I wanted to give some clarity on the internal documents that were revealed. Because you have people either triviliazing but also exaggerating.
To start off, these were some the comments found in the documents (I think this will make it clearer):
“They debuted the members when they were at their most awkward-looking, so none of them have idol-like features… (omitting the rest)”
“The plastic surgery was too much”
“They are noticeably focusing on looks and s*x appeal”
“Surprisingly, none of them are pretty”
“When OO (group name) debuted, everyone was shocked by their appearance, which makes me wonder if SM’s aesthetic standards have changed.”
“Until now, the fandom’s defense logic regarding OOO’s live performance skills was that ‘the company doesn’t let the kids who are good at it’, but this was shattered by Coachella.
Now that lip-syncing is an issue again, the fandom is quickly turning its arrows of resentment in other directions than the team.”
“Additionally, by mentioning the SM Entertainment group OOO, it was reported that ‘most attacks on TWS can be defended with OOO. If someone says a member is ugly, they counter with old photos of OO, and if someone says OO can’t dance, they show OO, who’s still stiff. This pattern has already run its course on DC Inside.’”
I think the last comment highlights what this “monitoring” report is the best. Basically, staff are going on different online communities to monitor what netizens are saying. HOWEVER, they are not “just” copying the malicious comments. If you read the original Korean, it’s written in a very standard non-emotional way, there is no typical internet language, laughing, emojis or slang. Employees are basically summarizing what they see, and since it’s not just copy-paste, and I think this is what people misunderstand, it’s possible that personal opinion is included in these summaries.
What people are exaggerating: there is no proof yet that HYBE has actively run a media campaign against these groups. These are only internal documents that only a selected group of people gets to see. It remains unclear what they actually do with these.
What people are triviliazing: it’s not just copy-paste of malicious comments, it’s more like a summary, so you can’t actually find the original comments, which makes it ambigous what is just “what they see online” and what includes personal opinion.
My thoughts: Yes, companies do monitor online reactions and “trends”, but summarizing pointless fanwars on Pann and malicious comments on a anonymous troll forum (aka DCInside) is bizarre and I am not sure how this is helpful in analyzing “trends”. What’s the conclusion? Hey, let’s just debut the prettiest most natural idols ever, so they don’t get malicious comments?
Also these these comments about NMIXX pretty much confirm to me, that they are monitoring how other groups are being perceived online, but are also adding personal evaluation to that. Which just doesn’t shed a good light on the respective employees who wrote this.
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