Posted on Jan 18, 2022
Disturbing website encourages vulnerable users to die by suicide. What's being done about it?
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There’s an alarming phenomenon occurring online and in real life: Suicide enablers who encourage others to die — often when they are most vulnerable.
Last month, The New York Times delved deeply into one specific website which provides methods, encouragement and even pressure to die. Investigative journalist Megan Twohey co-reported the story, which serves as a cautionary tale for those who find these sites while they're looking for support — and for families of young people who don't realize their loved ones may have landed in some of the darkest places on the internet.
Last month, The New York Times delved deeply into one specific website which provides methods, encouragement and even pressure to die. Investigative journalist Megan Twohey co-reported the story, which serves as a cautionary tale for those who find these sites while they're looking for support — and for families of young people who don't realize their loved ones may have landed in some of the darkest places on the internet.
Disturbing website encourages vulnerable users to die by suicide. What's being done about it?
Posted from wbur.org
Suicide
Depression
Internet
Mental Health
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 3
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It's bad enough that we have China sending Fentanyl by the backpack since the borders are open but it's bad now that we have websites that encourage suicide. We already have enough problems as it is with our general population!
SGT (Join to see) SGT Tiffanie G.
SGT (Join to see) SGT Tiffanie G.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel There are some sick... sick,,, people out their.
..."In “Where the Despairing Log On, and Learn Ways to Die,” Twohey confirmed 45 deaths by participants, some of them just young teenagers, who frequented the website, which launched in March of 2018. She says it attracts tens of thousands of members from around the globe and gets about 6 million monthly views.
Nearly half of the site’s members are under 25 years old, she says, and users often identify as struggling with depression, bipolar and other forms of mental illness.
The site boasts detailed methods on how to die by suicide — making the forum “uniquely dangerous” and “tips it into potential criminal activity” territory, Twohey says.
Members gather information through the site’s live chats and public blog posts, where fellow members openly nudge each other along in their suicidal plans. “Goodbye threads,” among the most popular draws on the site, are posts where members document their suicide in real time and other users react with emojis or comment with words of encouragement.
“When we talk to suicide experts, they said that for most people, suicidal thoughts are temporary. They'll get through them,” Twohey says. “But if people learn effective methods and if they become convinced that it's the right thing to do, they're more likely to follow through — and we saw that.”
The reporter identified a 17 year old in Texas who discovered the site last January during the pandemic. In less than a month, she says he followed through with the methods he found on the site and narrated his suicide attempt on a goodbye thread."...
..."In “Where the Despairing Log On, and Learn Ways to Die,” Twohey confirmed 45 deaths by participants, some of them just young teenagers, who frequented the website, which launched in March of 2018. She says it attracts tens of thousands of members from around the globe and gets about 6 million monthly views.
Nearly half of the site’s members are under 25 years old, she says, and users often identify as struggling with depression, bipolar and other forms of mental illness.
The site boasts detailed methods on how to die by suicide — making the forum “uniquely dangerous” and “tips it into potential criminal activity” territory, Twohey says.
Members gather information through the site’s live chats and public blog posts, where fellow members openly nudge each other along in their suicidal plans. “Goodbye threads,” among the most popular draws on the site, are posts where members document their suicide in real time and other users react with emojis or comment with words of encouragement.
“When we talk to suicide experts, they said that for most people, suicidal thoughts are temporary. They'll get through them,” Twohey says. “But if people learn effective methods and if they become convinced that it's the right thing to do, they're more likely to follow through — and we saw that.”
The reporter identified a 17 year old in Texas who discovered the site last January during the pandemic. In less than a month, she says he followed through with the methods he found on the site and narrated his suicide attempt on a goodbye thread."...
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Absolutely disgusting. No other word for it. Like the "death pods" they are trying to get approved in Northern Europe.
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