FANCAFE
Daum hosts fancafes which are basically communities for people with common interests (e.g. of a celebrity) to meet and talk online. Official fancafes have the celebrities themselves interacting on the fancafe too. BTS fancafe is official and often hold events that are exclusive to the members. Unfortunately, they are usually in Korean and/or held in Korea.
LEVELS
There are 4 attainable ranks for fans as members of BTS fancafe.
Daum hosts fancafes which are basically communities for people with common interests (e.g. of a celebrity) to meet and talk online. Official fancafes have the celebrities themselves interacting on the fancafe too. BTS fancafe is official and often hold events that are exclusive to the members. Unfortunately, they are usually in Korean and/or held in Korea.
LEVELS
There are 4 attainable ranks for fans as members of BTS fancafe.
- Level 1 (준회원/Associate Member) (orange outlined icon)
- Level 2 (정회원/Regular Member) (green outlined icon)
- Level 2 (ARMY I) (green filled icon)
- Level 3 (ARMY II) (mint outlined icon)
- *BTS members are Level 4 (방탄소년단) (mint outlined icon)
When you sign up for daum and join the fancafe, you're automatically an Associate Member.
When you pass the level up quiz, you'll be upgraded to Regular Member.
When you buy official membership, you'll be upgraded to ARMY I.
When you show proof that you're a good fan (buy songs, albums, etc), you'll be upgraded to ARMY II.
Regular Members get to access TO.BTS, FROM.BTS
STAFF LEVELS
Level 4 (방탄소년단) is for BTS Members. Generally, their nicknames follow the pattern of BTS_(stagename). Although there has been instances where it changed. They also usually do not have profile pictures, though there were times when some had.
Next, there's [board and smiley] (게시판지기) icon for fans who apply and get chosen to be board moderators/admins. They are usually the ones patrolling the boards, making sure rules are not broken.
Level 5 (운영자) are system adminstrators, aka Bighit's staff. They are the ones who posts official photos, videos, events, rules, news, etc.
Level 6 (카페지기) is the fancafe admin, the one who owns the BTS fancafe.
When you pass the level up quiz, you'll be upgraded to Regular Member.
When you buy official membership, you'll be upgraded to ARMY I.
When you show proof that you're a good fan (buy songs, albums, etc), you'll be upgraded to ARMY II.
Regular Members get to access TO.BTS, FROM.BTS
STAFF LEVELS
Level 4 (방탄소년단) is for BTS Members. Generally, their nicknames follow the pattern of BTS_(stagename). Although there has been instances where it changed. They also usually do not have profile pictures, though there were times when some had.
Next, there's [board and smiley] (게시판지기) icon for fans who apply and get chosen to be board moderators/admins. They are usually the ones patrolling the boards, making sure rules are not broken.
Level 5 (운영자) are system adminstrators, aka Bighit's staff. They are the ones who posts official photos, videos, events, rules, news, etc.
Level 6 (카페지기) is the fancafe admin, the one who owns the BTS fancafe.
SIGNUP
So to start, you need to sign up for a daum account before you can join the fancafe. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to do that.
http://bangtan.tumblr.com/post/46109658511/bangtan-guide-how-to-join-the-daum-fancafe
NICKNAME
Before thinking of leveling up, you need to ensure your nickname doesn't break rules. This is usually the reason for immediate demotion back to level 1.
- Your nickname cannot consist of BTS or members (stage/real) names only. (e.g. NO >> btsRM, Jiminie, etc) (e.g. OK >> loveRM, CuteJimin)
- Character limits. Hangul: Must be 2 to 10 characters. English: Must be 2 to 12 characters. For a mix of hangul, english and/or numbers, maximum is 10 characters. Minimum is at least 2 characters of hangul and/or english. And no numbers only nickname. (e.g. NO >> 130613, 태tae) (e.g. OK >> BTS최고, 진짱이다92)
- Only pure hangul, english characters, and numbers are allowed. Special characters, chinese, spaces, standalone hangul consonant and vowel are not allowed. (e.g. NO >> BTS♡, SUGA best!, j-hope좋아, ㅋㅋ정국ㅋㅋ) Non-standard hangul characters are not allowed. (e.g. NO >> 슙, 횽, 쩱) (e.g. OK >> 랩, 쩔) Meaningless nicknames are not allowed. (e.g. NO >> asdqwf, xxxgorkxxx)
- Other artists or fandom related nicknames are not allowed.
- Obscene, vulgar, abusive, slander, feminising BTS nicknames are not allowed.
LEVELUP
Check the boards 등업신청_월화수 (during Monday to Wednesday) or 등업신청_목금토 (during Thursday to Saturday) for the quiz questions to answer. The questions are usually buried in the last page since they are posted first. So flip to the oldest page to check them. Leaking questions and answers are not allowed. If it's found out, that period's questions and everyone's answers will be disqualified.
Check out this link for a step-by-step guide on how to post your answer.
http://bangtan.tumblr.com/post/104601572499/bts-fancafe-level-up-tutorial
About once a year, official membership joining period will open and you'll be able to level up to VIP member on fancafe by paying. This happened in February 2016 (3rd) and in May 2017 (4th).
FAQ
Here is a very informative list of FAQ that will likely answer a few questions you have, like how to change your nickname, etc.
http://daumfancafe.tumblr.com/faq
HELP
I'm willing to help you if you show effort in translating and answering the quizzes yourself. I can check your understanding of the questions if needed. Just DM me on twitter. But I will definitely not help whiners and freeloaders.
BOARDS
After leveling up, here are some of the notable boards you will frequent.
- FROM.BTS ①: This is where BTS members post personal thoughts, pictures and videos, and where you can leave comments on their posts.
- FROM.BTS ②: This is short message board where BTS members can leave one-liners, but only other BTS members can leave comments.
- BTS Episode: Staff will post official videos and pictures of BTS members here
- HOT Place: When BTS members post comments on posts created by fans (usually in the 통합친목 board, which is the free-for-all discussion board), it will eventually be moved to this board by the board moderators, so that everyone will know about it.
- 한 줄 HOT Place: BTS Members can post short messages here where fans can comment on. However, it seems that after the FROM.BTS ② board was created, BTS members have been neglecting this board, since they both serve the same purpose.
- Foreign BBS: Yep, this is the board for us International ARMYs. Rules are pinned in English, so just read and participate ;)
NOTIFICATIONS
If you wanna know immediately when something new has been posted on the boards, please download the daum cafe app (iphone / android). You will be able to set up notifications to watch either a board or a person. So whenever someone posts on that board, or whenever that person posts anywhere, you'll be notified. This only happens for posts, and not comments.
To watch a board, open up the menu and scroll to the board of your interest. Click on the grey star to the right of the title, and select the bell icon. Selecting the star would favourite the board and show it at the top of your menu. Choosing the bell would automatically include favouriting the board.
You can also do the same to a person by going to their profile page (by clicking their name/profile pic) and clicking on the star in the top right corner. Star for adding the person to your "friend" list, and bell for both adding to "friend" list and notifying you when the person creates a new post.
Aside from that, you will also automatically receive notifications when someone replies to your posts or comments. It'll also notify you when your level changes.
TO.BTS
Here are the rules for writing in the TO.BTS board.
- You are allowed to write in any language.
- You can only write one post a day (KST) to each member and to BTS as a group. (i.e. maximum of 8 posts a day if you write to everyone)
- You have to choose a subject tag (말머리) as the person you are writing to. BTS=BTS, 알엠=RM, 진=Jin, 슈가=SUGA, 제이홉=j-hope, 지민=Jimin, 뷔=V, 정국=Jungkook
- You are not allowed to create replies to the posts (Re: ).
Title
- Font size, weight and colour changes are prohibited.
- Title should not overflow one line (Desktop web standard).
- Couple, obscene, vulgar, abusive, slander, slang, feminising BTS are not allowed.
Content
- Write at least 5 lines or more (Desktop web standard)
- Use standard language and be polite.
- Rumours, private life of artists, unconfirmed information are not allowed
- Couple, obscene, vulgar, abusive, slander, feminising BTS are not allowed.
I have translated some words you will need to navigate and post.
When in a board listing posts (e.g. TO.BTS, Foreign BBS)
- 글쓰기: write a post
- 말머리 선택: choose a subject tag
- 말머리 없음: no subject tag chosen
- 등록: post your message
- 임시저장: save draft
- 확인: confirm/post
- 미리보기: preview post
- 취소: cancel
- 수정: edit
- 글삭제: delete post