Thanks for posting this. It's very interesting, this paper comes to a different conclusion than most vocal outsiders who ever talk about this forum. I'm not sure if I agree with all points made in this paper but it's very nuanced and I appreciate that. It also reiterates that this is a
pro-choice forum, something that so many people fail to acknowledge - intentionally and unintentionally. There was
another paper that did some research a while ago and they also came to a very different conclusion than most news articles that smear this forum. They painted the community in a fair picture and pointed out some significant positives of this community and we need more nuance like that. People barely talk about the positive impact of this community and that's a shame.
So yeah, I like it. I'd like to see more research about this forum. It gives us a much more accurate impression of this community than some smear pieces that have been written with the very clear intention to drag this forum through the mire. And you can do so much more with all the information people post here, from a suicide prevention perspective. Like, we literally tell you why we are suicidal. Is there any place on the internet that gives you such an overhelming amount of data to work with? You just need to translate it into policy. Maybe that's something to consider. The goal shouldn't be to remove this forum (or certain methods) because it has a place in this world and there is a legitimate need for it, the goal should be to take the information this forum provides and positively change society,
improving people's lives, so that less people even think about searching for this forum in the first place. I know that's difficult and it's so much more work but that would be
meaningful suicide prevention through
systemic change unlike the idiotic attempts to just ban this forum and certain methods outright - which isn't gonna improve the life of one single individual...
But yeah... people would rather sweep this forum with all it's suffering members and all the pain that's expressed here under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist as if there aren't severe systemic issues that contributed to the existence of this forum in the first place. I mean, this forum exists right now because SS was banned on reddit previously. It was attempt to sweep that community under the rug because it was uncomfortable. People are trying to achieve the same thing with this forum with certain legislation that would put an end to communities like ours. An empathic and compassionate society wouldn't try to hide something just because it's uncomfortable. We should have a conversation about the reasons why people end up in this forum. But instead of having that conversation about systemic problems in this world, there are attempts to silence us - the most vulnerable people in society. I mean how sinister is that? We're not seen by anyone and we're put into psychiatric insitutions instead for expressing something so human(e): a need for relief from pain. We're all in pain here. That's what this community is all about and that's why people find comfort in this forum. It provides a place to discuss that with all the nuance and facettes that belong to this discussion and people are taken seriously and treated with dignity in this forum. So yeah, I appreciate scientific papers like this one because it gives us a chance to have that conversation - about the reasons why we are here.
