Not every unskilled idol is a 'filler member'
I've been seeing a lot of discourse recently surrounding idols people consider to be 'filler members' (a filler member: an idol who doesn't stand out within their group for being particularly good at anything, or contributing much to the group, mostly in comparison to their groupmates) and I have some thoughts on the term:
I don't think that filler members aren't real. I definitely think that there's been instances of idols that clearly didn't add much to their group's image or skillset. However, as with most terms coined by kpop stans (or the internet in general), the label seems to have lost it's meaning.
Personally I've always though that regardless of talent, if a member is popular within the fandom or well-known outside of it, they automatically shouldn't qualify as a filler member. For example, I don't think that Le Sserafim has any filler members because their popularity is evenly distributed and each member caters to a significant portion of their fandom. Sure, there are members who maybe aren't as skilled as others, but no one looks out of place or as if they were added for no good reason.
Just a thought because I've been seeing people drop that nickname left right and center recently (I've even seen the most popular members get called fillers!!??)