Apparently, GD and Taeyeon were rumoured to be dating, after netizens allowed the blind story from a gossip site to get a little out of control.  ("Blind stories", for those that don't know, are the ones that read like "A is dating B, but B secretly likes C.  C can't stand B or A and is actually in a secret relationship with an olympic sized swimming pool full of chocolate fondue sauce, which is ironic, because C is allergic to cocoa.")

Ok, it's just the first sentence.  The rest was just added out of boredom.

Whilst it isn't good to have rumours going around about your personal life, we do, as a species, tend to do it a lot.  Anonymous rumours pre-date the internet.  They probably predate social constructs such as "community groups" or "schools".  We also, as a species, tend to champion some form of justice and reparation, from prison sentences to grounding to being fired to the death penalty.  Which made this sentence a little concerning .....

"After being traced, netizens expressed their worry to be held responsible for the blind item that got out of hand online."

Which translates as follows:

"After their identities were discovered, netizens wanted to avoid responsibility for making the rumours and allowing it to spiral out of control based on a 'blind item' on a gossip site."

Or, to further (grossly) simplify it:

"Once they were rumbled, netizens panicked and screamed 'please don't punish me for this, it wasn't my fault!'"

What the actual f***?  First of all, to those that started the rumours, why didn't you carry it on?  Why did you feel the need to hide your identity?  If it's something you were so certain about, why didn't you take ownership over it?  Secondly, following on from this, if you're going to shirk responsibility like this, or worry that you will face any kind of repurcussion because of something you've said, then maybe you ought not to have said it in the first place.  And you maybe ought to consider your overall position if you find yourself wanting to hide your culpability in something as relatively benign as "dating rumours".  Compared to a great many things, saying "such-and-such a person is dating such-and-such a person" is a non-entity.  It causes problems for idols because, on some level, they want to maintain some semblance of privacy, but saying that they are dating does not destroy lives.  Compared to, say, breaking someone's legs with a crowbar, posting dating rumours online is nothing, and if you can't accept responsibility for that, then you dear friend will face a lot of problems when it comes time to accepting responsibility for things that directly matter to you.

That's not to say to people, "go ahead and post rumours about people online".  If Taeyeon and GD are indeed dating (and I do mean "IF"), then it should be their decision to come clean on that, not yours.  Their hands should not be forced because of some rumours that are being spread online.  They shouldn't be made to say "Actually, yes we are dating" because some netizens decided to stick their nose in something that was absolutely none of their business.  If they are dating and want to keep it between them, that is their decision.  I have never understood society's obsession with celebrity lifestyle, from articles in magazines to Celebrity Big Brother.  I just do not get it, and what baffles me more is how we act indignant when a celebrity turns around and say "I want privacy on this topic" and we post comments or say things that basically go like "Well, if you want privacy, then maybe you shouldn't be famours becasue we own your life now!"  Just ... no, ok?  No.  Nobody but you owns, controls or dictates your life.  We have no right to own, control or dictate anyone elses, or even attempt to.  But, if you do something that someone else doesn't like, you had better take responsibility for that, because you're the one that did it.  It annoys me so much when people don't take ownership of their actions.  We seem to avoid bad things that we've done like the plague, and then seem to want to be involved with good things that other people have done and want to have a piece of that pie.  If the reason you're avoiding responsibility for the bad things is because you don't want to deal with the consequences, then call me simple, naive, too innocent and stupid, but maybe, you know, don't do the bad stuff in the first place!