"Thanks Internet, you've killed another person."

The Dopefish · Nov 10, 2005

Just a few days after some guy offed himself after being on SomethingAwful, a 19-year-old commits suicide after posting in a newsgroup.

How this got more press than the SA guy, given SA's glorious(?) history, escapes me. Still, newsgroups have been around longer than the Interweb and are the lazy man's message board for anything and everything. I certainly doubt this is the first person to kill themselves thanks to advice on the Internet, let alone on a newsgroup, but you can find that sort of information almost anywhere nowadays, even Wikipedia. The question for a long time has been, of course, should there be some sort of regulation to the Internet. To which we'll probably all say "no." The Internet is one of the last bastions of truly free speech, and it'll probably be regulated some day...let's just enjoy it while it lasts.

briach · Nov 10, 2005

I don't see why they have laws against people killing themselves.

I think that's just stupid. Maybe they did it for insurance purposes or money purposes. IMO, I think it's against the Constitution to not allow people to kill themselves.

Xaero · Nov 11, 2005

Newsgroups are the work of Satan. Free, unfiltered, unedited, and uncencored information on anything and everything. It will force your children to build bombs and blow up schools, or depress them into suicide! We must protect our kids and let the government get just a little larger!

Must have been a slow news day.

briach · Nov 11, 2005

I think it's a good thing that she found a newsgroup to help her find a pleasant way to die. If she didn't have those resources, she probably would have resorted to a more painful or non-pleasant way to die.

Olga · Nov 11, 2005

Or she would have lived.

briach · Nov 11, 2005

Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

Capt.Toilet · Nov 11, 2005

I guess this puts a new meaning into the internet acronym FYAD

The Dopefish · Nov 11, 2005

Cpt.Toilet.exe said:
I guess this puts a new meaning into the internet acronym FYAD

Depends on if you consider masturbating to be f*cking yourself, or merely the fact that she consumed cyanide. Either way, I suppose you're right.

KillStreak · Nov 11, 2005

We need to put a stop to this "internet" before it takes another life! Quickly somebody call Jack Thompson!

j/k

T2A` · Nov 11, 2005

Sounds exactly like that episode of Law and Order.

Jackal · Nov 11, 2005

briach said:
I don't see why they have laws against people killing themselves.

I think that's just stupid. Maybe they did it for insurance purposes or money purposes. IMO, I think it's against the Constitution to not allow people to kill themselves.

Becuase if you kill yourself, you can't pay taxes. Government likes people who pay taxes so they can give themselves raises that they don't deserve.

shadow_dragon · Nov 11, 2005

briach said:
Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

Ah yes, the two alternatives to killing yourself, drug addiction or being institutionalised!
You don't think, possibly, she could've been taught to appreciate life more or shown how to take pride in herself?

If someone asked me how to commit suicide my first action would be to ask why they wanted to, listen to their problems and help them consider other options. Not simply give them a grocery list of "pleasant" drugs to die with.

And your right the reason people lvie shouldn't be because they're intimidated by suicide, it should be because they've been shown suicide isn't their only option and of all the options it's the silliest.
She's a teenage girl, what can she know of life if no one tells her what's worth living for?

BillyBadAss · Nov 11, 2005

briach said:
Blaming her death on resources that show one how to die pleasantly is silly.

If she wouldn't have killed herself because she didn't know how to kill herself pleasantly, than that is crap. No one should be forced to live life if they aren't able to appreciate life, or must loathe one's self every minute they continue to breath. The reason why people live life shouldn't be because they are intimidated of suicide, it should be because they appreciate being alive and sharing their presence with the world.

Locking her in a mental institution or making her a drug addict is just as bad as allowing her to willingly kill herself.

Yeah forget about getting her real help.

Life does get better, and thinking that it won't is just stupid and selfish. I am positive that the girl would still have been alive if somebody was there to give her positive advice rather then helping her kill herself. There is no way you can cut it to prove to anyone that giving a person that little extra push to help them kill themselves is the right thing to do. :shake:

GotBeer? · Nov 11, 2005

"Suzy had me proof-read her notes and we went over all the details of her exit, just to be safe," reads one ASH message from "River."

But "River" disputes his role in Suzanne's death.

"No one in ASH encourages anyone else to commit suicide. ASH is pro-choice," he wrote in an e-mail to CNN.

So, he went over the plans with her to make sure she got everything right. That right there is murder, no doubts about it. The authorities need to leave the forum (and the rest of the internet in general) alone, but this River guy crossed a line. I can tell a guy to go F himself, but until I actually fold him in half to make it happen, it's just talk. River went beyond "just talk".
Hell, if they were exchanging notes, he probably had an email address he should have supplied to the authorities to track her down the minute he realized she was going through with it.

And yeah, she was 19 and had what sounded like a loving, supporting family. A lot of the time, mental illness doesn't show up until the late teens or early twenties. Then the person has a "psychotic break". It can be caused by stress (like college or losing a family member), drugs, or any number of unknown reasons, and is usually correctable with therapy and/or medication. Or she could just have been depressed about a breakup or something like that (story doesn't say). Automatically assuming she'd end up institutionalized for life or a medicated zombie is a bit ridiculous.

Editted because I can't spell 'ridiculous'

tool · Nov 11, 2005

I'm surprised people still use nesgroups to talk, I thought it was just for files these days.

anaemic · Nov 11, 2005

"Dear Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, I will make this short as I know. It will be hard to deal with. If you haven't heard by now, I've passed away," the e-mail read. (Watch the parents talk about their shock -- 4:15)

i think we all know whats more tragic here :/

das_ben · Nov 11, 2005

GotBeer? said:
So, he went over the plans with her to make sure she got everything right. That right there is murder.

It's assisted suicide and since there are no laws against killing yourself, there are no laws against that either.

Cap'n Beeb · Nov 11, 2005

Tell that to Kevorkian.

anaemic · Nov 11, 2005

i wonder if this could fall under euthanasia juristiction

?

edit: beebeaten

das_ben · Nov 11, 2005

I think only medical personnel is affected by that.

"Thanks Internet, you've killed another person."

Eat your veggies!

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Who Dey!

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Miffed

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Good news everyone!

Eat your veggies!

I posted in the RO-me thread and all I got was a pink username!

I'm dead.

Crapass

is ironing his panties!

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The nozzle is now calibrating

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she touch your penis?

Concerned.

Banned

she touch your penis?

Concerned.

I posted in the RO-me thread
and all I got was
a pink username!