If you have spent time browsing the idol profiles, you’ve likely noticed a problem, low quality photos and gaps in group photos. Let me be upfront on why this happens, because it is often something outside of my power.
I feel like every idol, no matter how big or small, meant something to someone, and their work likely also meant something to them. Therefore I believe these moments should be remembered, we should be able to find evidence that that idol did exist, that maybe it was fleeting, but it mattered. There are a few reasons an image might be missing or low quality.
The most straightforward one is simply that high-quality photos were never made. Smaller groups in their early years rarely had professional promotional shoots. What existed was shot on phone cameras at live events, printed in fan-made pamphlets, or posted to blogs and platforms that no longer exist. What survives is often all there ever was.
But sometimes photos of these groups do exist, and I still can't use them. I reach out to fans and photographers who documented these groups, and some say no. Recently I received a reply that made me think:
"Considering that the photos are from nearly 10 years ago and that the members have already graduated, Therefore I see no reason to share them" paraphrased — a fan photographer, 2026
I respect the decision, even if I find the reasoning hard to accept. The idea that a photo matters less because it's old, that a group becomes less worth documenting once the members have moved on, is precisely the logic that causes idol history, or any history for that matter, to quietly disappear. Without preserving these materials, parts of a group’s early history can go nonexistent, even if they mattered deeply at the time. These moments were meaningful to someone, and they are part of what the group once was.
Some fans prefer to let the past stay in the past. I respect that. However Oshidoki partly exists for the opposite reason: the belief that someone who meant something to someone deserves a record. That a group that only ran for two years still happened, still mattered, and still belongs in an archive.
So when you see a gap, that's what is going on.
If you have photos, flyers, scans, or any documentation of groups in the archive and are willing to share them, I'd love to hear from you.