If someone were on his deathbed from cancer, in terrible pain and needing someone to show a little compassion, and posted in the wrong forum, would you (anyone – not just mods} – continue to show coldness and indifference and a “rules are rules” attitude?
Clinical depression is often a terminal illness. Never, ever shrug off this kind of post without a backward glance. (Idle Thoughts, I know that you did look into the matter further and I have no doupt that you were commpassionate in what you had to say.) Often depressives do threaten to take their own lives before they actually do it. Never assume that you know the reason a person is posting about suicide.
Also, please remember that one of the symptoms of clinical depression is confusion. Don’t expect someone who is claiming to be considering ending his life to be in a rational state. On another forum many years ago, I was to that point. I posted what I later called my “braindead posts.” Those posts themselves were cold and hostile. I made no attempt on my life, but I went to “my safe place” (a certain hospital) where I was on suicide watch for one or two days. Then I got five weeks of care, counselling, and medication that set me back on my feet.
Please don’t cut someone off when they most need to reach someone.
I had surgery for lung cancer a little over a year ago and I can tell you that I was far more frightened and in pain when I had a bout of clinical depression.
I’m not trying to be snarky, but abuse to the mods or abuse to the poster? “Not fun to deal with” by the mods or the poster? I honestly can’t tell which way you mean it.
There is no legal or moral obligation for the mods on this forum (or any forum) to allow someone to keep shitposting, regardless of their health or mental state. If someone is in a state of crisis, they need to get off the internet and get help right now. Talking about it isn’t going to help them, so their forums access is moot.
I am very sympathetic to those issues - I lost a very good and close friend to suicide. But why in the world would you think a moderator on this board should share any responsibility for an anonymous poster from the internet.
The SDMB is not a doctor. The SDMB is certainly not your doctor. The Mods have no way of knowing anything about the poster. They don’t know if it is someone suffering from depression or someone being an asshole. I can’t see of a better way of doing it. Publicly do their job of keeping the board running smoothly while privately reaching out to the poster. An Egg Mcmuffin thread is not the right place for a therapy session.
No interest in seeing this board decide that someone posting like that needs to be coddled and helped and allowed to completely derail whatever thread they decide to take a dump in because it could be real and they may need real help and somehow we all need to stop whatever discussion we’re carrying on, let our hearts bleed all over the thread and make it all about that person’s issues (and apparent inability to seek professional help).
As above, the SDMB isn’t a doctor and isn’t under any legal obligation to allow this sort of thing. As posters, we can offer compassion and help, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing when for all we know the person is simply trolling. Doesn’t take a lot of effort to read and follow a mod instruction or two and make your own damned thread where you can get the attention you desire, and a lot of really really good advice from the People of the Dope.
I honestly see zero ambiguity with the statement ‘not fun to deal with’ and see no reason to snark on the mods about it. None.
