Suicide and Self-Harm Policy

Overview

Encouraging or urging anyone towards suicide or self-harm is not permitted here, and neither is setting out methods or instructions for either. Writing about your own experience is a different thing, and it is allowed. This page says which is which, because the difference matters more here than almost anywhere else. This is a service for people at the end of their life and for the people they leave behind, and a rule written carelessly would silence the people it was meant to protect.

We do not screen anything before it is posted, and no automated system reads what you write. A report is how this reaches us, a person reads every report, and we review reports within 24 hours of receiving them.

What Constitutes a Violation of This Policy?

You are not permitted to urge another person towards suicide or self-harm. What that looks like on the page is words addressed to someone else recommending it or ranking it: "the most effective," "the easiest," "the best," "the most successful," "you should," "why don’t you." Those same words inside your own account of your own life are not this, and the section below says so plainly. Violations of this policy can occur through posts, comments, images, videos and letters.

For the purposes of this policy:

• Suicide is defined as the act of taking one’s own life.
• Self-harm includes self-inflicted physical injuries (e.g., cutting) and eating disorders (e.g., bulimia, anorexia).

Violations of this policy include, but are not limited to:

• Encouraging someone to physically harm or take their own life.
• Soliciting encouragement from others to engage in self-harm or suicide, including seeking partners for group suicides or suicide games.
• Sharing information, strategies, methods, or instructions that facilitate self-harm and suicide.
• Attacking or mocking a named victim or survivor of suicide or self-injury.

What Does Not Constitute a Violation of This Policy?

Your own experience is yours to write. What you have lived through, what you are living through now, your own thoughts of suicide, and what has helped: all of it is permitted here, at whatever length you need, to the people you are writing to. You do not have to say you are past it. You do not have to end on something hopeful. You do not need a warning on it, you do not need a reason for it, and nobody is going to ask you for either.

That is as true of self-harm as it is of suicide. People write here about cutting, about eating disorders, and about other kinds of self-injury, most often because they have lived through them. That writing is allowed. This policy is about urging another person towards it, and an account of your own life is not that.

The one thing to leave out is the method. Not because your account is shameful, but because somebody else will read it, and they may be nearer the edge of this than you are. You can say that you tried. You can say what it did to you, what it cost you, and what it was like. Leave out what you used and how much.

Being ready to die is not self-harm. Saying that you do not want to be here without someone, that you have had enough, that you are ready to go, or that you have stopped treatment, is not a violation of this policy and it will not be removed under one. Neither is asking the people you are writing to not to be frightened of it.

A lawful assisted death is not self-harm under this policy. If you have made that decision where the law provides for it, you can write about it here: your reasons, what brought you to it, the date it is set for, and everything you want to say to the people you are leaving. None of that is a violation of this policy and none of it will be removed under one. The one thing asked of you is the one thing asked of everyone on this page, which is to leave the method out.

These are not violations of this policy either:

• Sharing personal stories and experiences related to self-harm or suicide.
• Providing coping mechanisms and resources for addressing self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
• Writing about someone you lost to suicide, including saying so plainly.
• Engaging in discussions focused on research, advocacy, and education related to self-harm or suicide prevention.

Who can report violations of this policy?

Any user with a Goodbye App account has the ability to report potential violations of this policy.

In-app and Desktop

You can report content for review in-app and desktop as follows:

1. Select Report Account from the icon:
2. Select "Self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide".
3. Submit your report.

We do not screen content before it is posted, so a report is how this reaches us. Every report reaches a person, and we review reports within 24 hours of receiving them.

Consequences of Policy Violations:

What happens depends on what was posted and on the account's history. If you breach this policy by posting content that encourages self-harm, asks others to encourage it, or sets out methods, we will require you to remove the content. We may temporarily lock your account to prevent further posting. Repeat violations, or an account most of whose posts urge people towards self-harm or suicide, result in permanent suspension. Every one of those decisions is made by a person reading the account, not by an automated system.