i don't know where this fits, but it's a very sad

commentary on our society. why didn't anyone take action sooner?

Technolog - Woman announced suicide on Facebook, no one helped

"While some Facebook friends from out of town begged online for her address and telephone number so they could get help, none of those who lived closer did anything to help," the U.K. Telegraph reports. "Several friends taunted the charity shop worker as she lay dying on the floor of her flat. Just minutes after the post a friend replied, 'She ODs all the time and she lies.'"

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Probably because she's the kind of drama queen who fakes suicide all the time for attention.

If her "friends" were immediately jumping to post that, I doubt this is the first time.

liblady said:

commentary on our society. why didn't anyone take action sooner?

Technolog - Woman announced suicide on Facebook, no one helped

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What a tragedy. It probably is a case of a woman crying wolf. What's the answer? An emergency contact number in one's Profile?

Microsoft had a forum called QnA Live, a beta that was discontinued. On that forum, any suicide question/post was immediately deleted by the mods. It is my understanding they had a protocol in the background (they never shared it with users) to handle these kinds of posts. Seems Facebook is looking into what they can do.

Reminds me....does Debate Politics have any protocols in place for announcements or posts of this type?

I think you actually get infracted. Not sure though.

It's ONLINE

I'm sorry - I know people use it more and more often to be seriously involved with people - friendships, relationships and so on. But it is ONLINE and I'm not the type of person to see something ONLINE like that and assume 1) seriousness 2) I need to act on it. Online always was fun and casual too me - if my life goes to crap I don't seek anything to counter that *online* - I seek counter in real life from people I know. I disconnect myself from Online if I feel it's the "only thing I've got" of if it interferes with my life.
I'm not going to involve myself otherwise in an online world when I, personally, don't approach online that same way.

While tragic and sad - it's also a rare issue that occurs via online - and I don't question the fact that many don't take online dramas seriously in the slightest because 99% of things said and done online aren't serious - are for fun, entertainment, or to anonymously anger or intice people. It's not suppose to be heavily serious - it is virtual reality - an alternative to reality.

The only time I'll run to aid for anything I read online is if it's family or people I know PERSONALLY - beyond the online world. I'm never going to read something on this forum, for example, and assume it's an actual issue for me to step in. Other people can if they wish, but I don't get that involved with online and I make no bones about ti - I am open about the fact that this, to me, is for my personal enjoyment and nothing more.

REAL friends *know you* personally - outside the online world.
Online friends ONLY see you online . . . and if they don't know you well enough to act then they don't know you well enough to see the warning signs and intervene *before* something is posted anyway - thus - are they even a 'real friend' who can assist if you need someone? I don't think so. Others will disagree - but I don't see online life that way.

So in her personal situation instead of asking "why didn't they DO anything through online" I'm actually considering: why didn't her friends and family IN HER REAL LIFE see the warning signs BEFORE the posted-message was placed? Suicide situations don't just happen all of a sudden - I'm sure, if people really knew her, they would have seen something - and if they didn't see anything - then is that really a fault of theirs?

Overall view: if someone WANTS to commit suicide then they'll do it regardless of who is in their life and who isn't - and you can't blame others for not acting unless the person was overdosing right in front of them where they, physically, could prevent it.