Update: Reddit Suicide Lawsuit Is a Hoax

MrTub

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Mar 12, 2009
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Tanis said:
Tubez said:
Tanis said:
If someone is so weak that a few posts on REDDIT of all places is the 'final straw'...
I just have no sympathy. People who commit suicide are cowards, and deserve no sympathy from me.
Please do explain why you think they are cowards?
Because it's harder to live then it is to die.

Any fool with a gun or knife can kill themselves.
But it takes more courage to face down the darker times in your life and live.
One could make the argument that its harder to kill yourself then continue living. Humans self presevation can be very strong
 

1337mokro

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Dec 24, 2008
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Here's a funny thing. I was on the train a few days ago and guess what happened. A guy jumped in front of the train. Now let me tell you a few things.

It is not a pretty sight. It is a horrible experience for the people forced to watch it. It's not an easy mess to clean up. It costs the rail-road company money. In short that guy was pathetic prick.

No you're not going to defend that person. He was an asshole. He traumatized several children that were aboard when they saw it happen and the people standing on the platforms. He caused hundreds if not thousands of people to arrive late on appointments or work. He caused several tens of thousands of dollars in costs for cleaning, maintenance, counselling and post traumatic stress treatment for the onlookers and rail-road personnel.

Do I have sympathy for the dead man? No. Absolutely not. He was a selfish jerk that caused a ton of collateral damage with his egocentric behaviour.

Am I going to sue his family for not stopping him? No, they could not have done anything more than what they did and most likely they have had several arguments. Most probably the worst case scenario dialogue "Why don't you just go and die already" having been uttered.

Now am I going to sue his family for goading him on? No, people say allot of things, I have been told to go fuck myself on the internet 15060 times in the past hour. Did I actually go fuck myself? No. For many anatomical reasons that is impossible and second I have free will. I can choose to do or not to do something.

Now the person in the article is not the jackass that jumped in front of a train. I don't hold a personal grudge against this guy, he probably was mentally broken down and needed help. Help he probably should have sought with a professional or family rather than make an internet post about how he is going to kill himself like about a few million teenage emo's.

The man intended to kill himself. Some people have been talked out of killing themselves by reverse psychology. Some people have been goaded into doing it. Can people be held responsible for the actions of others? Then why can't we sue the people that were sympathetic for not being sympathetic enough. After all they aided in his suicide as much as the others because they didn't care enough.

The man intended to kill himself. He did so. The only one who could have was that man.

In the end though this lawsuit could only exist in America. Where two men can sue their mom for not giving them what they wanted as children or where a man committing suicide by overdose, getting his arm hurt in a hospital whilst they were trying to save his live, can actually win a huge sum of money in a lawsuit against the hospital for hurting his arm.
 

AlternatePFG

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Jan 22, 2010
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Jack and Calumon said:
Reddit wishes it was 4chan, so much it wishes this.

OT: I'm not surprised. Reddit comments have a terrible habit of making everything a joke, regardless of the context. That in itself is despicable to a degree, but the main reason that the community does this is worse. The only reason they do this sort of thing is for upvotes. Oh sure, some people will say "Ah, the community will love this ribbing" but most of them think of one thing and that's a pointless number increasing through mindless drones saying they approve this. The upvote system on Reddit brings nothing but disgusting things, from endless reposts that suck dry the humour from any joke, to events such as this. It is not good in the slightest, just a system that encourages a million people participating in the world's biggest Circle-jerk. An upvote is a low and emotionless act that makes people feel better about themselves until it is given out to the degree that the community becomes greedy and demands it for every single thing they do, reacting with bitter contempt for everyone who dares give them a downvote.

This is the reason I despise the vast majority Reddit's community.

Calumon: ...Jack's being scary and mean... : (
I agree completely with this. Honestly, Reddit is a terrible site, filled for the most part with terrible people. There are little small communities that aren't too bad, but the biggest subreddits are just really terrible when it comes to stuff like this, and the upvote system does not help this at all.
 

mschweiz

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Oct 28, 2009
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out of all the places to go for mental help, he went to the internet... considering he was on Reddit, he should have known that people are terrible there, and to avoid them. plus at least for me, i take 4chan's disclaimer to heart and take almost everything commented or posted by a user as a trolling attempt or an outright lie.
 

pitasgame

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Sep 22, 2009
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Well I don't think Reddit should be held responsible, and I don't think there should be criminal charges pressed against the users, maybe civil charges in regards to bullying etc, since my only concern is those neanderthals might have actually reproduced and are teaching their larvae it's ok to bully and harrass others for their own amusements.

Possibly the man couldn't afford therapy or councilling, since it can end up being quite expensive, especially for someone with severe depression that takes sometimes years to overcome and manage. That's the thing, it's a chemistry thing, not an option or a choice. No one chooses to go to that very black space where it eventually leads, where you're thinking to yourself, I really can't handle this anymore. A ***** ex-wife, a disabled daughter, possibly getting laid off of work, and then trying to reach out to anywhere in desparation (picking the obviously worst place possible to do so) and when getting harrassed back and pretty much being told what you are trying to ignore in your head all that time, seeing it in black and white right in front of you....it could have been the final straw.
They didn't make him commit suicide, so therefore, they should not be held responsible. The website shouldn't be held responsible and really, the identities should be kept anonymous only in the fact that it would open up other cases and who knows where down the rabbit hole it would lead.

I rambled this much to show that I am not ignorant when it comes to mental illness, and I would never say he deserved it, or is in hell now, or any of that other bull that comes out of ignorant people's mouths. I can see why he did and I can understand the desparation that could have lead to his poor choices in trying to gain help.
However, I don't think those people should pay with criminal charges. Would I like to go and find them and torture them until they themselves find out what that bleak black hole feels like, friggin right I do! But we still have to make sure we keep our basic priveledges such as anonymity when we go online.

This is a sad story, but maybe even a cautionary tale. To others who might one day find themselves where he did. Who just might pick up the phone instead and call a friend, or family member. Anyone really. Just don't go online, it's the worst place in the world to go if you don't have balls of brass and shoulders that could take on mountains.
 

fallouthirteen

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Dec 8, 2008
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Honestly, I find it hard to fault those people just coming from this position. Everyone has problems, most people don't like listening to other people's problems and downright find it annoying when someone goes on about them in a public forum (it's seen as attention-whoring). Now they could ignore it, but for the same reason one is able to whine about their problems online others can say "screw you, I don't care about you in the least." Can't fault either person for anything in that situation.

Actually, this quote here is evidence that he was just looking for attention and pity or those people did nothing to cause his death (either he had no intention and got an approrpriate response from annoyed people, or he was going to do it anyway so the other people didn't cause it).
"You know I wasn't planning on posting any more, but this post just pissed me off. No, it's not a sick joke, as soon as I get the right tool for the job I'll happily blow my brains out."
When you do that, you deserve any response you get.

I'm betting he also was bothering the ex-wife with it too, hence the "fuck off and die already." Just saying, I think he got appropriate responses from people annoyed with his behavior and therefore brought it all upon himself.
 

SteewpidZombie

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Dec 31, 2010
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I'm surprised anyone is actually believeing that the Reddit users will be sued. If anything, they will simply be put into the spotlight and set as an example that stuff like this is not okay. Overall I'm sure it's also more or less a way to show that if legal action needs to be taken, the internet is NOT Anonymous. Unless you're some super crazy hacker who knows how to hide your location from the government, they simply need to email your Service Provider and they can gain access to EVERY single webpage you've ever visited.
 

Cobalt Lion

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Nov 4, 2010
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Well good. I hope the defendants lose their case. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and must be punished harshly and publicly.
 

Evil Smurf

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Nov 11, 2011
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was'n't there a jailbait thread on redit? the redit comunity really don't do themselves favours
 

Bvenged

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Sep 4, 2009
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This is most saddening. It's hard to really say something about this. Some of those Reddit posts were really supporting and say things better than I ever could, but if they didn't get through to him, how do you really stop this sort of thing?

Maybe if someone just got some first-hand intervention with him, grabbed a coffee and talked crap about the internet (as we all do ;) ), give him support or at least help him relax, give him things to look forward to; a hobby or something...

Too late now, though. I'm sure one or two incriminating posters were genuinely misunderstanding the circumstance, but those who were aware of it and still threw out the horrid messages. Disgusting.

While not much can be done for him now, maybe lessons can be learned for the snappy little inconsiderate twats of the internet. Sticks and stones can break your bones, now the internet, that can hurt you.
 

shado_temple

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Oct 20, 2010
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I know many people think this man was just stupid for turning to the internet for support, but try to step into his shoes for a moment: in addition to supporting a family, he had to take care of his disabled daughter, and tolerate a wife who wanted him to "fuck off and die already". Shit like that doesn't leave much time for friend-making in the real world, so he turns to internet communities to feel like he's a part of something. Yes, as we know, that's a fatal mistake right there, but desperate times and all that jazz.

As to whether or not the Redditors in question should be charged, that's something for the courts to decide. I wouldn't be all that disappointed with either decision, but it will be interesting to see what sort of precedent it sets for cases of this nature in the future. Regardless of the events in the next few days, however, I think those claimed to be responsible should be at least sent invitations to the funeral, or something to bring his demise to their full attention, even for just a moment. Trolls of their caliber need to be made aware of the consequences of their actions.
 

Vrach

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Jun 17, 2010
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Those people have nothing to do with why that guy killed himself and they can't be held accountable in any shape or form. You can tell anyone to go kill themselves, that's not a crime, that's free speech. Whether you like that or not, whether you wanna brand someone evil, soulless or whatever bullshit adjective you can think of, it doesn't matter one single bit, this can't stand in court, particularly as a case of internet communication where trolls and people saying they have intentions to kill themselves are about as common as porn.

Drama does have consequences, as do all actions, but none of this drama started or even ended with those users, every single bit of it was the guy's who killed himself. And if you're posting on a website (one that hosts a variety of users, as opposed to, say, a guild website or sth) that you have plans for ending your life, it's not a cry for help, it's a done matter or perhaps even a cry for something to put you over the edge.

In either case, those people didn't bully him, he came out into the open and started a topic about killing himself. No one but himself is accountable for that nor for his death.
 

Necrofudge

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May 17, 2009
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I feel sorry for the guy, but it's not like internet trolls are an unavoidable presence.

He didn't have to stay on the forum and talk to them, but he continued to be egged on. Plus, he apparently even called them trolls. He KNEW that they were doing it to be mean and that nothing they said should have been taken seriously. His decision was his own (although I still blame his ex-wife).

It is a sad event, but avoiding online bullying is as easy as leaving the website, and this sets a bad precedent for future disclosure of user personal information.
 

Dogstile

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Jan 17, 2009
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Person comes into place where i'm having a good time. Proceeds to tell me he's ending his life. Me, being the upstanding Englishman I am tell him "good luck, now fuck off" because he's willingly come into a place and expected me to care when I have no reason to.

He goes off and kills himself. Did I encourage him? Was it my fault?

Edit: Hint, the answer is no.
 

Sandytimeman

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Jan 14, 2011
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Threeseventyfive said:
Sandytimeman said:
Threeseventyfive said:
blackriderrom said:
^^^ THIS

It is a tragic story, but the Reddit users are not at fault for his death.

Doesn't "freedom of speech" mean anything anymore?
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences of what you say. You can say whatever you like without censorship but your words still have weight and consequence.
Wat?

"You can say whatever you want without censorship but if you say something we don't like you'll be arrested and charged."

I could understand if you said that "inciting suicide" isn't protected speech but what you said didn't make sense.
For instance you could stand in front of a crowd and yell out how you should kill a small minority. Thats completely protected. But if convince someone to actually do it, then I think thats another story.