After reading Cecil’s answer to this question I have to say I was a little disturbed. Cecil pretty much tells you the best way to commit suicide (if you’re slashing your wrists anyway) with this little gem:
I seriously doubt the intent was to tell people how to commit suicide more efficiently but still, :eek:. I thought giving advice on how to commit suicide was frowned upon on this board.
And that’s the bottom line
I almost threw up when I read that column.
In that case, how does one punish a Perfect Master?
Well…
(1) The direction for wrist-slashing is very commonly available.
(2) Cecil’s column is published. People can read it or not, but it’s a factual statement. There’s only one author.
The Message Board is an interactive exchange of ideas, thoughts, and information. Some of the information is accurate, some is provided by flakes.
In short, there is a difference between a column by Cecil describing wrist-slashing techniques, and a person posting on the Message Board saying, “I’m depressed and I’ve got my head in the oven, how do I turn on the gas?”… and people responding.
Okay, what I meant was the Straightdope website, but I get your point about the distinction between the board and the columns. That being said, whether the wrist slashing technique is fact or not does not really excuse telling people how to commit suicide more efficiently. Information on how to make bombs and other weapons is also readily available, that doesn’t mean it should be posted so people can learn how to kill other people more efficiently.
There’s a difference between killing oneself and killing others.
just google for bus stop, this kind of information as always been availabe.
Yes and no. To me, the end result is the same. Death. It’s not something we should be helping people achieve.
I’d have to advise getting the laptop out of the oven first. 
Well, the column was written back in 1974 or so – a more helpful and less politically correct era.
And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, dogawful. I take it when you say “always been available”, you mean since the internet. But it was widely known in detective fiction in the 1960s, as well.
Adults should be treated like adults, not like little children.
I believe in fighting ignorance and that’s why I love this place. I also believe the best way to fight ignorance is through more knowledge, not less. No matter the intent, withholding information from someone is wrong IMHO. You can only hold someone’s hand for so long before it becomes harmful to that person. Granted, this particular information can only be used for one purpose (suicide, of which I personally disapprove of) but it should be up to the person to decide for himself what to do with it. It shouldn’t be up to others to decide for him.
There’s a disturbing website out there (dont’ remember the URL) that catalogs different suicide methods and their efficacy. Believe me when I tell you that this is bad news for someone actually contemplating the act.
The book “Final Exit” also evaluates suicide methods for terminally ill people. I’ll only mention it advises against any violent methods (like wrist-slashing) or poisons.
The Hemlock Society is a non-profit (I should hope so!) organization devoted to helping people, invariably the terminally ill or extremely old, off themselves with a minimum of pain and hassle for everyone involved. They offer legal advice and publish booklets (although many of them, you have to have been a member for a fair amount of time before they will send to you). The information’s out there, and I think it’s a little… idealistic to assume that there are no situations in which the information might be useful, appreciated, and even appropriate.
I think I know the same site. I won’t post the URL but had something to do with the newsgroup alt.Suicide.holiday (I wasn’t looking to off myself. I was just bored one day and thought up odd google searches).
I thought it was kind of interesting in an off way.
Anyway.
As for the OP: It’s not like The Master write a step by step guide on how to knock yourself off (first write the note. Make it as hate filled as possible, next…) and anyway, I saw that as a bit of gallows humor.
One thing that I think Cecil missed about movies always using water is that the shot of the blood flowing into the clean water is quite ‘nice’ in a cinematic sense. Unless you are the type that likes it spraying onto walls.