[WikiEN-l] London calling, etc.

[Durova]

I think we need to be aware of the difference between a suicide
/threat/ ("I am going to/I want to kill myself") and a suicide /note/
("By the time you read this, I will be dead"). I see no other
legitimate course of action in the latter case than contacting the
local police immediately.

******
I disagree.  If we embark on the slippery slope of parsing these notes and
attempting to intuit their sincerity then we head into trouble.  Maybe not
this time or the next instance, but eventually.  In a worst case scenario
some editor who is sincerely and passionately *wrong* upbraids a genuinely
suicidal adolescent, who shortly afterward jumps out a window and becomes a
quadriplegic.

These situations are beyond Wikipedia's scope, period.  Hand them over to
the professionals who have training and experience and access to social
services.

-Durova