how to handle...

[winterbadger]

If you ever have a friend on your friends list threaten suicide or leave a suicide not in their LJ (public or friends only) contact the Livejournal Abuse Team immediately.

The Abuse Team does have more info on each LJer than most of us may have and can contact the users local police department and get them help a lot sooner than an LJ friend could if no one knows his real name or address... Abuse team handles these situations frequently.

jessical, a member of the LJ abuse team says: file a request with the LiveJournal Abuse Team with *all* IRL contact info you have". Sometimes people forget to do that, and in suicide requests, seconds count. A suicide request is usually noticed within 5 minutes of being entered into the abuse requests. At which point, generally at least 5 abuse team members start investigating that and only that. People are called on cell phones to be asked to get to a computer if possible, people are woken up out of a dead sleep, etc.

We work our asses off investigating the case, and as soon as we have a full name, address, etc., the manager of the abuse team (rahaeli) or one of us (I've personally called twice) calls the police in the area to give them as many details as possible -- method planning on being used if known [in case the situation gets violent], whether they're with parents or roommates or their own children, any other relevant stuff we may dig up -- and the cops then send out a car to the site.

Often, due to confidentiality laws and stuff, or just simple busyness, we never hear anything back. We all hold our breath and watch to see if their journal is updated again. Sometimes, we're reassured -- sometimes, we wonder forever.

And generally, across the Internet, if you get a suicide request, it goes to the abuse department, simply because we do so much investigating that we are the most likely to be able to connect words on a screen with a real-life identity.

Yes, harassment complaints may wait a looong while before getting addressed, but we recognize the emergency that suicide requests are. -jessical, quote from here

Unfortunately, it's not uncommon that people leave suicide notes in their LJ, but very few LJers know to contact the Abuse team in the event that someone on their friends list leaves a suicide note... can you each take a minute today to post this info in your own LJ to spread the word throughout LJ as for how to handle this type of situation. like jessical said, "seconds count" and contacting LJ abuse for a friend is what may may save the life of someone on YOUR friends list.

reposted from carmenwatson

edited to restore userid tags and URLs and to remove dubious contact info that was added somewhere in the LJ transmission chain.

Comments

[faerlyn-darkelf.livejournal.com]

Um - no thanks. Looks like some kind of hoax to me.

[winterbadger]

And the motivation of someoen to find out about possible suicides would be...?

I've seen LJs of people invovled in trying to prevent a loved one from committing suicide, and IMO anything that has a chance of reaching someone before they kill themselves in a state of despair should be undertaken.

[faerlyn-darkelf.livejournal.com]

No way - I write here because nobody KNOWS who I am - and I want to keep it that way - besides, if they are really going to do it, they will just DO it and not say anything. Those who mention it are just out for attention....

[winterbadger]

if they are really going to do it, they will just DO it and not say anything. Those who mention it are just out for attention....

Would that life were really that simple.

[perigee.livejournal.com]

It is kind of weird that the FAQ question refers to the community: lj_abuse and that there appear to be no interlinks between lj_abuse and [Unknown site tag] as given here.

lj_abuse, though, seems to have a connection with abuse_team.

[perigee.livejournal.com]

The FAQ question I refer to is here: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=105 (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=105)

[winterbadger]

Here are some links that this tracks back to. Believe what you wish.

http://www.livejournal.com/community/ljers4eternity/34889.html is the original post (as far as I can tell) that this warning comes from. The people mentioned (jessical and raheli) do seem to be abuse team members (insofar as it is possible on the INternet to be sure that someone is anything and not a dog).

The original post also has a link to the FAQ (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=105), a link that like the userids, didn't get passed along when the message was reposted.

This really isn't a scam, as far as I can tell, and it might save someone's life.

Just looking for attention?

[meepeek.livejournal.com]

Having survived the suicide of my lover of five years when I was 21, all I can say is.. if they're looking for attention that badly what's wrong with giving it to them? Sooner or later they may go thru with it, or hurt someone else, to get that attention, or to show everyone that they /did too/ mean it. Even if they never would, why risk it? And, seriously, if someone needs the attention that badly, something /is/ wrong.

[perigee.livejournal.com]

I think it's good that people are skeptical about giving private information to some abuse team they can't find direct links to in the FAQ. I also think that the LJ abuse team handling suicide notes is a good thing.

I'm glad you (winterbadger) posted some followup information about how the original post you made relates to the abuse team. That information seems more trustworthy now.

I've worked suicide hotlines. You talk with the caller for a while, try to get other people in the household on the phone, sometimes you call the cops. I've called the cops on a suicidal friend before. It was high drama at the time, and it's something she's thanked me for doing now, years later.

Here on LJ, it looks like the cops are the Abuse Team. I'd go with going the official route. The quote from jessical says that formal suicide requests filed through normal the LJ Abuse Team channels get noticed within 5 minutes of filing, so that's the way I'd go. Just saying.