horrible trolls giving the thumbs down on that comment, i hope for their sake they never have to go through the same kind of loss, R.I.P young man

agreed, nasty beggars

There’s a discussion about red thumbs further down this thread and how a lot of people do it accidentally while scrolling on the app, but I’m going to ask that if anyone has any queries or issues about red thumbs that they throw me an email (christine@thejournal.ie) rather than discuss it at the top of this thread. Obviously it’s an issue we’re looking into but this thread is not the best place for it. So far the comments have almost unanimously been expressing sadness and sympathy over what happened and we’d like to keep it that way rather than dragging it off-topic into a discussion about thumbs because really, this isn’t the time or place for it.

Hope that makes sense.

For crying out loud nasty peasant and stacey … do ye not realise that people have obviously hit the red thumb symbol in error. It is easily done. Do ye really think that anyone would red thumb a RIP comment regarding the death of a young man?

Rest In Peace Cormac and may God bless you.

My thoughts & prayers are with his family. This is a horrible thing to happen to such a young person.

So sad rip

for those of you with the red thumbs . you should be ashamed i wrote how i felt and it is immoral of you to not like what i said because i care he is gone . he did not deserve this so get ur stinking brains working or get lost

Listen my friend, this is social media, red thumbs are nothing, its the bullying online I worry about driving these young people to this hopelessness and dispair, God help our society.

On the mobile app it is incredibly easy to give a red thumb by mistake while scrolling. I’ve done it myself a few tomes before. Please sort it out journal.ie (a simple ‘are you sure?’ Dialog would do it).

On the mobile app it is incredibly easy to give a red thumb by mistake while scrolling – you often aren’t even aware it has happened. I’ve done it myself a few times before. Please sort it out journal.ie (a simple ‘are you sure?’ Dialog would do it).

Just move the thumbs to the left hand side. Pain for lefties I know but it should help.

The issue with the red thumbs comes up every single time we run a tragic story such as this one where there is no obvious reason why anyone would red thumb any comment in the thread. We suspect – but obviously can’t be 100 per cent sure – that sometimes people hit the red thumb button by accident when reading on the app, as Stacks mentioned, and are then unable to undo it. On most other stories it wouldn’t matter much but obviously it has more of an impact on comments in a thread like this one.

We’re looking at a couple of options on how best to resolve this – it may mean readers have the option to undo a thumbs up/down, for example – but just wanted to post here so people know that we are aware of the effect it can have in a thread like this and we are trying to fix it.

Wher does it say it had anything to do with bullying??

I have experienced bullying from a lecturer it’s not only children who bully. This behaviour is learned from adults

Why?

Then why did you comment on it?

Keith, we open comment threads beneath every article unless there are legal issues or another serious reason not to. We trust the readers to be responsible and follow the comments policy when posting on a story such as this one – and if you actually read through the comments here, you’ll see that every single one so far is expressing sadness at what happened and extending sympathies to the family and friends of Cormac.

But Christine who would post a negative comment? I agree with Keith

But no-one has posted a negative comment, Paul. We monitor comment threads and we act – either by deleting or intervening in the thread – if a problematic comment is brought to our attention. So far not a single comment has been removed from this thread.

On an aside: I don’t think this is the best place to be having this discussion because it’s dragging the thread somewhat off-topic. We’ve been talking a bit in the newsroom about having a specificthread to talk about comments and moderation so I’ll see if that’s something we can do in the near future because it would be a good place to have discussions like this one.

Christine is right. This is a sort of a form of a book of condolences. Most people are good and stories like this do affect them. It is a way to put your hand up and express your sorrow. I dont know if the families, friends or relatives of those involved in these heartbreaking situations ever take a look at any time (if they even know these places exist) but I would like to think that this could be of some comfort in some way. That so many are with thm – even if its just for a moment.

There will always be the smartasses and anon trolls, but the good will someday just pass these useless gits by, ignore them and find that they will have gone away.

Now explain “immoral” in this context.

Paul, you explained it much better than I did. That’s exactly it.

Sorry Paul but to think that the family are going to log on here is utter madness. I have no problem with it being reported in the News but to comment on it is wrong. There is nothing to comment, reading 50 RIPs does nothing for the family or the reader of the story. That my opinion and its something thats irked me for some time.

Keith, who originally posed the question seems to me to have split the readers nearly down the middle so we are not alone in thinking its tasteless.

simply put, there is nothing to ‘discuss’. it is tragic. the thought that i might die and there be a comment section with flippant comment and red thumbs gives me existential fear.

The only comments here that go beyond expressing their sympathies are those who don’t seem to understand (despite it being widely mentioned in this and other comment sections) that people can often accidentally hit the red thumb button on the mobile app which is easy to do.

Some even seem to have a problem with people expressing sympathies. That I don’t understand….

IMO these stories should be followed up, given enough time. There is far too little talk about what goes on in these situations – far too much silence.

A very sad loss, I hope his family can come to terms with the tragedy with time.