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0 pointsselmnoo12y ago0 comments

And here he is asking us for help and being ignored: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1782800

Actually just go through the his submission history and randomly click a few links: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=losethos

You can actually see his condition gradually getting worse over months and years. I wonder if he would have turned out differently had we embraced him - and helped him?

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8 comments · 4 top-level

diminoten12y ago· 4 in thread

Is that our responsibility, to save a man from mental illness? I don't feel it is.

selmnooOP12y ago

Is it our responsibility to help people who have down syndrome from hurting themselves? Is it our responsibility to help people with physical handicap? Is it our responsibility to help people suffering from depression?

I'm offended by the thought and the idea that we should just ignore our ill. What if the person suffering from the mental illness was your brother or sister? Think about if it was you, and no-one reached out to you - how would you feel?

philh12y ago

"Responsibility" is one of those words that makes it really hard for people to talk to each other.

If a person does not go out of their way to do the things you listed, I do not consider that a moral failing on their part. Especially if the cost to them is more than the benefit to the other person.

If you keep jumping on bullets, sooner or later you run out of flesh.

dereferenced12y ago

Then you'd ask a medical professional for help, not comments on a website.

diminoten12y ago

You're way overgeneralizing. I mean you and I, users of Hacker News, to help one specific person. That's all.

It should be blatantly obvious that, were the situation different, I'd feel differently.

Not everything is a moral crusade, Internet warrior.

kristofferR12y ago

After the hellban several years ago all his submissions were automatically killed instantly after posting. So you can't blame the community for not responding, the system made it impossible to respond/upvote at all.

This is one of the reasons why hellbanning is such a bad idea, leaving the poster to believe that everybody is actively ignoring him instead of just not being able to see him/interact with him.

Making regular healthy people waste a lot of their time posting content and feeling totally ignored is bad enough, subjecting people with mental health issues to that is even more unethical.

StavrosK12y ago

Ah, damn, the fact that that post is dead is very sad. I know it's years old, but, losethos, do you still need advice? (I'll probably see your reply, as I have showdead on). We could probably get a thread going, if so.

Crito12y ago

In the past he has made reference to doctors and his parents. The impression that I get is that he is getting more help right now than HN can give him.

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