Is there any sort of policy about suicide threats on ilx?

I wouldn't worry yourself too much.

I'd like to see that thread locked, unless people think it would just result in a flurry of other "why did you lock my precious thread?" style threads. It's kind of threatening and unpleasant.

I have a worrying feeling this isnt much of a troll, but it is kind of hard to tell.

you're not going to be able to do anything about it anyway, none of you even know this person. maybe he's real, maybe he's not, maybe a bunch of people on a board he's just arrived on and doesn't know anyone on are just the right people to talk him out of it. good luck with that, and if you get anywhere, i could maybe use your help clearing up a bit of a sticky situation in Darfur

that really helps, unibrow, keep up the good work

maybe a bunch of people on a board he's just arrived on and doesn't know anyone on

But (s)he's been lurking enough to get a handle on Trayce and Ned at least. IP address, perhaps, to see if Andi's someone we know playing silly buggers with us?

(it made me go and look up the last time I remember someone posting a time-framed suicide threat, which didn't descend into snarkiness at all and was full of good and sensible advice)

for fuck's sake gareth.

ok you guys, go ahead encourage him then!

My personal preference is to post a kindly phrased 'Andi, go and seek help, ILX can't provide it and putting yourself in the firing line of arseholes on the internet isn't going to help' type message and then lock the thread.

There might be an argument for banning him as well - if he's a troll then he's a troll, if he's for real then ILX really isn't the place for him and I don't think we want to be going anywhere near that sort of situation. But I'm aware this is a bit of a can of worms so any thoughts?

I've always believed in banning someone before they do themselves damage on ILX. That said it's hard to tell until afterwards if they should have been banned in the first place. Sigh. Life can be very difficult sometimes...

There might be an argument for banning him as well - if he's a troll then he's a troll, if he's for real then ILX really isn't the place for him and I don't think we want to be going anywhere near that sort of situation

That could be taken as an act of rejection, though and make this persons state of mind worse. God knows, it's an impossible to figure out situation. I think it's just best to err on the side of kindness rather than sneeriness if you're going to get involved at all. I mean, does it really matter if you're taken in by a troll?

can we delete ethan's dickfaced posts on this thread please? It's making me sick.

just the image ones really, it's just not fucking appropriate - also JTM's "go cry emo kid" jpg

"go cry emo kid" jpegs are appropriate for pretty much any situation

I think the thread has run its course, and should be locked before things get truly malevolent.

Ethan's non-image posts are the OTM-est things on that thread.

not really. I think that possibly helping to discourage a suicide is nobler than sheepishly avoiding being sonned by a troll.

I mean who cares if andi's faking it, what if s/he's not? I mean yes, this is the internet, it's not the proper place for someone to be posting this stuff, but, you know, suicide threats are serious stuff. If you don't want to deal with it then don't post on that thread.

Okay I've locked it, it's irrelevant to me whether or not he's making this up, but I'd rather take the chance that he's for real and not let this continue.

My thoughts are made perfectly clear in the last post.

thanks

yeah, even though i think it's clearly a fake, i can see the sense in that matt.- btw, i've read up on darramous, and that's not me!

i agree with what's said upthread: it's really not our call to decide if andi's faking or not, and it's better to be safe than sorry. i want it to be clear that i don't think locking this thread is the right thing to do. i do, however, think that moderating the insensitive bullshit posted by pricks of various stripes and colors might be a good idea.

as for the possibility of an ip trace? i think it's a wise idea. and i think it would also be helpful of ned/trayce could drop an email to the kid just to check in.

now: gareth and the other asshole suicide baiters, i sincerely hope for the sake of your consciences that the kid is a troll – but my feeling right now is that he isn't. because if he's sincere, then the way you're behaving is reprehensible, immoral, and filthy. what in holy hell makes you feel it's your responsibility to provoke the psychically unstable? what screwed-up wiring in your brain leads you to believe you have the moral authority to fuck around with somebody that -- one way or the other -- is crying out for (even negative) attention? clearly, troll or depressive kid, this is somebody who needs TLC and not your judgment, sarcasm, and piss.

because one way or the other, this is the action of somebody who's disturbed. now, that it's too histrionic for your tastes – that it doesn't fit your definition of a properly messed-up individual with suicidal tendencies – that is personal, projective bullshit.

remy and curt1s 1000% otm, especially re: "sheepishly avoiding being sonned by a troll". I can understand why the thread was locked given what it turned into, but I do wish that moderator intervention wasn't necessary to keep people from being assholes.

To defend myself at the moment, I don't have time to wipe out every arsehole comment on that thread as and when they happen, and who's to say he wouldn't have read them anyway before I had the chance to. It was either lock it or let it go even further into badness.

If he'd been someone we know, who had existing relationships with real people on these boards and knew what was what, it might have been a bit different. But on the other hand, perhaps not - ILX can be an unforgiving enough environment for people who aren't mentally unstable.

unibrow! i must remember that one.

I can't say as that I have a clue how to handle this kind of situation, but it's patently clear that the folks most vigorous in calling out andi as a fake are pathetically insecure humans, who live in mortal fear of being zinged/sonned/shown up as foolish on ILX. If andi is a fake, then he or she's a rorschach test for low self-esteem.

i don't understand why, if you think andi is a troll, you'd even bother to spend time responding? if they're an attention-seeker you're giving them what they want regardless of what your response actually is. if they're 4 REAL uh i guess what remy and others have said.

i don't understand why, if you think andi is a troll, you'd even bother to spend time responding?

Silence = Sonned.

matt –

i don't want you to think i'm calling you out, i understand why the thread was locked, i just wouldn't have done it myself.

ok you got me im a pathetically insecure human worried about a zing, well if you like.

if only id known that totally random people on a message board i joined like a day ago could prevent me from killing myself by walking into a lake in precisely 7 days time! that way maybe i could have avoided taking the girl who slashed her wrists and took pills and vodka in my bathroom and who i had to take to the hospital

if id have known the above i could have pointed her in the general direction of the tranmere rovers football club messageboard and maybe big thommo and stevie d could have talked her out of it

You need to shut the fuck up 696. How is it possible that someone hasn't as yet released all your teeth? You prove libcrypt's remarks with every word you type.

and as for suicide baiting, i never even posted on his damn thread

The best idea I can come up with is for someone to mail this kid and get his or her phone number and give 'em a ring. Questions could likely be put to rest relatively easily and real help given.

This doesn't bring us any further, but in the name of investigation/internet character study experiment:

Half an hour before that thread he/she started this one (no real "what's wrong?" kind of answers from any of us, other than that first "wah?" by nathalie) :
babies

a couple of earlier andi threads on ILE from the last month or so:
fasting contest
i dare you
let's get fab !

In short: still don't know. safe >>> sorry, imho.

That's some Trayce & Ned fixation there, yep.

I only realized just now that those threads weren't started by andi mags.

i was worried about andi mags who is cute

It seems screamingly obvious that 696 isn't worried about a zing or baiting Andi (there's no evidence that he's reading this thread). He's just saying that a messageboard full of complete strangers is not likely to be able to talk someone out of killing themself.

I have *no idea* whether I agree with this or not.

it's not a failure of reasoning, it's a failure of empathy.

uh dude if someone's coming to you and saying "HELP ME I AM GOING TO WALK INTO A LAKE" I think that's a cry for help directed at you, no matter how long you've known said person

true. so it's both a failure of reasoning and a failure of empathy.

He's just saying that a messageboard full of complete strangers is not likely to be able to talk someone out of killing themself.

That may or may not be true, but the unstated assumption that ILX is incapable of naught but an intra-ILX response is what one might call Cartesianism 2.0: Everyone with whom I interact on my computer has no existence outside of my computer.

remy got it.

for fuck's sake gareth is right.

-- That one guy that quit, Monday, May 28, 2007 8:03 AM (Yesterday)

^ fixed

oh also i forgot to change the name to "That one guy that shit"

hi curt1s the pic of va tech dude was to louis for his old boy love not at all directed at the fake suicide

Matt, your final message locking the thread was very well-put.

we're also both english literature students, ethan, the similarities are uncanny!

ethan_lj_morph.gif

i meant me and va tech guy, if ethan's an english lit student/graduate as well then the entire universe might as well give up the ghost right now

the entire universe might as well give up the ghost

lol not andi though amirite?

sorry wait I'm trying not to be a cunt aren't I

yr a cunt on at least 2 levels there, kudos

{;-D}

this thread has its corse yronne

Holy shit. I missed all this.

So is Andi still posting on ILE?

Okay I think Remy's right, this has run it's course.