Would you like to say something?

Then please, please feel free to say it. :)


Image by Studio Rhoad taken from here.

Last night in a casual conversation about blogs, I asked Niamh, one of my best friends, why she didn't comment on my blog effort. It's not that I mind at all, I was just curious.

This morning she sent me and Darren an email which reads

'Just thought of another reason why I never comment on blogs. I was thinking about it this morning! Up until very recently, I thought it was only fellow bloggers who commented on each other's blogs like a little circle of friends/bloggers/ nerds whatever :P And that if I commented people would be thinking 'Who's yer one? She doesn't have a blog...'

Andrew, a recent newcomer to the blogosphere has said:

Ireland has a small but lively blogging community at the moment, where a lot of the same names appear as links on different pages, and also as commenters.

which seems to echo Niamh's belief that it's only bloggers commenting on blogs. Is it?

I think it's fairly natural that when writing a blog you'll read others, create personal connections, become a fan or share the same taste in what to post.

As huge as the internet is, there's also just a finite amount of things that we can see, we can post and most of us aren't the "finders" or the stumblers... I tend to see things now only from the newsletters I receive (props to Innocent News for this) and from other people's blogs.

So, for bloggers, what to do? What would make you comment? What would it take? There are certain obstacles to blog comments - the word verification (yes, anti-spam but also a bit offputting, especially if you're sure what you've typed is correct) but also that scary empty box that has your site URL in it - do I have to fill that out? What if I don't? Like Niamh said, will people think Who's yer wan?



Non-commenters - one of my fondest memories of the Blog Awards was when Grannymar thanked the commenters on blogs, highlighting that you are the life-blood of blogs. And it's true - even if you feel you have nothing to contribute to the point, there's no harm in saying good post or great read.

Blogs are written to be read, and I'm sure we're all interested in everyone's feedback, positive, negative, constructive or just bizarre - it gives us a nice feeling when we read that someone's reading our stuff. Because as much as you're just reading things on a screen, we're also just typing into a box on the other side.



And we'd like to get to know you :) As I keep on saying, feel free to say hello :)

Sometimes it's okay to say hello

I like Dublin. I like meeting people and I like seeing new things. I love the art that's there - often it's not recognised (and I'll blog about that later) but sometimes the things you find are a little special.

Do you - if you spend much time in Dublin city centre - recognise this man?



His name is Paul. He's 29 - same age as me. He knows some of the same people I do - he talks to my friend Pat a lot. He doesn't like the rain, but has a good attitude to taking the good with the bad.

Not many people talk to Paul. Yet they know his art. They'll stop and look, and sometimes take pictures. When they see Paul he looks like this:



Paul is drawing for a living. He's homeless, and rather than just beg, he writes and illustrates his poem at the end of Grafton Street beside the Molly Malone or sometimes near O' Connell Bridge.



Sometimes he'll just be finished and it will rain, or skangers will try to vandalise it or the guards will move him on before he finishes.

And if he does finish, people will come up. Some will donate, some will just take photos and move on. Many don't say a word.

That can't be easy.

So even if I don't have change or much time, I try to stop and say hello. He's a nice guy and he's very talented. He was very open to me taking these photos and talking to him. He said that he likes to talk to people, when they talk to him.



It made me think of this song, something we learned in 5th class. One of those songs I still know off by heart.