100% disagree. You're generalising from a few examples. Option theory is questionable (depending on the person) but the long term hope offered by the singularity (the world doesn't have to be this way forever is kind of a big deal for people who think the world is shit), as well as the concrete option of trying medication provide hope.
Not all suicides are anguished can't take this any more. Some are see no acceptable possbilities.
There are plenty of people around to hand out hugs and cry and bla bla bla. relatively few are actually going to respect, take seriously and care enough about a random stranger to take the attitude of "It's your choice but is there anything you've missed?" rather than the usual shit which I have three (edit: just remembered suspected 4th) counts of people for whom this did/partially did/nearly sent them over the edge.
Comparitive advantage, especially if you're not particularly cuddly makes this an excellent strategy. Someone has to do it or people will literally be killing themselves for lack of information.
Also, he really doesn't sound predatory (that is post edit. I didn't see it pre.)
I'm starting to suspect a selection effect. Most people make an excuse/parrot the usual shit/make a show of caring. Agreeable/shit-eating folks don't mind and are even comforted. people with some dignity or aversion to bullshit are liable to be sent over the edge. Agreeable folks are more likely to talk about it (also I presume on average less likely to kill selves, based on evidence of talking to you, because lower threshold for talking to you so positive results with them are overrepresented.
Do you have any examples of this strategy ever working?
If you know the person you're dealing with well, you can employ strategies that you wouldn't use with most people. For example, I promised one person that if I ever really believed that she were better off dead than alive, I'd assist her suicide, and she found this very comforting. This is not something I would ever recommend saying to a stranger or an acquaintance with whom you are not close.
And James Miller doesn't sound predatory in that comment to me (and didn't before editing either,) but the issu...
Last month, two people far at the periphery of my social circles have threatened suicide. Seems like a sign for me to learn some ledge-fu.
I reviewed the stuff I'd learned back in high school ("Listen." "Be supportive." "Don't argue." "Etc etc etc.") I have trouble believing that this would work outside of movieland, especially on strangers. More so, in person I'm an awkward, fidgeting introvert---the impact of everything I say is thus diminished, and I sound very insincere or clinical, like I'm following a bad movie script, when I say anything like, "You are not alone in this. I’m here for you." or "How can I best support you right now?" I doubt that this would sound any better in writing.
I suppose I could split my question into two related ones: what would you say to a person threatening to commit suicide, 1. in person, and 2. in an email?
I'm looking for out-of-the-box ideas that don't rely on charisma or compassion shining through. Personally, if I ever need to talk myself out of suicidal thoughts, I apply the "bum comparison principle": if my life is so crummy that I'm willing to commit suicide, then I should be willing to just walk out on everything I value and drift off in a random direction, survive by dine-and-dashing out of cheap restaurants and wash dishes if I get caught, maybe take odd jobs or hitchhike or gather roots and berries or blog from public libraries. I don't see this possibility in a negative light, and yet I still haven't done it. To me, it means that however bad my life may seem, I'm still too attached to it to walk out; therefore, suicide isn't on the menu.
People have different reasons to want suicide, and I understand that what works for me with my first world problems probably won't work for a person who is in too much physical pain from an incurable disease. To the best of my knowledge, the two people I mentioned earlier are both unskilled laborers who had lost their jobs, one of them so long ago that he's no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. I don't think I'll meet these particular people again, but I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts on what I could've said if my brain hadn't frozen.