Home > Blog > Trivia > Telling the Truth about Ireland
DoChara's Ireland Blog
Random Writings about Ireland and the Irish
Saturday
April 7 2007
Sometimes I Wonder Why I Bother.
Now and again I get an irate email from someone involved in some tourist industry sector in Ireland complaining that this site doesn't say enough (or anything) about their product or service, or that we are not 'promoting' some part of Ireland well enough.
I got three such emails to-day, which is a lot and quite unusual. I am not going to out those who wrote to me, I will at least save them that ignominy. But here is a taste of their gripes.
The first and worst was a short but vitriolic missive objecting to my mention of the fact that Killybegs, a fishing village, smells of fish.
Now I have no problem with someone disagreeing with my opinion or even questioning my sense of smell, but telling me that I obviously know "f*** all about anything" and am "nothing but a stupid smelly b****" well, that jangles my nerves a bit.
Not a good start to the day. I checked in at the forum and sure enough a similarly worded reply to the thread had been posted there. I deleted it. I have your IP by the way if you are reading this, you can't hide behind a throw away email address that easily.
So don't come back. Ever. Thank you.
Next up was Mrs Y, the owner of a B&B, who sent me an email a few weeks back asking me, or more accurately ordering me, quite curtly, to list her premises immediately. I replied politely, pointing out that that what we publish are reviews, not listings, that is is impossible to know or stay everywhere and that perhaps we would get along to check her place out in time.
I heard nothing more, until today. Then in popped a quite nasty reply telling me how much better her place is than any of the places locally that we have reviewed and how crap and doomed to failure my site is for not recommending obviously superior places, like her's.
Well, whatever chance she had of getting a review she sure has blown it now.
The final one was was on a recurring theme - how mean and wrong I am about Killarney. These are regular, have been ever since we published the results of the Best and Worst of Ireland survey over a year ago and the people of Kerry rose up in anger at the merest hint of criticism.
This one told me I had a duty to support the hard work of the tourist industry by not publishing "ignorant and misleading information" about places. It went on and on at length in that vein, but I won't. Yawn.
On one level these kind of emails are kind of depressing, on another they are a vindication of the site's purpose and are very gratifying. DoChara never set out to be a mouthpiece for the Irish tourist industry and we are in the fortunate position of not being beholden to anyone in it.
So, I am happy to state that in my opinion Killybegs sometimes does smell fishy, that some B&B owners need to work on their manners and that Killarney is not unblemished perfection.
I didn't reply to any of the emails.
Comments on "Sometimes I Wonder Why I Bother."
Please note: To prevent spam all comments are moderated. Promotional or advertising comments will not be published. If you want to ask a question or start a discussion rather than post a comment, please so so in the forum. Thank you!
Posted by: Mary
08 Apr 2007, 07:37
Word of encouragement: I'm new to your site, and have enjoyed it. Knowing
you are independent of the tourism industry makes it all the more
enjoyable. Just ignore the nasty people- I spent 20 years in the radio
business and I know firsthand that when you do ANYTHNG in the public eye
you have to put up with mean people whose life's mission is just to...be
mean. Do like the duck does, let it roll of your back. And keep up the good
work!
Posted by: Katherine
09 Apr 2007, 06:38
Thank you, you're right - a duck it is!
Posted by: Pattie
17 Apr 2007, 20:03
I just wanted to say that I enjoy your site. I have been planning my trip
to Ireland since Dec and will be arriving on 4/23. I have found your site
to be very objective and something I use to compare my other findings. I
have even asked my travel agent about a few of the items on your site to
help me plan out my stay. I hope you keep up the good work. As your
website name states you are a "friend" in Ireland!
Posted by: Pat
06 May 2007, 09:40
I just found your site this morning and have spent hours pouring over it -
I LOVE the unbiased advice...don't let the Bas****s get you down!! Stay
true to yourself!
Posted by: GreenHills
22 Jul 2007, 19:47
I think you, and everyone else who has posted a comment is quite right.
Some people just like making trouble for the sake of making trouble. You
would have hoped that people could be decent about their opinions, at
least.
Oh well. I personally LOVE your site.
TrackBacks
Powered By: TrackBackr
