Suicide

[Shell B]

You're missing his point though. People don't ask questions like this to gain information, nor are they meant to be threats.

I'm not missing his point. I'm failing to realize why he thinks that every mention of the s word should set off alarm bells.

They can be thinly veiled efforts to see if someone, anyone out there will listen. Saying one should gain sympathy through conversation is assuming that anyone considering suicide is thinking rationally, which most of the time they are not. Sometimes people contemplating suicide just want to know someone is listening.

Yes, but a person ready to actually commit suicide is not talking, they are doing. It is a sad fact. Yes, a person can be talked into or out of it, but the behavior in this thread by no means suggested the op should commit suicide, so there is no blame to place. Yet . . . someone's placing blame for something we don't even know is a concern.

Not to mention the fact that it was his point. He stated clearly that he "knew someone" who was looking for suicide options online precisely like this.

P.S. I did say I was listening and posted information on anonymous people who can listen. What else are we supposed to do?

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The point was not the dog itself, it was the knowledge that it, which I love, would likely be lonely and afraid if I was to die for any reason. I thought that was fairly obvious. For your information, I'm now on medication and classified as clinically depressed despite your ignorant claims to the contrary, so stfu.

Bully for you. You should know what it is like then. I'm happy that in your version of clinically depressed, caring for a dog is possible.

Assuming of course that you actually were serious when posting.

Serious about what? He didn't say he was going to commit suicide. Are we reading the same damn OP?

[Faith No More]

I'm not missing his point. I'm failing to realize why he thinks that every mention of the s word should set off alarm bells.

Sorry Shell, but I was actually talking to Raphiel, not you. Your post inbetween hadn't shown up when I posted so I had to go back and edit his quote into my post to show who I was talking to.

The thing is that suicide is not something that just pops into people's heads making them determined to do it. There are intermediary steps of contemplation which posts like this one can be an indicator of. Sometimes a person is not ready to commit suicide, but they don't feel like they can stop themselves. Therefore they throw out indicators such as this to see if someone will stop them.

I'm not saying that we need to freak out and call the police or anything, but R-e-n-n-a-n-t is raising valid points.

[Shell B]

The thing is that suicide is not something that just pops into people's heads making them determined to do it.

It can be. Google "intrusive thoughts." Those are quite fun.

There are intermediary steps of contemplation which posts like this one can be an indicator of. Sometimes a person is not ready to commit suicide, but they don't feel like they can stop themselves. Therefore they throw out indicators such as this to see if someone will stop them.

Sure, but the people in this thread are not required to do anything. Furthermore, the OP did not indicate that there was anything to do. Without something more specific, people can't just make assumptions. My issue was with the internet police. People answered a question. The OP did not say, "I am thinking of killing myself. How should I do it?"

I'm not saying that we need to freak out and call the police or anything, but R-e-n-n-a-n-t is raising valid points.

Would be, could be valid points. Not necessarily valid to this situation. Jumping to a conclusion and then admonishing people based on that conclusion is not exactly genius.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

how would one go about it?

Firstly, the following response assumes that you've considered suicide, and it's entirely possible that you haven't. However, if you have, you should know that no method derived from household items is going to be painless, and any children or parents would at least partially blame themselves for your suicide.

As an atheist, you know that there's nothing after death. Even sinking as low as possible in life would be preferable to a complete, final, end. Even if you feel that it would not be the case now, within a week I have no doubt that you'll be glad you decided not to kill yourself, and it's within your power to change almost any part of your life.

Take small steps, nothing needs to come suddenly. You can start by sleeping on a decision, nothing huge will have changed by tomorrow, but you can find out whether you'll think better of any decision.

[Faith No More]

Sure, but the people in this thread are not required to do anything. Furthermore, the OP did not indicate that there was anything to do. Without something more specific, people can't just make assumptions. My issue was with the internet police. People answered a question. The OP did not say, "I am thinking of killing myself. How should I do it?"

If everyone who considered suicide said the phrase, "I am thinking of killing myself," this wouldn't be an issue, but many people will not explicitly state that yet will hint at it hoping others will notice. This is also one of the cases where it is okay to make assumptions, and many people believe that it is better to overreact to things such as this than underreact. The point I'm trying to get across is that concern for any discussion such as this is valid, but the most we can do right now is express that concern. You did the right thing by posting the suicide hotline number immediately, and I'm not trying to make you feel like you should be doing more. Any talk such as this, however, should not be taken lightly as you clearly demonstrated you understood by posting the number.

[Shell B]

Oh, I don't take it lightly, though I doubt this thread was meant as a cry for help. I'm not going to condescend to those who do, though. This is not an explicit cry for help, so there is no reason to heap disdain upon those who initially posted. That was my contention and it remains so.

[Napoléon]

All these assumptions made from an OP that didn't even state that they were suicidal...

[Handprint]

All these assumptions made from an OP that didn't even state that they were suicidal...

It's best to err on the side of caution don't you think? Surely there could be reasons why someone might not explicitly state they were such.

For me, If i were thinking about committing suicide, I'd state things in a very veiled way because I wouldn't want someone to call the cops on me and have them cart me off to a hospital. So i'd leave things very open ended and up for interpretation up until the point I would just say goodbye.

[Napoléon]

It's best to err on the side of caution don't you think? Surely there could be reasons why someone might not explicitly state they were such.

For me, If i were thinking about committing suicide, I'd state things in a very veiled way because I wouldn't want someone to call the cops on me and have them cart me off to a hospital. So i'd leave things very open ended and up for interpretation up until the point I would just say goodbye.

But you are still making the assumption.

How do you know this person has not just made this post to troll the forum? He hasn't responded to clarify his position so I find that this scenario is actually far more likely. I also find it quite bizarre that if this person really wanted ideas on how to commit suicide, that they would choose here to come and ask such a question.

Either way, I don't see why I should feel some kind of guilt because he's decided to come onto a forum asking how to commit suicide. That's his choice nobody else's.

[Handprint]

But you are still making the assumption.

And you aren't making an assumption?