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From: mjc@cad.cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio)
Newsgroups: net.suicide
Subject: Re: Painless Suicide Methods: Are we discussing an illegal topic?
Message-ID: <408@cad.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Wed, 12-Mar-86 23:26:15 EST
Article-I.D.: cad.408
Posted: Wed Mar 12 23:26:15 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Mar-86 00:38:58 EST
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 26

Someone who really wants to commit suicide doesn't need the advice of the
net; you can't blame the net if someone did kill himself as a result of that
advice.  Yes, it's questionable posting ethics; yes, it is illegal in *some*
places; yes, people should be doing other things in addition to answering
the question (like actually trying to help the person get to the root of his
problems).  But the determined suicide will do it anyway, and the person
who's not really sure if he wants to die (consciously or subconsciously) will
not follow advice on lethal methods.

Besides, nothing has reached this site that wouldn't be obvious to anyone who
thought about the problem for five minutes.  Maybe we've missed all the
really evil posts?

I'm not trying to make light of this issue; suicide must be taken seriously.
But I do think that Francis Carmody is over-reacting just a bit.

Disclaimer: I have never worked as a suicide prevention person, and have no
training in the field (other than a few scattered readings I've done on my
own).  This are just my *impressions*.  I welcome (beg for, actually) facts.
(It would be nice if they were polite....)

						-Dragon
-- 
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