`Post a Sunfull` and change Web culture

A Korean-based international campaign to foster a more positive internet culture will see a special 24-hour "positive posting drive" start today.

The International Sunfull Posting Campaign Headquarters - which designated the first Friday of every November as Sunfull Day - is leading the campaign, which runs from 6 p.m. today until 6 p.m. tomorrow. People may post positive messages online and include their names and organizations to indicate their participation.

Sunfull is a mix of "sun," meaning good, and "ple," shortened from "reply."

Korea`s highly active online communities over the years have not only led to an advanced IT culture, but also a serious social issue of negative online comments. The suicides of some celebrities have largely been attributed to ill-intentioned anonymous comments.



Alarmed by the damage caused by negative online comments, 280,269 people from 779 schools and organizations pledged to participate in the campaign as of Tuesday. Young students, in and outside Korea, are encouraged to take part, as the younger generation is said to be more vulnerable to negative aspects with cyber culture.

In order to participate, visit the Sunfull website http://sunfull.or.kr, which is available in Korean and in English. Then press the "Post a Sunfull" button to write a positive comment.

The suggested targets include parents, teachers, friends and co-workers. Encouragement for victims of cyber bullying is also encouraged.

The collected comments will be sent to the Guinness Book of World Records in the category of longest positive comment thread, said officials.

"We urge all netizens to contribute to starting a new cyber culture in which people may encourage and compliment one another instead of making malicious criticism," said Min Byeong-cheol, Konkuk University professor, who led the Sunfull campaign in 2007.

His suggestion brought many celebrities including actor Ahn Seong-gi, Lee Soon-jae and many others to participate in the campaign.

"The Sunfull campaign will also offer a sense of union to all Korean people living abroad," said Nam Moon-gi, president of the Federation of Korean Associations.

(tellme@heraldm.com)



By Bae Hyun-jung