My life long website — Daum
In 2011, during computer class, I was asked to create my very first e-mail account on Daum.
“Mr. Lee, I don’t know how to spell my name in English.”
“Let’s see, you are 혜림, so let’s say h-a-e-l-i-m!”
“Mr. Lee, it says I need to put numbers for my account as well.”
“You can put last 4 digits of your home phone numbers.”
haelim7010@daum.net
That’s how my first email account was created with a nickname as below:
Even though I barely use this email address anymore, I still check this website to read news articles almost everyday.
Let me show you what it is like to read articles on Daum, and what makes me come back to this website over and over again.
Simple IA (Information Architecture) Design
It’s amazing how Daum catches readers’ attention by organizing news articles by their importance and popularity. As you can see below, there are categories in a black and heavy font arranged left to right — main news, popular articles, celebrity section, TV, sport, etc. You can simply slide this section to right in order to get a brief idea about what’s going on in this world. I like to read articles by their popularity among my age group to feel like I “fit in.”
Clear Hierarchy
Here’s what an article looks like. I love how Daum keeps the design so simple and clear, so that readers can see all the important information at once. I mostly pay attention to the main content section to grasp the core idea of the article when I don’t have enough time to read it all.
Comment Section
This section helps me realize where I am in South Korea socially and emotionally. Reading comments of people makes me think why I have similar or different thoughts on articles.
I used to skip this part because of rude comments, but since Daum presented their AI function (it’s called safebot) that filters mean comments, I can enjoy this section more. They also have a thumbs up/down to agree/disagree on each comment which I hope I can use it more often (especially, “thumbs up” if you know what I mean!).
People can also reply to each comment, but I never see it end pretty. I wonder if the time will ever come that people talk politely about political issues online.
Easy Information Access
In other websites, I tend to go back to the main page to check more information; however, in Daum, you just need to scroll down because it shows main and popular articles with images!
I think it’s the biggest reason I come back to this website to check daily articles because it sorts out which articles are important, and I just need to scroll down and read them. It’s like going on a fun trip.
There were many websites that I spent so much time browsing when I was young, but they don’t exist anymore. It feels like part of my memory has disappeared.
I personally appreciate Daum for doing such a great job on maintaining their value so that I can come back again and again. It means something to me!
Secret: when I can’t sleep, I check my old emails that I sent to myself with pictures on Daum. Maybe I am getting old, but I really do cherish every moment with my friends and family on the island. Back then, I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t have the fancy life that city people had, but now, I am so thankful for my childhood — catching clams, fishing, taking boats for 4 hours to get a haircut, seeing stars at the beach, etc. We didn’t have a lot, but we were content. Maybe that’s another motive that makes me come back to Daum so often. To feel what I had back then!
