Popseoul vs. Seoulbeats

So, most of you lovely people invested in Korean pop culture must have heard about the infamous Korean gossip blog Popseoul, right? I’ll bet you guys even read it religiously back in the day, didn’t you? You know you did. <3

I certainly did. I’ll even admit that at one point in time, I actually thought the authors were witty and not, y’know, downright cruel in their remarks. But recently, after the even more notorious split between the co-authors of the blog (there’s apparently a lot of drama in the blogging world), I’ve taken to following both the original Popseoul (owned by the Korean sista) and the newly-formed Seoulbeats (owned by the American counterpart). Now, obviously, there are pros and cons to both. I’ll start with Seoulbeats.

 Seoulbeats:

I find the layout of the site itself really really nice. It’s got that minimalist look – clean, precise coding; extensive use of thumbnails and borders; straight lines; and most importantly, the proper use of capitals (I’m a grammar nazi. Whatcha gonna do about dat?). What I really like though, is that their mainpage contains their ten most recent entries, complete with thumbnails, mini preview, date and name of author. This makes it EXTREMELY easy to pick and choose the articles that interest you, rather than having to scroll down millions of entries until you find one that’s witty AND interesting enough. As a result, very little scrolling obviously equates to a user-friendly site.

Additionally, the entries are short and sweet – great for someone who just wants the deets with a spoonful of sarcasm for good measure. It takes a maximum of five minutes to read through ten entries, which is all the time I have really for this sort of thing. Furthermore, I really like their image functions. Clicking on a thumbnail doesn’t open up the enlargened image in a new window, in a new tab or in the same tab, but on a different page (therefore requiring the use of the “back” button to return to the original entry). Rather, it opens on the same page - similar to those ads that pop up and overlay the page you’re currently perusing – getting rid of it requires the simple click of the “x” symbol, without the hassle of pressing the back button and waiting for your entry, complete with comments, to reload all over again. (Do forgive my inability to explain - the technical terms aren’t coming to me, at the mo).

In any case, the real gem lies in Seoulbeat’s team of writers. That’s right – it’s no one-(wo)man show. By my count, there are approximately 8 writers, assuming that Ms. Seoulbeats is an actual writer (though she’s given no profile) and probably the American counterpart herself, and that CiaoCiao is going to continue writing, even though s/he’s written … one entry so far? In any case, six of the writers have profiles up on the “About” page, and they’re rather fun to read.

Last but not least, I’m liking the new categories being introduced, most likely a means of differentiating the site from Popseoul. In any case, with a team of writers from all sorts of backgrounds, Seoulbeats not only brings wit to the table, but, dare I say, some rather intellectual thoughts as well. In any case, the fashion entries are a gem to read.

Edit: I just posted my first comment on the site, and OMG, you can edit your comments. I’m SO sick of not being able to edit my comments on gossip blogs, so this is a blardy nice change. THANK YOU for adding that function (or for establishing a domain that has that function).

Popseoul:

While Seoulbeats IS making its way up, it’s not always up-to-date. Popseoul does overshadow it in terms of number of current articles (however relevant they may be). It seems that this Korean sista (or sistas) spend(s) ALL her time on the website; it feels like it’s updated on an hourly basis – impressive for a seemingly one-woman show. Still, I’m not too sure whether there’s only one writer or multiple – we, as readers, aren’t given the privilege of reading the profiles of the different writers, should there be more than one.  

The site could do with a category clean-up. Honestly, the number of categories lengthens the page by an insane amount and to find a certain category, one encounters scrolling of Olympic proportions. Ridiculous.

Additionally, I’ve found petty grammar mistakes that, although unnoticeable by most, decrease the quality of the writing. Furthermore, it’s important to note that there IS a difference between wit and cruelty. The two shouldn’t be interchangeable. Still, I’d say that the site was at its worse when BOTH writers were writing together. Now, while there is the occasional snarky remark, it’s still loads of fun to read.

Also, Popseoul could work on previewing its entries, rather than have them all load on the same page, which takes an eternity and a half at times. I know pictures say a thousand words, but under the cut, please and thanks.

And, just a note to Popseoul commenters, GET OVER YOURSELF. Some of your comments are disgusting, and actually make me disgusted to be in your company. Honestly, after reading that a Korean’s not only WON a gold medal, but set a new world record, most of you can only say, “GROSS”, “SHE’S UGLY!”, “OMG, GROSS GROSS GROSS. I CAN’T SAY ANYTHING ELSE BUT GROSS”. Please, diss her only after you’ve won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, after you’ve set a new world record, and after YOU have a long list of accomplishments to your name. Sure, she might not be the prettiest thing, but it ain’t in her job description to be beautiful. Plus, you try being skinny as heck AND lifting 326 kg. It’d crush you, which’d give you the PERFECT excuse to plasticize yourself, right?

And please, do post a picture up of yourself so you can get a taste of your own medicine.

Both:

Credit your sources. Trust me, you’ll seem that much more credible when you do. Examples to follow: Dramabeans and Coolsmurf.

Famous Last Thoughts:

Both are decent and fun sources of info on Korean popculture. The writers are good (enough), witty/sarcastic (enough), and don’t take themselves too seriously, which is always craploads of fun for the reader.  

Thanks for the good reads, gals (and maybe a guy or two?)!