Hello, our lovely r/bangtan.

With 'ARIRANG' only a week away, we'd like to take a few moments of your time to go over some of the rules and guidelines of the sub for our new ARMY and anyone who needs a refresher.

General rules/guidelines

Please take a moment to review the sub rules.

A couple of the regularly broken sub rules during music releases are bringing in drama and speculation.

• Don't bring drama from outside the sub. Most of us are here because we don't want to know about the nonsense going on in other social media spaces. If it's not happening in the sub, and/or it is not a serious situation that affects us all, we don't need to know.

• PLEASE do not speculate on the thoughts and feelings of the members. Unless they specifically tell us they feel a certain way, we will not put words in their mouths or assign meaning to things based on our own thoughts and feelings. You wouldn't want anyone to do that to you; don't do it to our boys. Be like Joon and just say NO.

  • In addition, try to avoid projecting your own feelings onto the members. Just because you feel a certain way, we can't assume they feel the same. There isn't always a wrong or right way to feel. Try to assume a neutral intent unless/until the members speak about the issue.

• Lastly, we do not victimize Bangtan in this house. They are adults. They are professionals. They know what they are doing. Do not take away their agency by implying they have no control or say in their own music or that they were forced into something you don't like.

  • On a related note, please read through our recent announcement regarding solo stan behavior.

Non-constructive negativity during music releases

This is the big one. The rule that is broken most often and the one that is the most misunderstood.

While r/bangtan has always been, and will always be, a place where ARMYs of all types should feel comfortable sharing their opinions (good or bad), there is a line in the sand when it comes to negativity.

Let's drill it down a bit:

• Non-constructive negative comments are negative comments that are unnecessarily rude/hateful and don’t really add value to the discussion. Please be mindful of your words and how you express your opinion. Be mindful of others who like the song(s) and want to celebrate. It's one thing to say, "Oh, this isn't for me" and a completely different thing to say, "This is the worst song in the history of ever and anyone who likes it is delusional."

• Off-topic negativity. These are comments that are posted in threads that have nothing to do with the subject matter. The purpose of comments like this appears to be to rehash a previous negative opinion already made in the appropriate thread. You've made your point, it doesn't need to be brought up in every thread even remotely related to the album/songs.

PLEASE take a look at our State of the Subreddit addressing this exact subject here. Be sure to read through the examples and the questions in the comments, as well as the replies from the mod team.

On the flip side…we don't need to downvote every negative opinion. Disliking a song doesn't revoke our ARMY cards. We all deserve respect, even if we don't see eye-to-eye.

We work very hard to make r/bangtan a happy place for ARMY to celebrate BTS and their music, and we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable. At the end of the day, let's remember why we're all here.

Questions or comments? Need some clarification? Feel free to ask in the comments or send us a modmail.