SHINee does care about fans

There are a million things I'd rather be writing after SHINee's goodbye weekend but seems there's a situation that needs some justifying ^.^;;; The fan system in Korea is really really complicated and while it's possible to have a shallow understanding from other online sources, since it's summer and I know a lot of people are hoping to visit and see SHINee at this time I feel like this is important information for not only people planning to go to events but also for fans online who are confused about why drama arises in certain situations. I think I'm going to pump out a few posts
covering a few topics this morning hopefully but here's number 1. This is a case example of how the system has been painfully misunderstood.

BOLD FOR THE TLDR

The reason I'm writing this at all is because there's a little drama going down on twitter regarding photos that were posted from SHINee's fanmeet this weekend. The girl who posted was asked politely to take her photos down because they violate the rules of the fan meeting and we as a group of fans often get in big trouble for breaking rules like that. Post number 2 of the morning is going to be about why we're asked not to take photos. The girl in question chose to lash out and honestly I would have left it alone except she wrote this:

I got up at 6:00 AM to ride many subways and had to wait in multiple lines in the sun getting burned. I was pushed a prodded into lines and had to hear people scream on where to go for 15 hours. Not to mention climbing up and down dirt hills almost breaking my ankle. They can have their pictures back when I get my 15 hours back. The staff or shinee don't seem to care what I went through. This is all I have for everything I did yesterday I am keeping.

and

It's sad how unfairly and cruelly they treat their fans.

First of all, I'm not going to offer this girls name up. I honestly hope she has a fantastic holiday and leaves Korea and SHINee events with a lot of really fun experiences and some fun stories to tell her friends back home. What concerns me is how uninformed she seems to be about the reality of this situation. And I'm more concerned that other people might share her misconceptions.

First of all what I want to emphasize is that the waiting around in line for hours on end is untrue. And it's also got nothing to do with staff or SHINee. A list of names began on Friday afternoon determining what order fans went into Inkigayo's recording before the fanmeet was even announced. This is normal. As soon as the notice goes up FANS begin making this list. Not SM, not fan staff, normal ordinary SHINee fans do this. The reason they do this is because it's not uncommon for a few very determined individuals to start lining up at the venue and stay there for days overnight. This is unsafe. It's insane and it's something we try to avoid at all costs in our fandom, which is why the list exists. You need to do check ins once a day to maintain your spot but honestly it's better than having girls who are in middle school or high school sleep on the sidewalk for days just to get into a 30 minute recording. This behavior is not condoned or encouraged but if a few random individuals decide to behave like that, then anyone who wants to have a chance of seeing the recording needs to do the same. I repeat, the lining up and checking in system has absolutely nothing to do with SM or fan staff or SHINee. It's completely fan organized.

As for the waiting in line for 15 hours; we had to arrive at the Inkigayo location at 7:40 am. The SM staff were arriving at 9 so we needed that 1 hour and 20 minutes to organize ourselves into line according to the list. Most of the sidewalk was in shade, but there were a few spots where the sun shone through and it started to get a little hot as the day went on. We were organized into our lines and at 9 SM checked that we had cds, ID etc and gave us a number. We were given numbers and told to come back at 10 oclock after going to the bathroom and getting a drink. Then we found out that only the first 300 people in line would be going into the studio at 11 to see SHINee perform Odd Eye and the rest of us should meet at the stadium 2 blocks over at 4 to line up for the fanmeet according to our numbers. If that's a little confusing let's put it like this

7:40 - list check in - make lines according to The List (there were 700 people to sort btw)
9:00 - SM staff gave numbers and checked ID and cds
9:40-10:00 - bathroom/drink/shade break
10:00 - announcement about who could go into inkigayo and fan meet location
10:00-4:00 - 6 hours of free time most of us spent hanging with friends, eating, watching a movie, napping or going home.
4:00 - we went to the venue and began organizing between 1000-1500 fans into lines to enter the stadium. Keeping in mind the MERS situation in Korea, we had to have our temperature checked which also took time.
Just after 6:00 - all fans were inside. SHINee appeared promptly afterwards and began the fanmeet.

So lining up that early in the morning was actually for the Inkigayo recording. Obviously there were way too many people there and so we were told we could leave and come back again in 6 hours. So in no way did anyone line up for 15 hours in the hot sun. If your intention was to only go to the fanmeet the SM staff were waiting outside Inkigayo until 3:30 handing out numbers to people wanting to go to the fanmeet. This information was on SHINee's official webpage and being spread over twitter. Now, of course it was written in Korean, but we're in Korea and these events are naturally aimed at Koreans and SM in no way are obliged to translate their notices into foreign languages since they if you're in Korea you should be able to navigate in Korean. It's like if someone came to Australia and wanted to see a concert but didn't understand English. Is it ok for them to demand everything be written in their native language? No. Never mind that there are at least 20 native English speaking SHAWols on twitter who could have answered your questions about notices and announcements. Out of the army of us online at this point, at least one of us would have answered if you asked. That all aside the walking up dirty hills thing was...strange. We walked up one tiny hill and it was paved.

Also of note: usually fansigns are outside in the park which is a nice little area but it means that it's very difficult to hear anything. They have only one small speaker and the further towards the back you are, you can not hear anything. They can't make it any louder because it's a residential area and they can't be noisy. This time SM booked a venue knowing there would be a lot of fans. A venue that they would have had to pay for. This fan meet was completely not necessary on SHINee or SMs part but they chose to do it for the fans anyway. 

This is where I get a little rage-y and less 'information post', so apologies in advance.

The thing that truly infuriates me about this whole thing is how she's accusing SHINee of not caring. I really DO NOT want this girl to suffer any backlash from this but I also can not stand that she has a decent amount of followers who are going to see those words and possibly believe them.

This whole situation, you can argue until you are blue in face whether it is fair or not, but do not throw accusations or aspersions on SHINee's character because of it. SHINee spent that entire fanmeeting thanking fans for their efforts and support, acknowledging our shared dedication and promising that they would work harder. I don't know how good this girl's Korean understanding is but what more do you want from them? They've been full time promoting, filming and recording music shows as a group and taking care of their grueling individual schedules. They were going straight from the fan meet to more rehearsals. Minho's flying back and forth to Jeju, Jonghyun's constantly pre-recording or doing his radio show and Key has been running himself into the ground with continuous musical rehearsals and they still dragged themselves to that stadium for a completely unexpected, unnecessary, FREE event so they could thank US for what little we were able to contribute as fans. 

Yes, going to events is hard. Yes, it involves a lot of time and lining up. But don't spit on the effort and time and dedication girls have been putting into this for literally YEARS because you don't understand or don't like how it works. Do NOT come to Korea and compare it to your home country and demand that we do things like you do it at your home. And DO NOT for a second imply that SHINee do not appreciate and acknowledge the love and dedication we give them on a daily basis.

Minho personally bought lunches for the fans who supported him at his soccer matches. SHINee bought snacks and drinks for the fans who had to wait for hours for their comeback recording at Inkigayo during Everybody because of set problems. Instead of sleeping they came out to greet fans, surprised us by appearing and thanking us personally, holding signs, waving, smiling, all instead of resting. Jonghyun arranged coffee and snacks for fans during BASE, Jonghyun, Taemin and Key all held individual fan meets that were not filmed or televised in any way; they were purely designed to be a space for fans and them to meet and greet. Key also bought sweets for fans who came to his To Heart recording on White Day. SHINee have not done one single recording yet where they haven't thanked fans for coming. They ask us whether we slept, whether we ate. They tell us to go home safely, they encourage us to eat and rest. Not ever do they ask us to wait in line, or do any of the things we do. But they do thank us for it. 

Just writing this makes me furious because 1 day of attending fan events and you're willing to write SHINee off because what? They didn't kiss your feet and worship you. No love confessions and handshakes? Honestly a handshake event is COMPLETELY impossible despite how much fans and SHINee might have wanted it because of the MERS situation in Korea at the moment. We all had to wear masks into the event for health reasons. Key commented that we were all wearing masks and Jonghyun said: of course, your health is most important. Minho asked if all the fans made it into the room and was visibly relieved when we said no one was cut. The fan staff spent all day running, standing in the hot sun giving out numbers, placating angry fans, screaming at the top of their voice capacity so that we could hear instructions. And they DO NOT get paid. They are volunteer workers.

Never mind that there are literally thousands of fans who would have been completely ecstatic to be in the same shoes.

What was cruel about how we were treated? We were required by SM staff to line up for exactly 40 minutes in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon while they sorted us into lines, took our temperature and shuffled us all into seats at the venue. And all they asked for in return was that we don't take photos. Like I said, I have an entire post I'll put up on why photos are not allowed; it's next on my list.

The point of this post is this: SHINee are some of the most caring and considerate people I have ever met. They do not lie to us. They do not tell us that we are something we're not. They do not pick and choose fans to gift special treatment. They do treat us equally. They do appreciate our efforts. They do thank us and care for us. 

On a really really personal note: reading those words this morning really hurt me. This is my life. I spend my weekends doing this, I go to recordings and have met some of my closest friends in life. And I have felt the most happy, the most content I have ever felt in my entire life because of these little recordings and fan meets. I know most people who attend these feel the same as me. So hearing someone say they've only been to a small handful of events and they feel they haven't got the respect and attention they deserve makes me feel ill. I have never felt slighted, shunned or disrespected by SHINee. I have always felt safe and accepted and welcome in their presence. I'm sorry that this descended into such a huge misunderstanding and this girl wasn't able to feel that same sense of peace and belonging.