This site does encourage suicide. It does meet the definition of "encourage" from the dictionary below. Definitely providing information on methods make a person more likely to do it and more confident than if being ignorant.
1. to make someone more likely to do something, or to make something more…
dictionary.cambridge.org
- to make someone more
likely to do something, or to make something more
likely to
happen
- to
talk or
behave in a way that gives someone
confidence to do something
But then again, any movie or piece of new about suicide or any other controversial topic also encourages it by the definition.
I'll step in really quickly because this accusation doesn't just affect me but the forum as a whole. We don't "encourage" anything in this forum. We, as a community, provide resources and information about methods, sure - but what you do with that information is your business alone, nobody can make that final decision for you. Ending our life is our most personal, intimate decision that we could ever make in our life and making that decision - supported by many courts all over the world - is a fundamental legal right. I'd go even further and say that implementing that decision in the most peaceful way possible is a human right as well. Animals have a right to get euthanized peacefully, why shouldn't we grant the same rights to humans? That's why I think this forum is so necessary, if you're about to end your life, as sad as this decision might be, at least you get a chance to do it peacefully and with the least amount of pain and discomfort. I've seen so many threads in this forum bringing up irresponsible methods that inflict an intense amount of pain and discomfort, with the potential of permanent disabilities if done incorrectly and also risking third parties. I don't even want to know in what horrible ways people take their lives on a daily base but having a forum like this that at least guides people into a certain direction with methods, filtering out harmful ideas, isn't just beneficial in regards to harm reduction but even necessary in my opinion. There have been people in the past that wanted to set themselves on fire. That's when the community steps in and questions that decision.
And I can't stress it enough, nobody here tells you to go kill yourself because that's actually a strong violation of the rules, for obvious reasons. I strictly enforce that rule and so do all other moderators here in the forum, no doubts. This forum follows a "pro-choice" philosophy, that means we support the idea that you have the final say about the circumstances and time of your own death. In other words, we support the right for consenting adults to make informed decisions. We're not pro-death or pro-suicide, we've discussed posts containing such rhetorics internally in the past and I've acted against people that spread such harmful ideas as well. Also, there is a whole sub-forum just dedicated to recovery, in case you missed that. And I've seen many threads and posts talking about trying to get better, trying to improve, trying to
live, somehow and that's 100% valid. I'm glad when people that find a way to continue their journey. I think that's a good thing... try to maximize pleasure and find a way to enjoy this life, if possible, considering it's probably the only one you have, right? I fully support that. Does that mean we are encouraging life now?
Also, you have to understand, not everyone in this forum is gonna ctb, that's another false narrative that is spread around way too often. There are a lot of members that managed to secure a method but never follow through with their initial plans to ctb, some even recover and give life another chance. I talked to so many people in this forum that secured a method simply to have some kind of "ejection seat" for the worst-case scenario. Many of us know we're heading towards rock bottom, towards an inevitable cliff so we obtain a method just in case the worst happens, because we know it's
gonna happen. So we have a reliable, somewhat peaceful exit once the heat gets too much - I think that's a very understandable and humane concept, don't you think? And I know, having that option to leave this prison at any given time, is a very relieving and peaceful notion for most of us in this forum. I'm one of those people. I'm constantly on the brink but I didn't manage to follow through with my intentions, despite owning N. Maybe I never will. And that's not just me. I've made friends in this forum 2 years ago, back in 2018 when I was a fresh member, and some of them never left either, despite having a decent, reliable method. They're still alive, just like me. I know plenty of people that managed to survive a little bit longer, thanks to this forum - because the
support in this community is what kept them alive - I read such posts all the time. " I came for the method, but stayed for the community." is such a common phrase. So I have to disagree with you that this forum is responsible for the death of anyone. People that have a strong desire to leave this world, will do exactly that - with or without the existence of this place, and maybe in a very risky and dangerous manner, who knows. But this forum doesn't change anything in that regards. If anything, this forum actually saved lives, we addressed that in the past.
I would even go so far and say that having a safe, reliable option for a peaceful exit prolongs life (as contradictory as this might sound at first) because it gives you back much needed control and a sense of peace, knowing you can ctb at any given time, knowing you can leave all the pain and suffering behind whenever you need to. I felt the same relief when I received my N. Like, knowing that you have that exit whenever you need it gives people so much peace that they actually reconsider following through in some cases. It's actually an argument that was brought forward by many assisted suicide organizations in support for Euthanasia. Just earlier this year Exit made the case in their magazine that people who were approved for assisted suicide, knowing they had the legal right to end their life whenever they felt ready, gave life a second chance and managed to prolong their life to a certain extend simply because it gave them peace. And I stumbled upon the same argument in a documentary about assisted suicide in Belgium. But this is topic for another thread.
...tl;dr, please don't spread false narratives in the forum.
