anyone got any info on this ?

[psp3000]

discovered/saw (removed link because it isn't working when I click on it here) mentioned while looking for archived suicide notes

here's the info I know about it so far

"In the early days of the internet there were people who referred to themselves as Ashers. There were usegroups with ash in the URL. They were a kind of suicide/depression support groups except they were not anti-suicide. I think the main unifying belief of Ashers was that suicide was a human right and they would flame people who attempted to talk suicidal individuals down. I don't know how big the group(s) was but I definitely remember their presence on the early net. I wouldn't be surprised if that site was ran by Ashers or if it was even just an asher usenet. This is mostly from my memory so not sure how accurate this all is lol. Last time I searched the web for more info on Ashers (maybe 2 or 3 years ago) I found that unfortunately a lot of their presence hasn't been archived as they were fairly private since they would often get trolls and other interneterlopers due to their controversial beliefs."

what's even more interesting is that it is from 1987 if I skimmed some of the page correctly but now I am lost because a lot of stuff is in German and I only know very little so I will have to explore it another day

 

[Seered Doom]

Oh wow, that's really cool. That's history and I really wanna learn more about it now.

 

[psp3000]

Oh wow, that's really cool. That's history and I really wanna learn more about it now.

same

there is a wiki about this community luckily and maybe I can access the site via the Internet Archive once I find the link again discussing that community

Wikipedia Page about The Ashers

 

[Seered Doom]

Oooh, I'm gonna read it now.

 

[psp3000]

Oooh, I'm gonna read it now.

I think it wouldn't open here because of the whole https or html warning thing for some sites

but I can access it via The Internet Archive and it goes back to 2008 and there aren't any traces of the original site/community mentioned sadly

 

[Seered Doom]

From what I'm seeing, almost everyone on Sasu is essentially an asher of some sort.

 

[psp3000]

From what I'm seeing, almost everyone on Sasu is essentially an asher of some sort.

at first I was going to disagree after reading the FAQ on the archive page I read

but once I re-read it I can understand how the users of SaSu could also be defined or catagorized as Ashers to some degree because of the beliefs also mentioned in the FAQ/About Section

except I assume a lot of people are unaware of this site and aren't reading their zines or posts since it is still active but long gone ?? I assume ?? but if a few users are aware of this I wouldn't be surprised because I live under a rock haha

I will definitely have to do some more reading and exploring and deep diving and research

"Usually, the term "asher" is used in conversation to describe a reader of ash who is suicidal or at least depressed, i.e., the stereotypical asher. However, for the purpose of defining who is and who is not an asher, we provide a more "formal" definition. Formally, an asher is somebody who is aware of the existence of the ash subculture and shares its values. One doesn't have to be suicidal or even depressed in order to be an asher. Also, an asher doesn't have to read or post to ash. Similarly, posting to ash doesn't automatically make one an asher. In short, an asher is a member of the ash subculture." - From the FAQ/Homepage

 

[Seered Doom]

Yeah, that's what I read too. Honestly, it seems like a lot of us on Sasu are like the stereotypical Asher, just on Sasu.

Also found this image on there as well

Even more pictures to dissect. I find these all to be fascinating. Looking on the poetry page has some interesting insights

 

[Pluto]

I remember seeing the group when I was young, but never had anything to do with it.

I understand some older people here like @freedompass were members back in the day.

 

[psp3000]

exploration/browsing update: I found some pages that aren't in German or Dutch along with a page that has more sites to explore (there's so many things to click on !) I am currently reading this post about an issue within the group/community

edit: just finished reading the main part of the post, very disturbing indeed and makes me wonder if such a disturbing issue or anything similar to it has happened on SS before since I am not an old member of the site
I sometimes wonder if people/characters like that have signed up and are lurking and acting on the site but I would like to doubt that
but the post really emphasized how much of the old internet used to be like The Wild West

 

[psp3000]

exploration/browsing update number 2:

looking for a book by one of the members of the community/wondering if they ever published it, what the name of it is, and the contents/plot

currently browsing a site by one of the members from with various information on the topic of suicide from their book published or written in 1999 and it has good ratings on various websites and book critique forums/websites

I wonder if it has been mentioned here before or discussed in the Suicide Discussion category

 

[psp3000]

update: I am currently browsing/exploring/discovering/ making deep dives on more sites that are similar to the one mentioned in this thread and I am working on a diagram of sorts on them

it will probably be a (extremely) long time before I am done with it/before I post it here because sites relating to such topics or/and the topic of anti-natalism are much more vast than I imagined

even if they existed or were more active in the past rather than now or are now defunct at this time

there's so much to read and click on and take note of/summarize along with maybe a bit of translation but it is definitely an interesting rabbit hole

if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations please feel free to send them to my inbox so then I can take note of them and explore them