Yet another asinine, sensationalist, ill-informed hit piece on this forum from the BBC

[ItsAllSoTiresome]

'Suicide website users encouraged our teen son to drink poison

I'm sure you can guess from the headline alone that this is yet another hit-piece on our forum from the free-speech hating, Stalinist propaganda outlet that is the BBC. All the usual sensationalist accusations about us being a 'pro-suicide cult' who "encourage children to kill themselves", branding the forum as an "echo chamber" where "there is definitely grooming taken place". And yet again, they name the Ukrainian businessman whom they have previously harassed, branding him a "poison seller". Nice one morons, any suicidal person reading your dogshit article now knows of a legitimate source for materials they could CTB with, your attempt at "harm reduction" will backfire completely.

The boy who killed himself suffered from autism, depression, anxiety and chronic neurological pain, surely anyone with an ounce of empathy could understand why he took the decision to end his suffering. But no, it's the same tired old narrative painting him as a selfish demon who has "devastated his family", along with the requisite footage of them crying and hamming it up for the cameras, ranting about "muh evul suicide cult who should be banned forever!!!!" to deflect their own guilt about how they weren't there for him. I wasn't active on this forum at the time he passed away, but I can guarantee that not one user would have dared to "encourage him to kill himself", and if they did then they would be banned immediately.

My depression has turned into rage, I simply cannot express in words how much I hate the BBC. They are a disgusting, Stalinist, free-speech hating government propaganda outfit hellbent on silencing desperate people who have nowhere else to go and nobody else to turn to, and if any of their "journalists" are lurking here I sincerely hope you rot in hell.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I obviously feel terrible for his family. It's also another minor- just about- at 17, which won't do the site any good.

I agree though- there are the usual blantant lies. There are checks in order to become a member. People have to disclose their age. So- minors who are members here lied to gain access. Presumably, their parents didn't have any kind of locks on their devices either. Not even sure you can access the site with them active. I thought it might be harder in the UK without a VPN anyway now.

People who come on here are determined to do so. They discovered the site in the first place. It never used to be somewhere you just stumbled across. I suspect they were already Googling suicide related topics.

The poor guy was obviously struggling. He was apparently receiving MH treatment. Why wasn't that working? Why do they never look into that?!! It makes my blood boil.

I'm appalled by the grooming accusation. As brutal as it sounds, I'd rather the site be 24-30+. I suspect a great many of us aren't at all comfortable with so many youngsters being here.

Partly because it's bloody horrific! So many young people already feeling as if life isn't worth it. WTF aren't the adults who ought to be invested in their future more concerned about that?

'It's an echo chamber'- it is. I wouldn't deny that. We are a group of people who have lost the will to live. I think it's remarkable that we are as positive and supportive as we are. Lots of people still get nudged towards recovery if there is even the slightest bit of hope left though.

Still- if you lot (normies, parents, the BBC, the authorities) truly find this place so dangerous- provide your children and young adults with an alternative! They clearly need a safe space where they can be really honest about how they feel- including having suicidal thoughts without either being ignored, abandoned or slung in a psyche ward. If you reckon you know what to say to help or advise them then- do it! If the 'help' they're receiving isn't working- ask why! They wouldn't even go looking for the site if things weren't already in a dire stare with little hope of improving. Give them hope for God's sake!

If they get their way and take sites like this down, they'll simply be depriving a lot of isolated people from maybe the only connection they get with others.

Maybe it isn't the kind of company they'd prefer us to keep. 'Misery loves company' and all that. Maybe we do all just confirm one another's negative perspectives of this world. Still- I doubt they'd (normies) want to hear about it so- what do we do? Just keep it to ourselves? Tell professionals? The 'professionals' couldn't seem to help this poor guy. It's just so frustrating.

I feel bad for him. I feel bad for his family but I'm so sick of them just focussing on the last hurdle. Shouldn't you be trying to step in before your children are so unhappy that they are considering suicide?

Also- what do you do if you provide a system of support for your 17, 18, 24, 44 year old but, they don't want to accept it? What then? Psyche holds? Forced drugs?

 

[rozeske]

If this is the same user whose loved one was here looking for answers, it is a quite misleading report and far from the truth and tbh not what I expected. I could very well be wrong and this could be a different user but unlikely.
Suicide will always be a sad phenomenon on the family left behind and such accusations could be their way of dealing with the grief i guess but it's sad to see such misrepresentation of the site.

 

[cme-dme]

Same old lies they have been spreading for years. It's so funny to me how they think just not mentioning the name of the forum or the "Ukrainian poison seller" is enough for people to not seek out these places. All they're doing is working against their own goals by giving our forum free advertising. They target a small forum like this rather than addressing the root cause which is poor support for mentally unwell people...But I guess that wouldn't make a good story now would it?
I'd love to know how many people have found this place from a BBC article or NYT. If you are one of those people, I'd love to hear about it :).

 

[WatchmeBurn]

I just read this and came here to see if it had been discussed. I think it deserves mature, serious discussion.

It's obviously a very sad case. He seems to have changed his mind or been struck by panic/regret upon taking the substance (presumably SN) and died in fear, despite wanting (at least in that moment) to live. He was also very young-too young, in my opinion, to be killing yourself. This may rankle some on this site who have a total and unrelenting 'pro-choice' perspective, but I think there ought to be some limits. If he's 17 and, if the article is correct, his mental health issues are fairly recent, then it's impossible that he had tried a decent number of treatments. The majority of people DO respond to treatment, and do not face unbearable + incurable suffering. There is a better future for them. By the time you're 17 you could've had, for the most part, 1-2 medications at most. It can take more than that to find the one that saves your life, even if for others none will ever work (e.g., I am on 14 at this point).

It is unfortunate that the BBC chooses to mis-represent the core ethos of the site (e.g., it is pro-choice, not pro-suicide, the latter is instantly perma-banned), and I have never seen actual "encouragement" rather than just acceptance when it comes to suicide. I have not seen any evidence of 'grooming' per se, though that would presumably happen through private messages. I have received one private message asking me specifically about obtaining/using different methods which I gather is against the rules, so it is perhaps too easy to go under the nose of the site admins to seek advice on how to end your life from a 'technical' perspective. I do not think it should be possible for a child/underage person to come on here and get given specific sources by a 40 year old-no, that isn't necessarily grooming, but it's still fucked up.

I expect the site will be blocked for UK users soon, but circumventing that is trivial, frankly. It wont change much-I mean how many young people today don't know how to use a VPN when it's as simple as installing a Chrome extension? This is, as always, dealing with surface-level symptoms of a deeper problem with the state of our society. That is, we have a society that is causing increasingly poor mental health, and the UK's mental healthcare system is completely dysfunctional. Many, many suicides in this country would be avoidable if only the NHS were properly funded, and many more could be avoided if we re-orientated our economic structures away from unfettered free-market capitalism. Would there still be cases in which people have genetically inscribed incurable mental health issues that cause unbearable suffering? Yes, but the number would be very low, and they should have access to peaceful and dignified assisted dying.

Ideally there would be more stringent mechanisms of keeping underage people off the forum (if people say they are-as I have seen before-they should be simply banned) and upholding a certain philosophy of 'suicide as last resort', given I've seen people on here who haven't even tried therapy or medication yet which is-to be honest-gravely immoral to allow. At that point, there is a good chance (a >50% chance, in fact) that they could still recover a stronger quality of life simply based on the efficacies of different treatments. I'm not sure how to do that without gravely violating the privacy of the users, though.

 

[WatchmeBurn]

If this is the same user whose loved one was here looking for answers, it is a quite misleading report and far from the truth and tbh not what I expected. I could very well be wrong and this could be a different user but unlikely.
Suicide will always be a sad phenomenon on the family left behind and such accusations could be their way of dealing with the grief i guess but it's sad to see such misrepresentation of the site.

What was the interaction between the loved ones and the site users? I was not there.

 

[SVEN]

It's the BBC, what would be expected from publicly funded, virtue signalling professional free loaders. Make the BBC a subscription service and see how long it would survive.

 

[needthebus]

Even though users must agree they are 18+ to use this site, I wonder if it's possible to add 18+ only to the banner to stop some of these ludicrous accusations.

I tried to draw an example, but it would just be "18+ Only" in white next to SanctionedSuicide and the Suicide Discussion button.

I feel terrible for this family, and the family has every right to hate SaSu because it's only natural for families to hate SaSu and look for someone to blame because of how much pain they are in. We shouldn't blame the family for hating us. (Also fuck you BBC!)

I'm sure that young man was lonely as hell and instead of working out, trying to meet other teenagers, and changing the way he dressed and looked, he was being put on large amounts of drugs that worked only slightly better than a placebo. This is also a failure of the clinicians this young person was seeing.

Eventually SaSu may want to block the IP addresses of all UK users and add to its TOS that the UK is a forbidden country and people from the UK aren't allowed to use it.

One thing that parents don't understand is that suicidal people who don't have access to less painful methods still attempt using lethal methods. They find ways, they are just often much more painful. No one should be here if they are 17, the site makes that clear.

 

[J&L383]

Same old lies they have been spreading for years. It's so funny to me how they think just not mentioning the name of the forum or the "Ukrainian poison seller" is enough for people to not seek out these places. All they're doing is working against their own goals by giving our forum free advertising. They target a small forum like this rather than addressing the root cause which is poor support for mentally unwell people...But I guess that wouldn't make a good story now would it?
I'd love to know how many people have found this place from a BBC article or NYT. If you are one of those people, I'd love to hear about it :).

I found the site when an obituary was published on the New York times newsletter, which on a close reading I discovered was a suicide.I started digging around and discovered this site. I am sad that there's so many young people here, but I feel partly responsible as my generation has screwed this world up and made it much more difficult to live.

 

[cme-dme]

I found the site when an obituary was published on the New York times newsletter, which on a close reading I discovered was a suicide.I started digging around and discovered this site. I am sad that there's so many young people here, but I feel partly responsible as my generation has screwed this world up and made it much more difficult to live.

Well, I don't think you should feel responsible. You're only human and you as an individual can only do so much. I am also one of the many young people here...
I discovered this forum by being incredibly bored one day and clicking the "Random site" button over and over on an obscure search engine. One of the sites I was brought to was an archive of an old website related to a.s.h. It linked this forum, saying it was a more modern form of what a.s.h once was.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

His family say they had seen his mental health improve as he had started seeing friends and travelling. But Vlad's older sisters, Masha and Mia, say even though he was much better, he was still vulnerable when he took his own life.
"Even if people using this forum struggle," says Masha, "no-one knew my brother well enough to make any decisions about his life."

What a fucking joke. Nobody made any decisions about his life except him. There is this weird thing where these people don't seem to realize that most of the people who seek out this forum are usually those who have been suicidal for years. Why would he go on here if he hadn't already been looking into methods prior? Why bother coming on here unless you are already suicidal? Their logic never makes any sense. People here generally tend to respect each other's decisions. I've seen cases of people on here who have decided to keep on going rather than ctb and the responses to those types of posts are usually pretty positive.

People seem to think that if someone they know is suicidal they would be able to tell straight away, but that is usually not the case. My mom was shocked when she found out about my attempt back when I was 15. I remember her talking about how I seemed to have been doing so well and seemed happy and was shocked that I would do something like this. This person thinks they truly know their brother but they only know about the bits and pieces of him that he is willing to share with others. Acting as though he was some sort of clueless and easy-to-manipulate idiot who didn't know what he was doing when he decided to attempt is just insulting. I understand that losing someone you care about is hard but this is just unproductive. Wouldn't it be more likely that he did what he did due to his suffering? Wouldn't it be more likely that the people a part of his life may have in some way factored into his decision?

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

The evil BBC Goals are to ban this site and control , censorship and suicide prohibition like the New York Times. So they lie about this site and site members to try to get it banned.

They will invent or copy any lie to accomplish their goals including banning this website

Also They let it slip in that article that he had bad mental problems and a painful condition. Many people would rationally want to escape such suffering. So why prolong anyone's suffering if we are all going to die anyway., that why he wanted suicide to escape his pain not any website nor any grooming nor encouragement which didn't happen

"At the time of his death he was being treated by mental health professionals and had also developed a painful neurological condition."

 

[before20]

Obviously, the loss of a minor is tragic.

However, claiming any death linked here to be a "victim" of this site is so maddeningly dishonest. You don't just become suicidal after joining this site—in fact, even if you post in Suicide Discussion, if it isn't a choice you seem 100% sure of, people will dissuade you from doing so. The one time I saw someone actually encourage suicide on this site, I reported them and they were almost instantly banned.

People are just as much "victims" of this site as they are "victims" of SN, or "victims" of rope.

 

[Shadows From Hell]

When they spew this bullshit, all they are doing is making this site more popular for others who are suicidal search and find this site.

 

[Pluto]

 

[astr4]

 

[cme-dme]

What a fucking joke. Nobody made any decisions about his life except him. There is this weird thing where these people don't seem to realize that most of the people who seek out this forum are usually those who have been suicidal for years. Why would he go on here if he hadn't already been looking into methods prior? Why bother coming on here unless you are already suicidal? Their logic never makes any sense. People here generally tend to respect each other's decisions. I've seen cases of people on here who have decided to keep on going rather than ctb and the responses to those types of posts are usually pretty positive.

People seem to think that if someone they know is suicidal they would be able to tell straight away, but that is usually not the case. My mom was shocked when she found out about my attempt back when I was 15. I remember her talking about how I seemed to have been doing so well and seemed happy and was shocked that I would do something like this. This person thinks they truly know their brother but they only know about the bits and pieces of him that he is willing to share with others. Acting as though he was some sort of clueless and easy-to-manipulate idiot who didn't know what he was doing when he decided to attempt is just insulting. I understand that losing someone you care about is hard but this is just unproductive. Wouldn't it be more likely that he did what he did due to his suffering? Wouldn't it be more likely that the people a part of his life may have in some way factored into his decision?

I think a lot of it comes from the common belief that a suicidal person is a person that needs to be "rescued" and has no individual autonomy. So if this forum contributes to somebody killing themself, it was 100% the fault of the forum because that suicidal person has no autonomy and cannot act for themselves. They needed to be rescued and this forum prevented that etc etc.

 

[MercenariesofMidgar]

Horrible what happened to the kid. Especially being a minor, I think people should try therapy and medicine before ctb TBH... or just common things that seem to help. Death is an irreversible thing for our shells.

but shit... reading about it how did they find out he used this website? The method? I'd rather not anyone know I used this place... Considering my method is hanging it's common enough to believe I just figured it out on my own I think. I've seen a lot of news articles where they've found the sasu accound of their loved one who ctb'd.

I'll just leave a note or something for investigators.

 

[mya_]

I don't agree with the things said in that article, but I don't think that partially blaming the family here is fair. Maybe it's because of my particular case with my brother, but our family really did try everything to help him find some comfort in living. It breaks my heart to imagine people blaming us for his unhappiness, only he could make that commentary but he can't now. I have no point to make in this text, I just feel terrible for everyone involved and I don't think that blaming is the solution.

 

[SilentSadness]

The thing that really frustrates me about these articles is how they take quotes from delusional people and use them as if they were not quotes. The entire article is full of false accusations against the site, such as the site "encouraging suicide", being "pro-suicide" and containing "illegal suicide and self-harm content" but each of them is hidden behind quotes making it supposedly opinion. What a joke, they have desecrated yet another corpse by using their picture and name to promote a cause the person would definitely be against and they still get paid because tax payers don't have a choice. I am very interested to see the supposed "conversations" they had with moderators of the forum.

 

[NonEssential]

Even though users must agree they are 18+ to use this site, I wonder if it's possible to add 18+ only to the banner to stop some of these ludicrous accusations.

Good idea, but I doubt it would stop the shitty media shittalking this website.

 

[L'absent]

The topic of suicide is, and will likely remain, one of the most controversial and polarizing discussions in the public sphere. There are platforms and digital spaces that allow some level of open conversation on the subject, though they are increasingly restricted or censored. However, the line between "talking about suicide" and "promoting it" is a boundary that authorities, the media, and pro-life institutions seek to make as impenetrable as possible.
A website that addresses suicide, even without promoting or encouraging it, will never be accepted by those who uphold the narrative that life is an absolute and inviolable value. For the pro-life movement, the mere existence of a space that allows open dialogue on the topic is already a threat that must be eliminated. It does not matter whether a site is only providing emotional support or neutral information—it will still be perceived as dangerous, something to be censored and destroyed.
We live in a world where power remains firmly in the hands of those who consider suicide a taboo. Anyone who tries to discuss it outside the dominant rhetoric will be seen as an enemy of the system. It does not matter how many precautions are taken or how often it is emphasized that there is no encouragement or incitement—the mere existence of a discourse that deviates from the "life as a gift" narrative will be enough to trigger censorship.
In this context, worrying about what the BBC or any other institutional entity might say about these sites is irrelevant. The reality is that this debate will never be accepted because it can never be tolerated in a world that enforces a one-sided perspective on life.

 

[slinkey10]

'Suicide website users encouraged our teen son to drink poison

I'm sure you can guess from the headline alone that this is yet another hit-piece on our forum from the free-speech hating, Stalinist propaganda outlet that is the BBC. All the usual sensationalist accusations about us being a 'pro-suicide cult' who "encourage children to kill themselves", branding the forum as an "echo chamber" where "there is definitely grooming taken place". And yet again, they name the Ukrainian businessman whom they have previously harassed, branding him a "poison seller". Nice one morons, any suicidal person reading your dogshit article now knows of a legitimate source for materials they could CTB with, your attempt at "harm reduction" will backfire completely.

The boy who killed himself suffered from autism, depression, anxiety and chronic neurological pain, surely anyone with an ounce of empathy could understand why he took the decision to end his suffering. But no, it's the same tired old narrative painting him as a selfish demon who has "devastated his family", along with the requisite footage of them crying and hamming it up for the cameras, ranting about "muh evul suicide cult who should be banned forever!!!!" to deflect their own guilt about how they weren't there for him. I wasn't active on this forum at the time he passed away, but I can guarantee that not one user would have dared to "encourage him to kill himself", and if they did then they would be banned immediately.

My depression has turned into rage, I simply cannot express in words how much I hate the BBC. They are a disgusting, Stalinist, free-speech hating government propaganda outfit hellbent on silencing desperate people who have nowhere else to go and nobody else to turn to, and if any of their "journalists" are lurking here I sincerely hope you rot in hell.

Does anyone even watch the BBC anymore anyway? would love to see official viewing figures - not worth the licence fee anymore. Does anyone even pay that ? Give it a day .... hour & they will be fawning over some royal bs story... Charles fell over or William waived at someone or, one of them has cancer again :)

 

[opheliaoveragain]

getting so tired of these. they seemingly don't realize they're perpetuating something they claim is evil with every damn article.

there are those of us here who feel like they need to look out for incitement, encouragement or even, fuck forbid, grooming. I know many in this community care a lot about this and would absolutely take action if anything like that was occuring. there are people on here who give a fuck about others safety, even if we are at the end of our own rope.

I can't speak on the user. this whole thing has me feeling a lot of things.

 

[ItsAllSoTiresome]

Does anyone even watch the BBC anymore anyway? would love to see official viewing figures - not worth the licence fee anymore. Does anyone even pay that ? Give it a day .... hour & they will be fawning over some royal bs story... Charles fell over or William waived at someone or, one of them has cancer again :)

It's dying on its arse, propped up by old people who are the only ones who pay the licence anymore, there's literally nothing worth watching apart from maybe the nature documentaries

 

[slinkey10]

getting so tired of these. they seemingly don't realize they're perpetuating something they claim is evil with every damn article.

there are those of us here who feel like they need to look out for incitement, encouragement or even, fuck forbid, grooming. I know many in this community care a lot about this and would absolutely take action if anything like that was occuring. there are people on here who give a fuck about others safety, even if we are at the end of our own rope.

I can't speak on the user. this whole thing has me feeling a lot of things.

They do this.... "getting so tired of these. they seemingly don't realize they're perpetuating something they claim is evil with every damn article" becaue the net etc has killed them off. They are irelevant, Hence why they do the sensasionalist hit peices which no great ammount of people read/see - I wouldnt worry what the beeb say. They have no power anymore.

 

[cme-dme]

Good idea, but I doubt it would stop the shitty media shittalking this website.

If we did that, they would just mention how people lie about their age to access the forum. The only way to verify age is with an ID which neither moderators or forum members are interested in doing. Better off just not accepting the premise of assholes and moving on.

 

[Jimmy.]

They do this.... "getting so tired of these. they seemingly don't realize they're perpetuating something they claim is evil with every damn article" becaue the net etc has killed them off. They are irelevant, Hence why they do the sensasionalist hit peices which no great ammount of people read/see - I wouldnt worry what the beeb say. They have no power anymore.

Agreed, I really do need to stop supporting them with the license fee. Nobody needs to, or should pay it anymore.

Both myself and a friend found this site following one of their sensationalist articles. I wonder how many others have joined in the same way.

 

[dexdbxtchthewxtch]

The video posted by his sister yesterday.

It's weird to see SaSu mentioned in one of my Facebook groups; I am part of a sibling survivors of suicide group and she posted this there and has now made it her life's mission to damn this forum.

Which is ironic considering more people have joined and become active in the community since.

 

[Scythe]

Again? They don't got anything better to report on? Eg. The shit going on the america, maybe an incel forum, or heck the actual reason why ppl die as in the shit wages and high living prices
This is also what, the 5th time they reported this site? they gotta stop beating the dead horse.