Discussion Thoughts on this Wikipedia article about a.s.h?

[CreatifUsrnam]

alt.suicide.holiday - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[symphony]

I saw this thread this morning and hoped there'd be some discussion before I got back home to a computer. Color me disappointed.

I'll preface this by saying that I don't know much at all about the environment of ASH beyond that it existed, so take my thoughts below with a large grain of salt. But overall, I appreciate Wikipedia's efforts here to present multiple viewpoints on a controversial issue in which we are in the minority.

Research from 2007[1]​ shows that suicide websites indeed could be more efficient in providing emotional help for people contemplating suicide than suicide hotlines.

I'd guess this surprises about 100% of pro-lifers and 0% of chronically suicidal individuals. Any environment where people in distress are afraid to honestly express themselves isn't gonna help much - and we all know there's a risk of coercive hospitalization any time you talk to a pro-lifer. SS (and predecessors like it) offer the benefit of sincerity. Beyond that, lifelines are an absolute fucking joke. You're likely to get little more than forced positivity and platitudes. Here, again, we have sincere, open discussion where both those giving and receiving advice can be fully honest.

Finally, there is no indication that making such information available changed suicide rates. For example, in 1991 Final Exit was published; it was the first book giving how-to advice on certain suicide methods. The book was the number one bestselling nonfiction book in America for 18 weeks, and has sold over a million copies. At the same time, there was no remarkable increase in suicide rates.

This is interesting. It supports what I already believed to be true (and yes, I see the issues in forming a belief first and finding evidence for it after the fact). But I had been looking to find studies on the actual effects of suicide forums on suicide rates, and here it is!

The newsgroup has been a target of news reports alleging a direct relationship between "avoidable" suicides and the suicide-facilitating nature of the newsgroup and web site.

Interesting use of quotation marks. In these types of stories, I rarely if ever see a reason to believe that the suicide would have been prevented if the individual in question had not been on SS (or ASH or another similar site).

I wish there was more balanced public discourse like this nowadays.