Adding BTS episodes and interview special

Yeah, I also don't think they should be qualified into MDL since it's not really important IMO. 

It's not a drama so it shouldn't be added. 

I agree that they shouldn't be added

I agree with you. They shouldn't be added.

Well, I think they should be added, but maybe that's just me LOL.

Why?

1. We should put things into perspective...
When a drama has just finished airing and everyone is hyped about it, maybe it's easy to see the extra episodes as redundant or a waste of time/space. Because the feeds are filled with extra info about that drama anyway, everyone shares BTS videos, interviews, news, screencaps and so on. But new people discover dramaland every day and there will always be those coming late to the party. We need to think long term here... 2-3-4 years from now there will be those that have no idea that some older drama also released/aired some special episode(s) back then and they might miss it altogether. And it's a pity, not all those so called specials are just recaps (shorter versions of what you have seen already), some of them are really interesting to watch, with extra footage and info about the production.

2. The way I see things, a database such as MDL should always aspire to be as exhaustive as possible. It is here to inform, not to judge. There are plenty of Asian 'junk' productions released, that maybe 99.99% of the MDL users will never look up/add to their PTW lists/view, but they need to be added nevertheless. Why? Because they were released (tv or theaters) anyway and that is what listing means... Who are we to decide that those 0,01% users should not have the opportunity to add to their "completed" list some titles (if they have watched them anyway)? I don't see how adding the info about something that aired on tv can be seen as a waste of space. The tv stations allowed their air time to be used this way, so I guess they must be important after all (otherwise they could have just uploaded on their sites a few videos)...

3. For some people it might be confusing when it comes to the episode count ...
For instance think of 'Descendants of the Sun'... they released 16 eps, then a 2 eps recap special and then 1 ep BTS:
http://mydramalist.com/10904-descendants-of-the-su...
http://mydramalist.com/18523-descendants-of-the-su...
http://mydramalist.com/17441-descendants-of-the-su...
Now, different MDLers use different streaming sites or dl sites. Kissasian has the drama uploaded in 2 parts: the 16 eps and separately, what they call "Descendants of the Sun: Epilogue" with 3 eps. On the other hand Dramacool has a single entry, with the drama listed as having 19 eps. I am one of those people that only watched the drama last month and honestly, unless MDL had them properly listed, I would have thought that Dramacool just uploaded by mistake some episodes more than once... I didn't join the frenzy while it was airing and I had no idea they released 3 extra episodes. So you see, MDL helped me (INFO), it was not at all a waste of time. And that was me watching just a couple of months later, how about those who will be watching this drama in 2020? There really must be clearly recorded somewhere what was aired (ALL of it), even as pure info...

4. What we call "drama specials" Asianwiki lists as "TV movies". And come to think of it, that is mostly correct, as the runtime, production and everything else is similar to a movie (many of them are independent productions, with original plot, cast....not related to any existing drama). The only difference is that the end product is not released in cinemas, but aired on tv instead. So, if you look at things from this perspective, the episodes we are talking about here are better qualified to be called "drama specials" than those other tv movies. It's just that we don't have a different tag for them. Maybe instead of missing correct info added to the database (they DID air, right?), we could just ask Ji-N to add one more tag under "type" (movie, drama, drama special and... ???)

5. These are not some simple fanvids or small BTS videos from youtube. We are talking about properly produced / edited / aired episodes per se. The kind of exclusive extra footage / info that people usually pay for (when buying the original DVDs). If you watched the "God's Gift" special for example, you would know that was almost entirely extra info about the production process, very interesting details (about camera work, CG, the way not even the cast knew who the killer was until the end (they limited the access to such info for everyone except the actor playing the villain). My appreciation for the drama grew even more after watching that special, so again, I don't think it should be dismissed so easily as a "waste of space".

6. When we go crazy about some actor or drama, every tiny bit of extra info/ sound / image related to that person or production feels like a drop of water in a wasteland LOL It sounds to me like a shame to remove anything extra and deprive the MDLers of that bit of info. People get excited even over a 10 min. webdrama if their fav. actor is in it. Why deny them the info about the existence of some original footage / BTS scenes / interviews with their "precioussss"? LOL

7. There is quite a difference between  the BTS, NG small videos we find here and there on the internet and these special episodes that get subbed alongside the drama. Not many users understand /speak the Asian languages, so anything that gets to be properly translated should be treasured, not seen as a waste of space. Is it just me thinking like this?? 

8. Also, about these specials being just a way for people to increase their drama count... that is not exactly something for anyone to decide. For the record, I don't give a damn about how many dramas or drama specials I've seen in general (I just like to know at the end of the year the total count, as a way to evaluate my addiction lol). But I don't think that gives me the right to judge those who DO care about numbers. If having even 1 more title to their list gives them pleasure / satisfaction, who am I to deny them that? Let them be happy, it doesn't cost anything...

9. And lastly, MDL is supposed to be an ongoing project anyway, increasing the title count by the minute. Do we really have to care about a handful of episodes in the greater economy of the site? It's not like they take that much time to submit/approve, nor do they take any actual space... On the other hand if you weight all the benefits I mentioned before, maybe we should just let them be after all? 

Just saying, not trying to contradict anyone. Of course I'll go with whatever Skye decides;) Happy drama watching till then, everyone! ♥

I kept thinking "when have BTS ever been in dramas (and why don't I know it)?" and it didn't register until I read 3 of the names on the list. -.-
(They were definitely NOT in DOTS was my thought. xD)

Anyway, I personally think it's confusing, esp. with the episode counts some websites do. If they were placed under their own tag, I wouldn't mind that (as Geanina said^). I don't think it should be counted as part of the drama count either. But that's just me. I wonder what everyone else thinks! 

Interesting arguments. What about interviews and compilation specials?