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Why do people leave comments on OpenBenches?

I'm still a believer in the promise of Web 2.0. The idea that giving people a curated space to chat produces tiny sparks of magic.

My wife Liz and I have been running the OpenBenches project for about 8 years - it's a crowd-sourced repository of memorial benches. People take a geotagged photo of a bench's plaque, upload it to our site, and we share it with the world. Might sound a bit niche, but we have around thirty-nine thousand benches catalogued from all over the world.

From the start, we had a comment form under each bench. Of course, we pre-moderate any comments. That helps with our Online Safety Act obligations and prevents spam from being published. We don't collect any personal data, to reduce our GDPR exposure. Our comments are self-hosted using the excellent Commentics - which means we don't send people's data off to a 3rd party.

We thought that this would be used to tell us that an inscription was wrong, or if a bench had moved, or something like that.

We were completely wrong!

People use OpenBenches comments for all sorts of things. Of course, there are a few which provide details about the bench itself:

This bench was removed after the river flooded and majorly eroded the bank earlier this year (spring 2025), and now two new benches are in approximately the same place but a little further back from the river.

Other provide a little context about the person: She competed under her birth name, Zsuzsa Nádor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zsuzsa_Nádor There's a Wikipedia article about Roman, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Halter

But those sorts of comments are hardly the majority. The comments break down (roughly) into these categories:

I want to know more about this person

I am the grandson of Janet Constance Hardie, who had a sister Ethel Hardie. Ethel Hardie married Harry Macinnes and then died in 1961. Ethel and Harry had a daughter named Ethel Elvery Macinnes. Is the Ethel Hardie, who is remembered on this bench related to the above Hardies of my family ? Best Regards, Neil Rowlandson

Sounds like she was an inspirational woman. Clearly gone to soon. Sat on her bench today whilst visiting from Devon.

Thank you for putting a bench here

A peaceful spot on the banks of the river Orwell. Thanks for those that funded it.

This has moved me

I'm sat on the bench now i didn't know the lady but so sad to pass at such a young age by what i have found on the internet she was liked loved and respected my thoughts with all the family even though it's been almost 4 years since her I'm sure she will never be forgotten. Someone has placed a bunch of yellow flowers on the bench that is what first made me stop and look RIP Amy

My heart has broken

I love you. I miss you. I so long to see you.

Mary was my best friend, from primary school until she died. I have not visited her bench but hope those who sit there in that beautiful place will also have experienced wonderful friendships as I did.

Thank you for adding a photo

This is my father’s memorial bench on half penny pier thank you to the person who took the photos x

I don't know the person this bench commemorates, but I want to let them know they're still loved and remembered

My mum and her girlfriends sat on the bench today and told your father stories about how they were visiting this place many decades ago. They hope your father was listening. All the best to you

That's nice

Hundreds of people sharing connections. Wanting to express their feelings. Understanding the terrible pain of loss and the hope that, someday, someone will think fondly of us.

You can view all the comments on OpenBenches.org.