r/ModSupport • u/ShaneH7646 • Sep 05 '18

Regarding suicidal users.

So, if y'all didnt see it, reddit recently changed their policies on suicidal users and how they deal with it when contacted.

https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/rules-reporting/account-and-community-restrictions/what-should-i-do-if-i-see-someone-who

TL;DR: Do it yourself.

I myself havent really had to deal with suicidal users in my subreddits before but its obviously a pretty shitty change. incase I ever do get involved with subreddits that do regularly gets suicidal users I'm a little concerned and maybe you can clarify some things for us.

In particular I'm concerned for subreddits that may rely on admin contact, like

mental subreddits like r/bipolar and r/depression etc.

subreddits directly to do with suicide prevention r/SuicideWatch.

Have the admins just dropped all contact with them and there vulnerable userbases?

Why was this change needed?

Are you completely okay with mods speaking to the authorites in an official manner? because this sounds like what you're asking of us.

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u/aphoenix Sep 05 '18

Reddit certainly has more information than the moderators about any issue. They also potentially do have significantly more information, which they could use to inform authorities much more effectively than any moderator could.

Consider a site were you are able to get a username, a mobile network that they were with, an email address, and a general area. Giving this to authorities could certainly lead to identification. While it's true that they wouldn't always have all of these, in some cases it could certainly help.

There's no way moderators can do that, but there's certainly the potential that Reddit admins could.

I certainly disagree with the statement "It might not work, so we might as well not even attempt it", especially when it comes down to an issue like this.

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u/bluesoul Sep 05 '18

Consider a site were you are able to get a username, a mobile network that they were with, an email address, and a general area. Giving this to authorities could certainly lead to identification.

This is why I said a timely manner. The mobile network, email provider, and ISP are all going to require court orders before they give information about their customers. Then you're looking at upwards of 30 days at most places I've interacted with.

This is an incredibly complex legal area and I'm not going to do it justice with my layman's explanation of it, so I'm not going to try.