I agree with you very much ,they say their trying make a difference in mental health BUT suicide forums need shutting down.. one even said that shutting SS down definitely counts as suicide prevention ... Someone on Twitter on their side even told me that im giving people with ASD a bad name and that im ruining lives.. im not here to represent no one but myself ..and i agree everyone's here for different reasons.. and no , SS didn't make anyone suicidal , people came on site because they are suicidal , not other way around and I've never heard of covert narcissism before and that's what i mainly do , screenshots posts n tweets or whatever , some of them are of me replying to them n but most is just them to others n vise versa..
I am going to preface this by saying please bear with me regarding what I am about to write and read through to the end - it may sound bad at first.
There is growing evidence that some people (especially those who are very vulnerable) really respond to emojis like likes, hearts, smileys, etc., not to mention the validation, acceptance, love, understanding, attention, etc. that they may get on internet sites.
It can give the brain a dopamine boost of good feelings, especially in those who have been mistreated in real life (bullied, abused, invalidated, etc.). Thus, internet sites may provide a band aid feeling of being accepted, understood, and validated unlike anything they have ever experienced in real life and those feelings (along with the dopamine high) have the potential to be addictive and dangerous.
Creators of major social media platforms know this, and have deliberately capitalized on it and have gone so far as to program these features into their code to target, manipulate, and pull people in (a good documentary on Netflix called "The Social Dilemma," describes this phenomenon very well. I would highly recommend that people watch this).
However (and this is a big however), the fundamental problem is not that sites do this, it is that many need that validation, acceptance, understanding, somewhere safe, etc., in the first place because real life for them has been so extremely nasty.
And SS is not a typical social media platform like FB, twitter, instagram, YouTube, snapchat, etc. I find it very hard to believe that people who find SS are going to blindly follow along and kill themselves for those good feels - the outcome of doing something like that is irreversible and by its very nature will completely negate any good feels they may get. Not to mention that SI will likely stop them in their tracks.
Perhaps those trying to get sites like these shut down do not fully realize how extremely hard it is to take one's own life - no amount of social acceptance or validation on an internet site can
force one into complete irreversible death. And please remember, no one forces people here - people search for places like this of their own volition.
If those who have lost loved ones here believe that they were influenced into taking their own life because of people on this site, then perhaps it would be better to reflect on how and why your loved one became so vulnerable in the first place that they would blindly follow someone else. (Have to interject that I do not believe that they were influenced, but those who lost loved ones may). In any case, that extremely low self-esteem coupled with the sheer nastiness of people in real life is the core problem - it is not this site or the people here.
In addition, this place is not a cult. A cult requires that every single person within that cult accept the dogma preached to them - like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, Wako, etc. or they are FORCED to stay there through threats of harm. This place consists of such a wide population who believe different and divergent things, that if someone should fall prey to someone else's dogma that suicide is the end all be all (and I am not saying that people here are like this), there is another person who will cry BS. In fact, many here would come down like a ton of bricks on someone who tried to force or encourage someone into suicide - I would, without hesitation. In addition, no one forces anyone to stay here. How could they? It is an internet site, not a compound.
Sighs... sometimes I get so irritated with all of this - but even moreso saddened that a place like this is even necessary - this world is so messed up.
In any case, once again, I will repeat, if people are foaming at the mouth to get this place shut down - they will accomplish nothing more than hurting people more than they have already been hurt. They will become the very monster they falsely believe that this site to be. Whether they realize it or not, this place has helped many off the ledge they were perched on and many are still alive today because of this place.
The energy they expended in their negative attitude towards this site (which perpetuates the cycle of negativity that causes the problem in the first place), would be so much more useful if used to work to change the true core reasons people seek a site like this in the first place.
Simba? Please ignore their comments with respect to ASD or anything else they may have said to you. You did not make anyone come here - people searched for a place like this and many have been helped here. I am not sure in what context they have told you that you are giving people with ASD a bad name - and it does not really matter - they are just trying to control you through ostracization and bullying. Nasty that.
<3
