I always found the note Joe Nihill left behind- asking for the site to be closed down, strange. Seeing as he had apparently seemed to be grateful for it in interactions here. Personally, I'd be very interested to see his posts but, I don't know his username and understand it's not exactly respectful to go searching.
Obviously, we can't know for sure but, I wanted to link this post by
@RainAndSadness :
So the BBC wrote an article about us a few days ago and I decided to respond to some questionable claims. But I want to point out right away I'm not going to address the claim that we're pro-suicide in this thread. I'm working on a thread right now, parallel to this thread, deconstructing that...
sanctioned-suicide.net
I happen to agree with their interpretation of what might have happened. Joe Nihill was given two automated bans because he violated some of the rules on the partners megathread. He then tried to create a new account which was rejected. Also against the rules I imagine. You can't keep trying to get a new account when you've been banned.
I agree with Rain that the motive to me in asking his family to close the forum down was perhaps more motivated by the anger and frustration of being banned or rejected. I expect it would indeed hurt but then- there have to be rules here and the bans were automatic- not personal.
So- I wanted to put that out there. The BBC and others keep holding this note up as proof that even members here recognise this place as toxic and dangerous. I think they are misrepresenting what (more likely to my mind) was the motive behind him writing that. I believe it was more that he was angry he could no longer be a part of it rather than that he was a part of it and was concerned about the goings on within it.
With regards to his family, especially his mother. I can understand why she is so upset. The pain has got to be terrible. I can also understand the fear our critics have that sites like this do tend to point towards methods we may be more comfortable in trying- like SN. As such, it's hard to deny that they do make the idea of suicide a more accessible and realistic prospect.
It's still very difficult to obtain SN though. People here are very reluctant to share sources. Plus, this isn't going to be the only site that refers to it. One of the first times I read about SN was in a news article and then, a police report. They'd even (helpfully) included pictures of the antiemetics the man had taken!
All of these media/news outlets really ought to also consider the way they report things. Commonly, a report about this forum results in a massive upsurge in membership. Also- the phrase- 'Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' comes to mind. By being detailed in their reporting of SN, they are effectively advertising it to a whole new group of people who are suicidal! Maybe they didn't do it this time but, they have in the past.
Suicidal people aren't incompetent! They will research everything they can to get the thing they mosy desire- a way out of their painful lives.
Since the Tantacrul YouTube video and the last BBC report, I feel as if membership has grown and there are a lot more young people here. Before all that- people would mostly find this place when they were actively looking for methods. Again- why would you point people in the direction of a site you deem so dangerous? THAT is a dangerous and utterly irresponsible thing to do in my opinion.
Most of all though. What I truly hate is- why can't they put all this energy into asking WHY people are so unhappy in the first place that they are trying to kill themselves? They can't honestly believe that we just wake up one day feeling like this, immediately find an internet site with resources and immediately buy them.
Why aren't they looking at why these people killed themselves? What help did they get? If any... Why did that fail? This place really is getting towards the last hurdle. Why leave things to get so bad and hope that restricting peaceful methods will solve it? It won't. People will still find a way.
Plus, as others have pointed out- this place provides a desperately needed sense of community. Many people have had awful experiences expressing how much they're struggling in real life. The responses range from heavy handedness- sectioning, to people literally being rejected/ ignored because people can't actually handle it or, don't want to hear about it.
This place (ironically) has probably prolonged a lot of people's lives. Regardless though- take it away and your loved ones will do one of a few things. Either they'll struggle on suffering. Or, they'll become so desperate that they'll do something truly brutal like jumping off a cliff or in front of a train. And, they'll spend their last few miserable weeks/ months/ years here without any sense of belonging or community because- you did your bit and destroyed it.
www.bbc.com
