Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Comment button via Shutterstock

The 10 most popular comments on TheJournal.ie in 2013

From drink-driving in Kerry to Bertie Ahern getting attacked, here are the comments which got the most thumbs up from other readers this year.

INTERNET COMMENTERS CAN get a bad rap sometimes.

However they play a big part here on TheJournal.ie, helping to make the site what it is. Every day several thousand comments are left on the site, shaping the discussion and kickstarting some lively debates (and despite what some commenters might believe, only a tiny number ever have to be deleted…).

We’ve compiled a list of the 10 comments which received the most thumbs up from other readers this year. As you might expect, many of the most popular comments were among the first posts on a breaking news story, expressing what many people felt about an issue. Some were funny, some insightful and some were sympathetic.

So here’s the 10 comments with the most thumbs up this year (all thumb figures correct as of 20 December). And before you ask – no, we’re not going to do a list of the comments which received the most thumbs down. That would be too cruel.

1. Caitriona Lowry got 3,889 thumbs up on the tragic discovery of the body of 65-year-old Peggy Mangan, who was found in Ballymun with her dog by her side, four days after she went missing from her Dublin home:

…so heartbroken for the family… It was so touching to hear her little doggie stayed by her side; not easy for a dog for 4 days with no food! She must have been a wonderful owner and lady. RIP

image

2. There wasn’t a whole lot of sympathy among commenters after former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was attacked by a man with a crutch in a Dublin pub. Liam got 2,853 thumbs up:

Is the crutch okay?

image

3. Andrea Rock Massey got 2,819 thumbs up after a gunman made an attempted hit on the life of criminal John Gilligan in a Dublin pub:

I think this was just an attempt by Gilligan to have Garda protection awarded to him. Never before has the gunman walked into a pub shouting the name of the person they were there to shoot. They typically seem to know exactly where the intended “victim” is sitting. Never mind going into a completely different pub for God’s sake! This has set up written all over it.

image

4. Stone.walled got 2,610 thumbs up after Bus Éireann passengers were reportedly terrorised by a rowdy group of people who threw urine around the coach.

It’s the bus drivers responsibility for his passengers.

All he had to do was ring the guards on the quiet and have them meet the bus at the next town.

image

5. Ollie O Sullivan got 2,532 thumbs up (and no thumbs down) after a British soldier was killed in a machete attack on a London street in May:

Honestly folks unless ye have something decent to say on a matter as serious as this say nothing at all, the world has turned into a place full of hatred and people looking for attention posting serious sh#t just to get a few likes and dislike

image

6. Lára de Siúin got 2,457 thumbs up on the article about the photograph of a young man and woman engaged in a sex act at the Eminem concert at Slane which was shared across social networking sites:

I’m cringing thinking about how mortified she must be feeling… Imagine your parents being shown that photo of you!

image

7. Brian O’Rourke got 2,452 thumbs up on how media around the world reacted to the story of Kerry County Council voting for a plan which would allow rural drivers to have ‘two or three drinks’.

This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious

image

8. The Cynic got 2,368 thumbs up after inmates at Mountjoy Prison poured water and sugar down the throat of the man who killed 16-year-old Melanie McCarthy McNamara

Two wrongs?

What on earth is wrong with the commenters here? This guy is a drug addict and gang member, who killed another drug gang member. All involved known to gardai. She was due to marry the intended victim (another drug gang member) in a few days, and was sitting in his car with him. While she wasn’t the intended victim that day, she was not exactly walking past with no links to this criminal whatsoever.

And now someone else in a drug gang has paid to kill this man in prison.

Neither the girl, nor this guy should be dead. It is not improving matters to keep killing, one after another. What happens next, this guys family take out a hit on whoever murders him, perhaps in his daughters name? And yet another bystander gets hurt.

I fail to see how perpetuating this kind of barbarism helps our crime problem in this country.

image

9. Seamus Mac Cormac Finishline got 2,314 thumbs up after the body of 20-year-old Irish student Davin Harrison was recovered from a US river in August after he got into trouble while rafting with friends:

God bless him and family ,I’m from donegal ,I’m in newyork if there is anything I can do to help ,I’m close to JFK too if any one needs a lift ,sorry to hear stuff like this :(.

image

10. Marie Louise Ni Riain got 2,307 thumbs up after former Priory Hall resident Stephanie Meehan wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to intervene in the doomed development after her partner took his own life:

So sad, absolute disgrace

image

(Photos: Garda Press Office, Niall Carson/PA Wire, Niall Carson/PA Wire, Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland, John Giles/PA Wire, Julien Behal/PA Wire, Gawker.com, Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland, Facebook, Photocall Ireland)

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
32 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Casey
    Favourite Pat Casey
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 8:10 AM

    A big thank you to the ESB crews out there working in atrocious conditions to get power reconnected around the country.

    594
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 2:19 PM

    @Pat Casey: definitely. but powercheck just said my house has gone from the power due back at 12.30pm to 10pm hope they get it on a bit sooner !

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barty
    Favourite Barty
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 8:20 AM

    Strongest winds out of the three storms goes to Franklin.

    216
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gabriel Holmes
    Favourite Gabriel Holmes
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 8:32 AM

    @Barty: Depends on were you are.

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute saoirse janneau
    Favourite saoirse janneau
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 8:34 AM

    @Barty: definitely. Wind from the NW is the new norm.

    30
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 11:39 AM

    @Gabriel Holmes: nope, highest recorded mean wind speeds were higher at 107kmh for mace head vs 93kmh roches point for eunice.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe_X
    Favourite Joe_X
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 2:53 PM

    @Barty: definitely but were Met Eireann caught on the hop? We seemed to have a couple days notice Dudley and Eunice, but there seemed to be no mention of Franklin until after it had made landfall! Was it how it did not affect the east coast or what that they took their eyes off the ball!

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shane Fleming
    Favourite Shane Fleming
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 8:05 PM

    @Barty: Not in Kerry it wasn’t. Friday morning was absolutely horrendous.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Locutus Of Borg
    Favourite Locutus Of Borg
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 1:43 PM

    A big shout out to those poor souls relying on electric heat pumps to heat their homes. It must be freezing with no power

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Byrne
    Favourite Darren Byrne
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 2:56 PM

    @Locutus Of Borg: I’d imagine any system that is relying on a pump to push hot water around the radiators in a house is going to have a problem.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Reuben Gray
    Favourite Reuben Gray
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 3:01 PM

    @Locutus Of Borg: As opposed to a gas boiler which requires no electricity at all and runs on magic?

    21
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Locutus Of Borg
    Favourite Locutus Of Borg
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 3:28 PM

    @Reuben Gray: well I was thinking more along the lines of those who built houses last year or had houses builtl for them and were denied the opportunity to put in a chimney to allow for the use of a stove or open fire so as to at least have a fire to sit around when the inevitable power outages do happen

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Quiet Goer
    Favourite Quiet Goer
    Report
    Feb 21st 2022, 3:15 PM

    Global warming

    3
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds