Otherwise, I've been a complete addict for five years now. I pay a small fortune for regular subscriptions to an English and a US newspaper, plus a couple of international magazines. None of them give me as much pleasure as your site. Why don't you charge us a sub? it doesn't have to be US$150 per annum, like the Washington Post, but I'm sure we could all afford something to keep you guys doing such a great job, or even adding more staff so we get more recaps???

Meanwhile, good luck to all of you and thank you, thank you, thank you. May 2022 by THE YEAR!

I really miss recaps for sageuks and am finding myself spending more time on other sites that are willing to go the extra mile. It's a shame because I'd rather be here discussing each episode with other sageuk watching beanies.

I was torn between "more show coverage" and "editorial/essays", and I went with the latter as I'm a sucker for insightful last section of re-caps, "comments". I like reading recaps, but sometimes I just really have no time for 1,000 words re-telling of a plot but I always (always!) read comments section. Missvitrix was able to fuse the two -- meditation on the material and recapping of the actual material -- which is fantastic. I'm not advocating for getting rid of re-caps but I feel like recaps are getting longer and more dense on DramaBeans, I'm just not sure if anyone (except hard-core fans of the drama) has time to read all of that. The recappers' opinions on the actual show, however, are always fun to read, it's that what prompts some of my own insights. I NEVER skip reading them. So I chose more "editorial/essays" but I want to see them more in the context of the actual drama. That's what I was alluding to in my earlier comments, nurture diverse opinionated pieces from beanies -- I think this is what brought us to this blog in the first place -> instead of dry re-cap, we got an insight from re-cappers on a variety of things about the dramas we watch. Finally, there needs to be more coverage of truly amazing shows, which were for some incomprehensible reason missed this past year. I think there needs to be someone "at the top" who can understand the quality of the drama and its overall potential for "award buzz" and long-lasting impact (whether through their own editorial lens or through consumption of the dramaland media), and assign this drama to be recapped, even if there are no voluntary takers.

I vote for: more recaps with an authorial voice. I think DB should stick to its description of a "Trending KDrama Recaps and Reviews" site. In other words, I would like a return to what made DB unique.

Consider your audience. It includes beanies and non-beanies who are live-watching dramas and those who will watch them in the future.

For example, after the success of RED SLEEVE CUFF, you can bet that viewers who were waiting for it to finish (like me) will watch it and look for recaps to navigate the historical stuff. Other viewers who discovered Junho will watch his previous works. I'm still getting replies to my comments on the CHIEF KIM (2017) recaps so obviously people are still reading them.

Recaps will keep getting views long after the show has finished airing.

Case in point: I recently watched TAMRA, THE ISLAND, and after each episode I read the recap + comments on DB. It was as fresh as if the drama had aired today. @nattacatta's passion and love for the drama shone through, and I could gasp, groan, swoon, and punch the air along with her as easily as when it was written in 2010.

Hangouts would serve the immediate need for beanie spazzing (without flooding the fanwall), but recap posts are more likely to receive views and remain relevant in the future. What are the stats for the recaps of HEALER or COFFEE PRINCE? You can do a bit of research DB Staff. What are your most viewed posts?

As well as fun and informative recaps, I want to hear the editor's voice more in posts like 2021 Editor's Picks or Top 10 lists

Dramabeans is a reference point for many viewers because it helps us choose dramas to watch. Consider it as marketing for your own site too since viewers will check out content on those dramas.

Realistically, I know the kdrama scene has changed because there are so many dramas aired at the same time nowadays. It is time-consuming to write recaps so it would probably be impossible to recap every single one. I have a suggestion: implement a "Beanie Request" form like on VIKI to ask for recaps on upcoming or currently airing dramas. While DB Staff should be free to choose the drama they want to recap, it's also good to know your audience and how many readers might tune in.

Furthermore, I wouldn't expect a recapper to stick with a show for all 16 episodes if it turns out to be a trainwreck or barely has comments. I like the "This is a Episode 1 recap only" custom, but I'd also be fine with "Recaps will be discontinued after this episode and a final series review will be provided at the end."

I myself would welcome more shows... preferably covered via Open Threads / Weecaps... in Our-Beloved-Summer style (excellently written by @missvictrix ❤)... I'm currently more interested in recappers' thoughts (and extra insightful information) than in a description of what's happening on the screen. (I also think, maybe naively, that they take less time than recaps, thus hoping that we could get 2 OT shows instead of 1 show with a regular Recap?).

I think the classical recaps were great during times when we had to wait 1 week for subtitles (big thank you to the subtitling teams!)... I still remember watching many shows (Secret Garden, Best Love...) first raw, then reading Javabean's / Girlfriday's recaps and then watching with subtitles when they got available (and sometimes even comparing different subtitles to get the nuances). However, times have changed...

I noticed a comment from someone who couldn't see the point of recaps which were simply a dry re-telling of the story. But I often start a drama based on the recap, or decide NOT to watch one based on the recap, so in that sense they have huge value.

I rarely find the recaps dry. They often explain the nuances of Korean culture that add richness to the storyline for foreigners. Most of the recappers have a great sense of the absurd, and I'm often laughing more at the recap than at the drama itself. So please give us MORE recaps and MORE editorials.

And if it's a drama I am really enjoying then I ALWAYS read the recaps, in case I have missed some points

Thank you DB Staff for keeping this site alive for years. I personally think the comments are sometimes not where it’s supposed to be? The comments and thoughts for a show used to be mostly on the recaps, but now it’s also on What we’re watching and Fanwall. So when the actual recap post are up, I feel like people who already posted somewhere else would be reluctant to comment on the actual recap/weecap post.

I still remember watching dramas years ago and went to Dramabeans to refresh this site multiple times to see if the recap has been posted. And it was mostly on time. So I know when to expect it. I love reading educated explanation about stuffs I don’t understand as a non-korean and I love reading the sarcastic comments (both by author and commenters). Nowadays if I want to read deep thoughts about a show, I go to kfangurl, because I feel like I don’t really get that insight from Dramabeans anymore. I’m so biased but I did really hope there will be elaborate recaps for Red Sleeve (for how the show is in a way more traditional than nowadays saeguk and for my love for Junho lol).

So maybe it’s possible to post more recaps/weecaps? And will it be possible to let us know when the post will be up? So we can restraint ourselves from commenting on other places? Not sure if my rants make sense, hopefully some do.

Uh ... Guest Recappers and a new Satire Article series? :P
Ah keep dreaming, Sic.

Most of what I would say otherwise has been said already to be honest.

Omg.. I'm late to the party.
Personally, I found that many of the most interesting discussions in the past year happened on our Fan Walls, but then the same thoughts never made it to the recap page (it feels weird copy-pasting). And if you don't login to DB for a few days, it's almost impossible to keep track of what happened on the fan wall. Maybe we need to do a better job waiting, or is it possible to preemptively post the show's page before the recap/weecap is posted? It seems like non-Korean beanies need full recaps for the context, but posting sooner than later seems to be the way to get more participation. 🤔
Also, I swear there were 20 different, disjointed conversations about BE.

Finally, I second a comment from above that DB should not post celeb news, even if it's tangentially related to dramas. I still think posting about SJK and SHK was a bad idea..

Just thinking about other sites that I’m a long time reader of, and the things that keep me coming back are regular features that I know when they will run (mixed in with the other content of course!). The regular “What we’re watching” post is one of those for me here - other ideas I’ve enjoyed elsewhere have been things like prompted chat posts (like the one up today) and curated round up posts of things from the site and around the web.

Two things would make a big difference for me and make me more inclined to participate more again: timely posting and a more flexible platform. Writing recaps takes time and energy, and I appreciate the recappers for doing it! But for excited fans who want to talk about it, waiting days to a week for a recap to appear means that we'll have taken our discussion elsewhere and by the time its posted, we'll have talked it to bits already. I hate to say it, but a recap (or a weecap/quick few-line summary and some initial observations from the recapper which can be later built out) would at least respond to the need to enthuse/rant/discuss, etc. while the ep is still hot off the grill.

The site itself is kind of clunky - hangouts would be great, but they need to be posted on the main page so they don't get lost as new content is added. The Fan Wall seems to have become a free-for-all - it would be great if the following feature worked, or if there was a way for us to better curate the content we were most interested in seeing from the Fan Wall. There are lots of things we Beanies are interested in, so this would help us both browse and connect quickly with the things that interest us the most.

And an edit button, too - so I can correct all my typos! :-)

I would also love more coverage of dramas with an authoritarian voice. Dramabeans used to have the most awesome reviews where we would squeal about how cute our main lead looks or how ridiculous the plotline is. It was like watching dramas with a friend. While it's nice to have objective recaps, it's just not quite so fun, like watching a drama with your boss instead of your bestie! I mean, like who really wants to do that.

It would also be great to have more timely recaps. Dramabeans used to have them out by the next day so as you were dying at this week's cliffhanger, you had an outlet to discuss with others allll the feels. Waiting up to a week for a recap kind of dampens the excitement of discussing it, almost to the point where it's not really relavant anymore.

I also think expanded or at least better selected coverage would be better. A lot of popular dramas were passed by with only a open thread to discuss it, or potentially great niche dramas were passed up for mediocre ones. Dramabeans used to be a place where I would be able to filter out what drama had potential to spend my precious free hours watching. Often there were recommendations for rather unknown dramas or mini dramas (Splash Splash Love, I'm talking about you) that I would have never found if it wasn't for dramabean's review. Another gem was Dal Ja Spring which at the time didn't really seem up my alley but turned out to be one of my favorites.