Discussion Data Collection & Analysis Efforts

[MammothJack]

Hi!

So, I have no desire to die. Out of sheer curiosity, I stumbled onto this forum. I made an account and said that was my reason for doing so which was later approved. I am inferring that it is fine for me to post on here. I appreciate being allowed into your space.

This entire site is very interesting. I've never seen a forum where people could actively discuss not only generalized issues with suicidal ideation but also the efficacy of various methods -- including the results from successful or failed attempts.

My Question: Has anyone ever tried collecting and analyzing the data generated by your community?

While I doubt anyone could use it in a peer-reviewed study due to the myriad of ethical issues raised, it seems like it could generate some useful insights for your own uses. Here are some examples I noticed just looking through a few posts:

Method Efficacy: This seems like the most desired subject that would benefit from data collection. A spreadsheet of failed or successful suicide attempts with relevant biographical information (age, sex, weight, etc) and details (SN, 9mm, etc) would help others evaluate their own preferred method and adjust accordingly.

Biographical Data: This is likely more for a moderator/owner, but the raw biographical data on the user base would be interesting. Geographic location, age, sex, income, occupation, etc. could be useful in gauging trends and determining some of the root causes of suicide. I saw several posts expressly mentioning poverty as a reason they couldn't purchase certain supplies, such as a firearm or sodium nitrite.

Thanks!

 

[ItsTimeToExit]

What is the question you are trying to answer? If all you're looking is to collate data and produce pretty graphs using R then its a waste of time.

Another important thing to keep in mind, and I'm saying this as gently as possible... We are not zoo animals to be gawked at and turned into data points for a classical machine learning model (which most likely will be useless).

So again I ask you, What is the question you are trying to answer?

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

There have actually been surveys in the past to answer some of these questions but people can lie on those so I'd take the results with a grain of salt.

 

[Apricity]

This feels invasive

 

[suicidesheep31]

As Dr Iron Arc said, there are some survey about the Biographical Data.
About the methods, there is already a sheet about it. Not sure thats a complete sheet because it is sometimes difficult to know if it was successful or not.
We were also wondering at some point what is the percentage of people here committing suicide and succeeding.

I do agree with ItsTimeToExit. Before analysing data, you must have a question in mind.
If your question is to understand what push people to do it? Or what are the factors of vulnerability?

I can cite two studies done on online forum:

Analysing Meso and Macro conversation structures in an online suicide support forum

Platforms like Reddit and Twitter offer internet users an opportunity to talk about diverse issues, including those pertaining to physical and mental health. Some of these forums also function as a safe space for severely distressed mental health patients to get social support from peers. The...

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu

A Thematic Analysis of an Online Suicide Forum. Exploring the Relevance of Durkheim’s Typology of Suicide

In 1897 Emile Durkheim theorized that the risk of suicide is related to social factors; mainly the levels of regulation and social integration an individual adheres to. Throughout the continuing century, suicide contagion was examined from a behavioural contagion perspective of studying...

dspace.library.uvic.ca

I guess you can find more.

I am not really pro such a data collection. I am worried that this website shut down after as one of the subReddit.

 

[YourNeighbor]

ItsTimetoExit is spot on. Any attempt at quantitative research here would be worthless from an academic point of view, unless your inquiry is limited to something like "what kinds of posts appear on the SaSu forum." Much of the info you mention (income, etc) is not collected. Comments are public, so if you can glean any data from them, no need to announce yourself or ask for permission. You won't find any new or more broadly generalizable insights about suicide here.

 

[MammothJack]

I appreciate the feedback. I wasn't proposing to do any type of data collection. It would be pretty useless for anything beyond helping your community. An IRB would cut a proposed study into confetti and then force me to sweep it up.

My sole question was whether anyone had attempted any kind of data collection using the bits of data I observed in the various posts I saw when I logged on initially. It sounds like the answer is mostly no aside from a potential self-report survey. Totally fine -- it was asked solely out of curiosity.

I did see the guides which had some accounts of people who used X method and achieve Y result. I just wasn't sure if there was any ongoing cataloging of that kind of thing going on. What I did see was interesting in itself so I asked.

Insofar as being looked at as "zoo animals" and my asking such a question being invasive, I suppose that's could be true. The forums here, however, are public. My account was approved and I explained my reason explicitly as being motivated by morbid curiosity. Sanctioned Suicide was covered by a few news articles, one of which led me here initially.

While you may not like it, I guarantee you have several unique visitors every day who look through your posts in the same way you would go observe animals in a zoo. I don't mean that in a mean or hurtful way; I just want to make clear that there are likely thousands of others who gawk at your posts. If that is a revelation, I hope it helps inform some of the policy choices by the admins here.

Again, thank you for tolerating my invasion into your space.

 

[Quiet Desperation]

Welcome to the community. You'll have to forgive the suspicion and distrust. For most of us this is one of the last safe places we can speak openly, so you will find us quite protective of our privacy and the site itself, even just random members like me.

You probably aren't aware yet but there is an organized group targeting this site because they prefer to blame us for their loved one's decision and prefer to fearmonger and seek revenge for things they don't understand rather than accepting the difficult truth. Most of them lie about who they are, so thanks at least for being honest, at least apparently, about your intentions. This whole situation is then compounded by the irresponsible way many stories are reported by the media.

To your point about visibility, I think due to the above that there is wide awareness that this is a public forum. Those of us who are paying attention choose our words carefully lest we or the site be accused of encouraging other people to die. If you stay around awhile you will see people come and go of their own choosing and really nothing could be more sad to witness. These people are our friends and we feel every loss.

As far as research goes, while it is a noble idea I think you will find that information about efficacy is already widely available online. Anyone that wants this information badly enough can get it, with or without this forum. This is just a place where suffering people with nowhere else to go can connect with each other and not be quite so alone. Yes, you will see lots of threads questioning methods and etc, but in my opinion this is largely due either to a lack of diligence or perfectly understandable fear and anxiety around what is one of the most scary acts that we can confront as humans.

 

[lucky]

I only recently re-joined this forum. I know there used to be a spreadsheet which tabled (nearly) every attempt posted here, including method used, symptoms reported, outcome, etc. I am not sure if it was public or whether it's still being updated. It's usefulness is doubtful though; any type of data collection like this will suffer from severe measurement error and omit key variables.

I can definitely see the appeal to reading this forum out of morbid curiosity.

 

[MammothJack]

I only recently re-joined this forum. I know there used to be a spreadsheet which tabled (nearly) every attempt posted here, including method used, symptoms reported, outcome, etc. I am not sure if it was public or whether it's still being updated. It's usefulness is doubtful though; any type of data collection like this will suffer from severe measurement error and omit key variables.

I can definitely see the appeal to reading this forum out of morbid curiosity.

Neat! I figured there might be something like that in existence.

It just seems so imprecise to experiment with different methods, quantities, et cetera when there are hundreds/thousands/millions of people who have attempted or successfully "caught the bus." A spreadsheet or some other kind of easily reviewable database could at least minimize those who may survive their attempts with debilitating life-long injuries. If someone is committed to ending their life, why not enable them to do it right the first time around rather than just create more suffering?

I personally approve of suicide so long as there's some objective reasoning behind it rather than a solely emotional impulsive decision, but I feel that even those who universally oppose suicide must acknowledge the suffering caused by a lack of information. I'm glad there are resources out there to help people make informed decisions about their life.