Terms of Service Agreement

The providers ("we", "us", "our") of the service provided by this website ("Service") are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts. Content submitted express the views of their author only.

This Service is only available to users who are at least 13 years old. If you are younger than this, please do not register for this Service. If you register for this Service, you represent that you are this age or older. Accounts of members under the age of 16 may include restriction of access to areas or privileges not appropriate for their age group.

All content you submit, upload, or otherwise make available to the Service (inclusive of chat and private messages) ("Content") may be reviewed by staff members. All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential.

You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws. In addition to this you agree not to use the Service to submit any content that contravenes any of the site rules (below). Contravention of the rules and the interpretation thereof will be determined at all time by the site administration. You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content or your conduct.

We may remove or modify any Content submitted at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice. Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion and only under exceptional circumstances. We may terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice.

You may not access the Service through automated or programmatic means (such as through a content scraper) without prior permission from us.

You are granting us with a non-exclusive, permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish your Content in connection with the forum section of the Service. You retain copyright over the Content. In the articles section of the site you are granting exclusive permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish any content you submit for publication and agree not to share or publish articles that are published in that section in any other electronic or print format now or in the future without first obtaining written approval from us.

These terms may be changed at any time without notice.

The suicideforum.com forum rules and guidelines published on this site are considered part of these terms. These are also subject to change without advance notice at any time. Continued use of site constitutes agreement any changes.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not register or use the Service. Use of the Service constitutes acceptance of these terms. Accounts may be banned or suspended but will not be closed or removed. The Service collects and no identifying or personal data or information.

Suicide Forum – Site Rules.

As with any community, rules and guidelines are important to keep the community running smoothly and safely. Please keep in mind our rules whenever posting to keep our community safe and supportive for members and guests alike.
The rules here are not exhaustive and will be modified over time as necessary. The ethos of Suicide Forum is to protect life and promote a ‘do no harm’ tenant.
Access to the community is a privilege, not a right, and members who continually breach these rules will find themselves limited or removed from the community, regardless of the other contributions they have made.
Please note that responses to questions posted on the forums cannot be guaranteed. If you require a response from a staff member, please submit a Letter to Admin or post in Ask the Staff and a member of staff will endeavor to respond to you within 48 hours.
Suicide Forum – Site Rules.
If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or someone else contact a friend, family member, counselor, helpline, local hospital or the police for immediate help.
Site Ethos
SF is a pro-life peer to peer support forum for people in crisis. SF operates on a “Do no harm, promote no harm” principle. Membership of SF is a privilege, not a right. If you cannot abide by the forum rules, this privilege will be removed. Rules:
These rules apply to all areas of the forum, chat, private messaging, diaries and groups.

1. Do not share or ask for Methods to harm yourself. This applies to suicide methods and self-harm methods. If other people can picture how you are harming, have harmed or are intending to harm yourself, this is a method and is not allowed. Methods also includes suicide planning or steps taken to prepare to commit suicide. (We consider the word 'cutting' to be a synonym for self-harm rather than a description of an action and this word is permitted).

2. Encouraging suicide or self-harm in any way will lead to an immediate account ban.

3, Suicide Pacts are viewed as encouraging suicide and therefore strictly forbidden.

4. Suicide notes, timelines or countdowns of any description are not to be posted on the forum or discussed in chat – these will be removed.

5. Discussion supporting or encouraging anything that is generally considered illegal in the UK, USA, or Australia is not allowed. This includes discussions endorsing the use of illegal drugs (including marijuana) or promoting the abuse of legal medications.

6. SF is a pro-life support site. Discussion and debate on euthanasia and “right to die / right to commit suicide” is not permitted.

7. Sexually explicit content and/or the attempt to engage other members in discussions that are sexual in nature are strictly prohibited. We have members as young as 13. If we catch an adult grooming a minor we WILL report the adult to the authorities.

8. As a peer support forum it is expected that all our members treat others with respect. Rude, insulting or bullying behaviour will lead to site privileges being revoked.

9. Expression of violent intentions or desires toward individuals, groups, animals etc. is prohibited.

10. We do not delete accounts or threads on request. You are in control of the personal information on your profile - if you wish to change your email address and password that can be done at a user level so you can no longer log yourself in. We store no personal information on members and do not close or delete accounts.

11. Sharing ANYTHING posted on SF by members, staff or admin – in chat or on the forums – in whole or in part, offsite or to another location will lead to immediate account ban. This includes copy/paste or paraphrase to social media sites, blogs, skype conversations etc.

12. SF is not a substitute for medical or professional assistance in a crisis. If you are found to be in danger (claiming that you are in the middle of a suicide attempt, that you are currently self-harming, that you are an immediate threat to yourself or someone else, that you are currently engaging in dangerous behaviours) your account will be temporarily suspended so you can seek professional help.

13. If you post on SF or enter chat while intoxicated to the point that it limits your coherence your account will be temporarily suspended until such time as you are able to give and receive support in the spirit of the site.

14. Staff instructions are to be followed at all times without argument or abuse. If you have questions or comments about a staff instruction you may write a “Letter to the Admin” to discuss it. Staff decisions are not to be discussed in chat or on the forum – both of these are for support not debate on site policies.

15. SF is not an advertising space – personal links and links to commercial concerns will be considered spam and deleted.

16. Your personal information is your responsibility. SF takes no responsibility for the actions of members off site. It is strictly forbidden to ask for another member’s off site contacts (email, skype, social media etc). You may offer your own at your own risk, but requesting it from others will be considered coercive and potentially predatory and your SF account will be closed. Under no circumstances is it allowed to pressure or push for real life meetings or in person meetings. Anybody that feels like they were pressured for meetings offsite should immediately report it. In these situations the local authorities will be notified if deemed appropriate.

17. You are entitled to your own faith but posts pushing your faith on other people are not allowed here. Do not recommend people seek help from God, the church or any other religious activity, nor make statements that seeking such help is harmful or useless. It is equally considered a religious agenda to push an anti-God/Creator sentiment. Our members find it triggering and have the right to speak about their problems without having a religious agenda pushed upon them. Posts that are considered to push a religious agenda will be deleted and your account may be limited or banned.

18. The position of this forum is that depression and mental illness is a medical problem that should be dealt with by a medical professional with prescribed treatment, whether this be medication or therapy. Any post that dissuades from seeking medical attention (e.g. arguing that meds are dangerous/placebos, suggesting that hospitals bad places etc.) are against the rules and will be deleted. Whether or not people take medication is a decision that is strictly between them and their doctor.

19. The contents of private messages between members or staff are not to be shared with other members. If someone believes they are speaking with you privately, copying the conversation to someone else, or sharing screen shots of that conversation with someone else, is a breach of trust. Doing this will lead to your chat access being revoked.

20. The minimum age to join SF is 13. All members under the age of 16 will have public access only accounts. They can post on the main forum or use the public group chat rooms for support however they cannot send/receive private messages in either chat or forum to protect them from potentially dangerous or inappropriate advice and /or discussions.

Child abuse is a crime, not a peer support topic. If physical or sexual abuse is reported by a minor (under 18 years old) the thread will be closed and the member encouraged to report it to authorities for real life assistance. Peer support cannot adequately address complex issues that require physical/legal intervention to resolve. The support offer will be to encourage the minor to contact appropriate authorities/resources in real life.
Members are only allowed to have one account. Duplicate accounts are against the rules. We want you to get support for your problems and issues - being more than one person is neither necessary nor helpful to you. If, for any reason, you wish to change your user name or have a problem with your account, please contact the staff so we can help you.
It is expected that members will ‘self-moderate’ – this means that if members see behavior that violates the site rules, they are required to report it to a member of staff at the earliest possible opportunity. In chat this can be done using the “report abuse/spam” function. On the forum there is a “report” button at the bottom of every post. Alternatively you may write a Letter to the Admin at any time. All reports are confidential.
For further guidance on using SF, including further details of the rules of the site and the guidelines within which we require our members to operate while using this forum, please read the Guidelines and User Manual.
SF often uses the term Pro-Life. The term "Pro-Life” as used on SF is strictly as regards the question of suicide. www.SucicideForum.com has no religious or political affiliation of any kind and does not have any opinion as an organization on other common uses of the term pro-life in political or religious areas such as abortion or women’s rights. All members are welcome to their own personal beliefs on such matters; however, discussions of these topics are not appropriate for this forum and have nothing to do with the forums purpose or ethos.
SF considers the term Pro-life to mean that we believe that no life should be lost to suicide and that all problems can be dealt with and treated by support, understanding, intervention, and medical and professional mental health supports, and without having to kill, harm, or mutilate oneself to solve the problems faced in living.
Sf considers suicide to be the intentional act of ending one’s life in response to mental or non-terminal physical pain, torment, or discomfort. SF, as a non-political and non-religious site, is not a forum for the discussion of Euthanasia, Right to Die, or other political or medical definitions or interpretations of suicide. We are a support site and only discuss supports and supporting members in times of stress or in their need to find ways to end or reduce pain or stress that do not include killing or harming themselves or others.

Suicide Forum Guidelines and User Manual

Suicide Forum is a pro-life peer support forum. This means we are a community built on the giving and receiving of support, helping each other and giving each other a space to talk about things we may not be able to talk about in ‘real life’ or may not feel that other people can understand. In short, we are people who understand what it is like to want to die, supporting each other to find a way to live
SF is run completely by volunteers and is funded by donations from people who have been helped by SF or know someone who has been helped by SF.
We expect our members to be polite, kind, helpful and supportive at all times. We operate on an ‘if you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything’ principle. This does not mean you cannot give constructive advice and suggestions, simply that the emphasis is on ways that things could be better as opposed to emphasizing the negative in another person or situation. Please treat others as you would wish to be treated.
Most people come to SF in the middle of a crisis – many have never used a forum or a chat room before. We hope that those people who feel able will reach out to others with words of support and encouragement. Some things to remember when giving or receiving support:
It doesn’t matter whether or not you know ‘what to say’. Sometimes all it takes is a single line letting someone know they have been heard and they are not alone.
The vast majority of people here are in pain. It may be that some people will struggle to engage with you because they are having a hard time themselves. This is not a reflection on you or the effort you are making – be assured that even if people do not express it well at times, any efforts you make are appreciated and do help.
There will be times when someone comments on a thread you made or offers advice in chat that you do not like or want. The people here are not professionals - just people trying to help each other and of course everyone is different. If you receive advice or comments you do not find useful, try to remember that even if you do not agree with that person, they too the time and effort to try to help you.
It is a great idea to write in the My Story section to begin with so people get to know your situation. Don’t worry about posting in the wrong section or whether you are explaining yourself well – often the best thing to do is to just start talking.
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Keeping SF Safe

SF is strictly about helping each other to find hope, to improve our life situations and overcome challenges and to find ways to want to live. This means saying things that are likely to make someone feel worse or to take actions that may be dangerous are not permitted in the forum or in chat. This includes:
Suicide Methods – Any mention of suicide methods or means of killing yourself are forbidden on SF. Please take care to give your post a read over before you publish it to make sure that you haven’t mentioned a specific method or manner to commit suicide or to prepare to commit suicide.
Self-Harm Methods and Details – As most self-harmers know, thinking about self-harm can often lead to wanting to engage in it. Please avoid giving details or graphic descriptions about harming yourself and mentioning specific ways in which you harm yourself in order to keep other members safe from being ‘triggered’ into a self-harm episode.
Suicide Notes or Timelines– Posting a suicide note saying goodbye or that you will be dead by tomorrow or any specific date or time can make people feel that they have ‘said it, so now they have to do it’. For this reason we do not allow suicide notes or timelines as they prevent people from getting support and help.
Suicide Pacts and Encouraging Suicide – Encouraging or promoting suicide is subject to an instant ban. We are dedicated to keeping our members safe and alive. Suicide pacts are considered encouraging people to die and anyone found to be engaging in any behaviour that could be considered ‘pacting’ will be permanently banned from the site.
Euthanasia and ‘Right to Die’ arguments – Discussions about whether or not it is ‘right’ for mentally ill or chronically depressed people to be allowed to die, or that you should be allowed to die in your circumstance are not permitted here. There are places on the internet for that type of philosophical/political debate but SF is not one of them. SF’s position is that ALL life is valuable and we are committed to a pro-life standpoint.
Sexual Details – A great many of our members have suffered some form of abuse or sexual trauma. For that reason we do not allow details of abuse, rape or other sex related issues to be posted on the forum. Abuse and rape are fine to talk about but we request that you avoid specifics.
Violent or Aggressive Content – Expressions of violent intent or desires are not permitted on SF. We appreciate that people are often angry and we do not have a policy against swearing (where the swearing is not directed AT another member) but we do not allow statements expressing desire or intent to harm other people, groups, animals etc.
Religious Preaching – Everyone on SF is entitled to their faith and if you wish to express that you find help or comfort from religion that is more than acceptable. Posts advising people to engage in religious activities such as praying, accepting god into your life, seeing a pastor etc are not permitted. Equally, advising against seeking religious support or belittling religious faiths of any kind is prohibited; Sf is not a place to push your religious (or anti-religious) beliefs.

SF Staff – Safety and Support

SF staff and admin are all volunteers who were once ‘regular’ SF members. All staff are here to ensure the safety of our members and to give support on the forums and in chat.
We are always happy to talk to people who would like to volunteer to help on SF or have skills they think might be useful. Please feel free to get in contact with a member of Admin if you feel you would like to help on SF.
Problems with other SF members, particular posts, incidents in chat and any other concerns can be reported confidentially in the same way. If you see a violation of our rules or guidelines please make sure that it is reported for the safety of all our members. Reports are confidential and the person reported will never be informed that you reported them.
We expect all members to follow staff instructions at all times, without argument or abuse. If you have a question about a staff instruction or problem with a staff member you can write a Letter to the Admin (LTA) or report the problem using the forum or chat report functions which are confidential and will not alert the staff member that you have reported them

Warnings and Points

Violations of the site rules will result in warnings. Some warnings carry warning ‘points’ and members who cannot abide by the rules and get several warnings will lose site privileges in order to keep SF safe for other members. There are unofficial warnings with zero points for very minor issues and more important issues or repeated offences receive official warnings with points. Most warnings expire in 2 years.
First warning – 3 points
Second warning – 6 points
Third warning – 9 points (Account put ‘Under Suspension’ for two weeks. This means you can read the forum but not reply to posts, post your own threads, use chat or chat to people in Private Messages)
Fourth Warning – 12 points (Permanent Account Ban – all SF user privileges revoked)
Some rule violations carry more than a 3 point warning. These include:
Encouraging suicide or pacting – 12 points (Permanent Account Ban – all SF user privileges revoked)
Sexually aggressive or predatory behaviour – 12 points (Permanent Account Ban – all SF user privileges revoked)
Other intentionally antisocial behaviour deemed by the Admin or Staff to be Trolling – 12 points (Permanent Account Ban – all SF user privileges revoked)

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Using Chat

The chat function is available to all registered members and can be found in the bottom right hand corner of your browser page:
There are two public chat rooms: Main Chat and Triggering Subjects. It is best to start using chat by visiting the main chat room and saying hello. Chat is a friendly space for socialising, seeking support and making friends.
All the forum rules apply to all the chat functions, whether that is using the chat rooms or using the private chat function. We expect chat users to “self-moderate” regardless of whether a member of staff is currently in the room. If you see someone mentioning methods or talking about subjects that may be unsafe, please remind them politely of the rules and report the incident using the chat report function.
Occasionally people will seek support in chat about a topic that you may find distressing or uncomfortable. Please remember to keep yourself safe in these instances and come back to chat later when it may be safer for you. Typically distressing topics are requested to move to the ‘Triggering Subjects’ room for the safety of other chat users. Please only go to Triggering Subjects if you can safety offer support.
It is polite to ask permission from people in chat before you private message them. Private message is ONLY for talking privately with people to offer support or socialise. It is never to be used to be rude or express negativity toward or about any other members of SF. Private message may be read by Staff and Admin
Any kind of sexual banter, flirting, crude innuendo and/or graphic content is strictly forbidden in the chat rooms. There are members as young as 13 using our chat. Please be aware that adult caught engaging in predatory behaviour toward a minor WILL be reported to the authorities.
All chat room activity and private chat messages are logged and moderated. Admin will check all reported conversations and incidents as well as random log checks to ensure the safety of chat users.

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Accounts and Personal Information

We do not delete accounts on SF. The reason for this is that people regularly want to isolate themselves in difficult periods and later regret having asked for their account to be closed. We do not wish to leave anyone without support for any reason, particularly not if they are having an especially difficult time. Since we store no personal information there is no personal information" to delete and the user name must be reserved by keeping it held to prevent future confusion of names and posts so accounts are not deleted.
We do not store information about accounts or members and you are in control of your personal information. Please be careful to protect your anonymity. This includes:
Not using an identifying photo as an avatar
We strongly recommend not sharing personal photos with other members. Sharing of personal pictures (pictures of yourself) is not allowed in public areas at any time.
Not using a username that you use elsewhere on the internet
Not sharing personal, identifying information in forum posts or sharing it in chat
If you no longer wish to use SF you can change your user name and email address on record and simply stop signing into SF. Changing your email address to one no longer in use erases the only possible means of contact SF has with you.

Sharing Personal Information

SF does not endorse sharing personal information and offsite contacts. When conversations are taken offsite you are no longer protected by SF guidelines and we can take no responsibility for anything any member does away from the site. This means that if someone is predatory, rude, insulting, triggering, dangerous etc away from the site, while you are encouraged to report it, in most instances SF are unable to do anything to help to protect you.
For this reason we strongly recommend keeping your offsite contacts private and considering why someone might wish to speak to you away from the safety rules we have on site.
If you do decide to share private and personal contact information such as email address, Skype, Facebook, kik, etc., you do so at your own risk and you may only do so in private messaging or private conversations.
It is strictly forbidden to ask someone else for their offsite details or ask them if they would like to go offsite to talk. You may share your own details and wait to see if this is reciprocated, but requesting offsite information or asking or trying to persuade someone to talk to you offsite will be considered predatory and your account will be banned.