That's me in the Examiner, mourning Irish Twitter: www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm... - ThreadSky

jennybarnacles.bsky.social•528 days ago

Hup TG4! ❤️ Deas thú a fheiceál anseo a Dharach! 👋 @tg4.bsky.social

reply

beirners.bsky.social•530 days ago

Gorgeous piece, though sad that the mass blocking of Irish Twitter by the Celtic Films man didn't make it in.

reply

malachymckeever.bsky.social•529 days ago

Or the ETERNAL quest to find somebody who Rory Cowan DIDN'T have blocked 😅

reply

beirners.bsky.social•529 days ago

And the HURT of people discovering they hadn't been blocked and wondering why they'd been left back and what they'd have to do.

reply

jessterraformearth.bsky.social•530 days ago

I heard that to the tune of Losing My Religion... 😎

reply

rositadubh.bsky.social•530 days ago

I'll never forget #hometovote. It was the first campaign I ever worked on. First time going door to door cavassing. #Hometovote was just beautiful. Lovely piece summing up all that Irish Twitter gave to us. Could there be a Spéir Ghorm?

reply

chipdaley.bsky.social•530 days ago

Good times.

reply

fhayesmccoy.bsky.social•530 days ago

Absolutely spot-on. 💚 Mo cheol thú.

reply

naomiohreally.bsky.social•530 days ago

Lovely piece Darach. I fondly remember the roasting delivered to Paul Ryan's horrible pint. The changes to Twitter have deliberately broken the meritocratic way it once allowed good content to reach a wide audience, which was its strength. I can think of serious examples as well as the funny ones.

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Thank you Naomi! If they tried to do #hometovote or even #hometoride now, people's lives would literally be in danger. And no other SM platform has that problem on that scale, this demise was preventable.

reply

naomiohreally.bsky.social•529 days ago

That's gutting to think about

reply

ickletayto.bsky.social•529 days ago

Ah that's lovely Darach.

reply

darach.bsky.social•529 days ago

Thank you - it's lovely to see such a positive reaction!

reply

ickletayto.bsky.social•529 days ago

I'm glad we had it while we did but I'm very sad we lost it.

reply

marionmcgarry.bsky.social•530 days ago

Can’t believe #sneachta didn’t get a mention 😂

reply

marionmcgarry.bsky.social•530 days ago

A thousand apologies for accusing you of omitting the #sneachta @darach.bsky.social 😭😭😭

reply

catherinecrichton.bsky.social•530 days ago

It did!

reply

marionmcgarry.bsky.social•530 days ago

Ah I completely missed that 😭

reply

genesisnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

I love this. I wasn't part of Irish Twitter, but I can see it had many parallels with NZ Twitter. Kiwis are now reaching critical mass on Bluesky so maybe this can be similar, and for Irish too.

reply

loosewheelnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

And because you mentioned NZ and kiwi, this has shown up in our very own ‘Kikorangi’ feed. Agree we’re definitely reaching critical mass in here and seems there’s some familiar ground between Irish and Aotearoa twitter. And both seem to be for the good of what SM can be

reply

genesisnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

I love the Kikorangi feed. It has helped me to connect with so many Kiwi Twitter refugees this past few days!

reply

chelseaman.bsky.social•530 days ago

I'm a kiwi in Australia. I'm gonna have to look that up

reply

toastchanges.com•530 days ago

Be careful what you ask for though. As soon as you mention anything about us, we come flocking, chattering, pecking, curious, and muscling in to take over the room.

We did this back on the hellsite, but here there is literally a mechanism to set out Aotearoa bait. Here NZ NZ NZ!

reply

raevennz.bsky.social•530 days ago

Flocking?
Ssssshhhh
We don’t want to encourage baaa-aaad sheep jokes!

reply

chelseaman.bsky.social•530 days ago

Why I live in Melbourne 😄

reply

thoughtfulnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

reply

loosewheelnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

🤣🤣

reply

kevdaly.bsky.social•530 days ago

We're ok so long as we resist the urge to ask people what they think of our beautiful country... you know, like we do when they get off the plane 😂

reply

kategevans.bsky.social•530 days ago

How do I find this? Still figuring this new app out!

reply

loosewheelnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

Go to the settings cog top right. It will bring up a feeds list. There you can search for the feeds and pin what you want. Screen shot shows my pinned feeds as well as a couple of others

reply

kategevans.bsky.social•530 days ago

Ooh thanks heaps!

reply

loosewheelnz.bsky.social•530 days ago

Tis great isn’t it 😊

reply

beebsymca.bsky.social•63 days ago

I love this Darach. So reflective of my own experience. Life-changing!
Ah what a time.

reply

beebsymca.bsky.social•530 days ago

Ah Darach, lovely piece. You and I know what Twitter could do. It's bittersweet to be reminded of that 💚

reply

kathleenlenihan.bsky.social•530 days ago

Wonderful piece. As an American with Irish ancestry, I loved Irish Twitter. I've read books & articles about my grandparent's and great-grandparent's Ireland, but Irish Twitter taught me about the Ireland of today. For example, I learned that people from Cork love to talk about being from Cork.

reply

rnrsavedmysoul.bsky.social•529 days ago

👑 a fitting tribute

reply

geraldineishere.bsky.social•530 days ago

Really lovely piece Darach 💛

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

GRMA 💚

reply

katebielinski.bsky.social•530 days ago

Love it. There’s so much to dislike about Twitter esp in Musky’s era but “Irish Twitter” was something very special.

reply

mairelogue.bsky.social•529 days ago

Wonderful piece Darach, the good auld days. Delighted that TG4 got a mention, they are the star makers of Twitter.

reply

neady.bsky.social•530 days ago

I remember watching The Tourist with Jamie Dornan and not being able to get past the fact that Irish twitter would have found out who this eejit in Australia who'd lost his memory was in five minutes

reply

neady.bsky.social•530 days ago

Am I supposed to read this like REM Losing My Religion? Cause I did 🙈

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

You are!

reply

rebelalliance77.bsky.social•530 days ago

NB is this cos REM broke up 12 years ago today?
I miss them. We didn’t deserve em

reply

neady.bsky.social•530 days ago

Total coincidence for me!

reply

ianwinick.bsky.social•529 days ago

Nice article, Darach. Particularly enjoyed the "hair and fingernails growing on a corpse"!

reply

pamelaweaver.bsky.social•529 days ago

All-time great.

reply

pamelaweaver.bsky.social•529 days ago

And not forgetting Miggledy and "Repealers can call me Louise." Great article, loving all the memories people are sharing :-)

reply

lilyramirezforan.bsky.social•530 days ago

Lovely piece Darach. I will miss the community that was Irish twitter 😞 so many great friendships that went from virtual to real over the years.

reply

ciarabelles.bsky.social•529 days ago

This made me nostalgic for all the bits of Irish twitter I loved. Was like walking along a road of little memories of the last decade. ❤️

reply

oisinbreen.bsky.social•530 days ago

Ah Mary and the ket...

reply

meabh.gay•530 days ago

jesus, the "republican socialist pub" tweet had me in stitches - thank you for reminding me of that

reply

piecingtogether.substack.com•530 days ago

This is so lovely. Perfect echoes the sentiments of both active Irish twitter heads, and more casual observers (like myself)

reply

donohoe.dev•530 days ago

“And while “X” may continue to exist for some time like hair and fingernails growing on a corpse…” - vivid imagery. You nailed it.

reply

rebelalliance77.bsky.social•530 days ago

This too. Repeal and marriage equality would never have happened without activism on twitter and Facebook

reply

crashtesthuman.bsky.social•530 days ago

Irish Twitter did more to help me assimilate after we moved here than any other thing. Not the historical society, the heritage group, language classes (I'm awful), readings, or university. I've been mourning the loss for weeks now. But! More are showing up here, so I'm hopeful.

reply

annicha.bsky.social•63 days ago

Irish Twitter was really something. So many laughs and such a strong community. #repealthe8th was an especially strong moment that was amazing to watch from afar.

reply

geekerynz.bsky.social•530 days ago

“And while “X” may continue to exist for some time like hair and fingernails growing on a corpse, the recent exodus feels like an ending.” Great article, shows clearly how much has been lost.

reply

gothcaptain.bsky.social•530 days ago

So much lost. The Irish nicknames and fashion threads were comedy gold.

reply

katwithsword.bsky.social•530 days ago

Even just seeing its edges, I loved Irish Twitter. Lovely piece.

reply

charlieconnelly.bsky.social•530 days ago

Paul Cunningham’s hat that he ended up auctioning for charity, the lad who slipped on the ice, the Crystal Swing phenomenon. Good times.

reply

neady.bsky.social•530 days ago

Did we ever find out who the splipped-on-ice man was? Cause I don't believe that Irish twitter couldn't have found that out!

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

I'm told he is a Brazilian gentleman who has since returned to his homeland.

reply

rebelalliance77.bsky.social•530 days ago

There was a plaque on the wall commemorating the event (some beer company paid for it I think) dunno if the wall is even still there I will check

reply

entospace.bsky.social•529 days ago

Here's a recent picture of him... 👀

Sorry, I'll get my coat!

reply

marieboran.bsky.social•530 days ago

Thanks Darach for the beautifully written whistle stop tour of Irish Twitter. Good times were had. God I hope as much as possible is being archived. A rich source of Irish cultural (soon to be) history.

reply

bridgetpee.bsky.social•529 days ago

Sounds very much like what’s happening over here on NZ twitter 🥝

reply

marymc.bsky.social•530 days ago

Great piece.

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Thank you Mary!

reply

marymc.bsky.social•530 days ago

You expressed, so well, what it was to enjoy the community when it was one.

reply

fionamc.bsky.social•530 days ago

Gorgeous piece Darach. I'm excited to see what might spring up here in the skies.

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Thank you Fiona! Delighted you liked it, I've been a fan of your writing for ages 🙂

I'm cautiously optimistic that our passion, weirdness and mischief will find a new home.

reply

gaelgigolo69.bsky.social•530 days ago

I made a twitter account way back in the early days around 2012 and never really used it any meaningful capacity until around 2021. Despite having not ever talked to some of the people I found Irish twitter to be so welcoming, friendly and funny and it just felt like talking with all my friends

reply

kweenmedb.bsky.social•63 days ago

yeah, i used twitter as a portal to irish craic from abroad

reply

cristinleach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Do you think we could call it GreenSky over here SpéirGlas…

reply

claireissimo.bsky.social•530 days ago

I've been wondering about this very thing, but hadn't come up with anything yet!

reply

claireissimo.bsky.social•530 days ago

I'm thinking #IrishSky just.

reply

cristinleach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Or… Skéire? 😄

reply

mairelogue.bsky.social•529 days ago

Skéire 💥

reply

betaburns.bsky.social•529 days ago

SpÉire even

reply

darylfeehely.com•530 days ago

A fitting eulogy 😥 maith thú

reply

vonny.bsky.social•530 days ago

The lidl middle aisle thread was a scream.

reply

irokie.bsky.social•529 days ago

There's some of those classic Twitter threads that I somehow missed. ;_;

reply

fiercemilder.com•529 days ago

This is some fine quality melancholia. Makes me regret only getting properly involved on Twitter during lockdown, my account was almost unused for years beforehand, so I missed out on the first half of the Irish Twitter phenomenon.

reply

guylejeune.bsky.social•530 days ago

Nice one.

reply

colz.bsky.social•530 days ago

Sang this post in the style of REM

reply

jessterraformearth.bsky.social•530 days ago

Oh snap! See above.

reply

darach.bsky.social•530 days ago

Well I'm glad SOMEBODY got that! Thank you!

reply

erislovesmovies.bsky.social•529 days ago

I got it, I just didn't say it because I thought it would be obvious to everyone!

reply

sandraduffy.bsky.social•529 days ago

I thought that I heard you tweeting
I thought that I saw you tag
I think I thought I saw you like

reply

colz.bsky.social•529 days ago

Consider this

reply

sandraduffy.bsky.social•529 days ago

The tweet of the century
Consider this, the slip
That brought me to my knees, #sneachta

reply

colz.bsky.social•530 days ago

👊

reply

betaburns.bsky.social•530 days ago

Gorgeous writing. I'll never forget the absolute high from the rush of responses to #KnowYourRepealers. We'd never have started Tipp for Choice or found courage to canvass without Twitter. So much lost.

reply

macros42.bsky.social•530 days ago

That brings back such good memories

reply

tonygroves.bsky.social•530 days ago

Yup the Flats!

reply

unlikelypython.bsky.social•529 days ago

I read this to the tune of “Losing My Religion”

reply

wyl.bsky.social•530 days ago

Is this the rallying cry to set up an Irish bskyer crew? 😉

reply

colesirl.bsky.social•530 days ago

A great read.

reply

amaz3r.bsky.social•530 days ago

Twitter was everywhere “revolutionary”. Now that’s no more. Elon has finally stubbed it to death 😣

reply

anngetty.bsky.social•530 days ago

I was mostly on the outside looking in, but Irish Twitter was always good craic.

reply

malachymckeever.bsky.social•529 days ago

An eloquent obituary, but all good things come to an end. I'm very encouraged by this place so far though and it is definitely going to be hilarious and great craic at all times no matter what forever!!

reply

kweenmedb.bsky.social•63 days ago

underrated losing my religion lyric