A VIRTUAL PATH TO SUICIDE: Depressed student killed herself with help from online discussion group

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/7/03 | Julia Scheeres

[MikalM]

Suzy Gonzales zipped around this small ranching town on a red scooter, wearing a fuchsia wig and carrying a stuffed two-headed cat that she'd stitched together from scratch.

She favored plaid skirts with green sneakers, came from a tight-knit family and earned a full scholarship to Florida State University. She had a radiant smile.

[NormsRevenge]

So Dr K is sitting in prison and these "anonymous" groupies are still out there doing their thing?

What a strange world we live in.

[Dont Mention the War]

Test your Internet search skills! A good Googler should be able to identify the site in question in less than five minutes given the information in this article.

Of course, anyone that's been on the Net for more than five years or so probably knows exactly what group they're referring to right off the bat.

[BlackVeil]

Terrible. Actually, there has been one of these threads about "is suicide the right thing for [my friend]" here on F.R., on the religion forum.

[goldstategop]

As my tagline notes, I've lost someone special and I was sad at the time of her passing but I've never been suicidal or felt I didn't deserve to be here. I know my late friend would have wanted me to love life since I knew she was full of love for others. What I'm trying to get to is any one who counsels a depressed person to take the easy way out commits a crime against Nature and sins 'gainst the Living God. There is a difference when someone dies cause God took him or her away and when someone dies by their own hand. Its suicide that will always be the hardest of deaths for people to come to terms with. Let's pay attention to those who intimate on taking their own life and make our loved ones feel important. We need to show those contemplating their own demise that as hard as life is there are so many people who would be affected by their passing and who would miss them. I think the English poet John Donne said it best once, "I am not of the main entire, a small part and yet I belong to mankind; do not presume to send to know for whom the bell tolls - its tolls for thee."

[MikalM]

alt.suicide.holiday

Read at your own risk.

[kms61]

It only took me about 30 seconds, assuming it's the same one mentioned in the article. However, the message board is offline at the moment for "server upgrades," or so the notice says.

What a sad situation. This young woman was clearly struggling with depression that was much worse than anyone around her realized. Her parents are probably blaming themselves right now.

[Dont Mention the War]

alt.suicide.holiday

Cha-ching.

[MikalM]

Yup. Very disturbing phenomenon. I really don't think there's any kind of precedent for this sort of thing, unless you count cults like Jonestown or Heaven's Gate. And even those were prodded to self-destruction by charismatic leaders, not anonymous strangers.

[lelio]

"I consider suicide to be an acceptable solution to problems in life that people consider to be answerable by suicide," he wrote.
Not only does he espouse a hateful worldview, he talks in tautologies. Something is a solution to which people consider it a solution to? I suppose when you're trying to defend your position you'll think up junk like that.

[goldstategop]

Wouldn't you? These pro-suicide groups are like the pro-abort groups. The message is the same - human life is disposable. I wish I could commiserate with her parents. To lose your child is the worst blow a human being can receive. And try living with all that guilt. I think I posted awhile aback a poem of Thomas Chatterton about various methods of suicide but I said why listen to him or others? Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness. If we cared about those we love we'd think twice about what we'd be putting them though if we took our own lives. What those people did to that depressed girl was evil. Yes damn right I'm judgmental. I believe human life is precious and God has His reason for bringing us all into this world. And we shouldn't leave it before our time.

[goldstategop]

Most of the problems are temporary. And they can be overcome if people get help for them. Suicide fixes nothing. You can't get a second chance to learn from your own mistakes once you're gone. Idiots.

[lelio]

Not that I'm going to visit alt.suicide.*, but I imagine this isn't talked about beyond the "Don't leave a mess for people to clean up" garbage I read in the post.
What these people need is some serious professional help. Going to that newsgroup when you have suicidal thoughts is like going to a meeting of Math for Dummies when you have trouble with calculus. You're not going to gain anything out of it but making your head hurt and your situation worse.
Unfortunately a lot of people turn to it for its anonymous nature of communicating about their problems. Maybe there are free online chatrooms for to help out these people?

[bjcintennessee]

How sad. Last year my sister simply quit eating and didn't even realize that she had done so. To hear her describe it, her days were just a blur, where she went through the routine, but she wasn't really there. I'm not certain what prompted her to see a doctor, but she was diagnosed with depression and given medication. Today, she is her normal, full-of life self, as aggravating, fun-loving and honery as ever.

It is really sad that this on-line group only encouraged this girl in her downward spiral rather than recommend a doctor's help. They should be held accountable.

[goldstategop]

Agreed. I would like to see them be bankrupted. No it won't bring the girl back to her parents - no amount of money a jury could award them ever will but it will send a message to other people tempted to trick people into taking their own lives that they will PAY. And hopefully help discourage suicides from happening in the first place.

[Cheapskate]

Damn, and they say that we are the mean-spirited insensitive b*stards.

I'm just glad that i'm not ruling the world right now.
because there would be a LOT of pain going downrange.

that just absolutely sucks.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Test your Internet search skills!

WTF would anyone want to search for these bastages for ?

[HatSteel]

ping

[toddst]

If we cared about those we love we'd think twice about what we'd be putting them though if we took our own lives.

Those who had any involvement with someone who commits suicide are often deeply impacted. "What did I miss, might I have done?" is something that haunts folks for years. Have been through two suicides of friends, both several years ago. Haven't gotten the questions out of my system yet. Others who knew these people say the same thing - they feel haunted by a sense of guilt at some level.

[Vigilanteman]

These sickos are only a slight cut above the Islamist Imans who preach to the depressed young about the glories awaiting them in heaven if they become a suicide bomber-- a path not one Iman has ever followed because they, like the liberal louses in power in our country, live a high life off the misery of others.