Urgently need to contact a moderator

motheroftinydragons no they’re not. They have no duty of care at all to someone who only posts by a username

And quite aside from that let’s look at the likelihood here that this was even genuine. A man is feeling suicidal. So he goes online and somehow finds a website called “Mumsnet, a site by parents for parents,” he then joins said site and starts posting that he’s suicidal, at which point posters start engaging with him. Bearing in mind that as far as I’m aware, if you google suicidal it’s not likely that Mumsnet is going to be one of the first sites that comes up, so why would he post here? Then this morning he starts posting that the police have shown up at his place of work because Mumsnet have given them his details, and he’s angry because the police have divulged this information. So, given he’s now been betrayed on this site, he starts encouraging members of the site to send him private messages so he can speak to them off board from his place of work, you know, the place where the police have just tracked him down even though he was posting from somewhere else last night?

Come on! A bit of common sense, no?

It was definitely confirmed.

I also thought it was confirmed @LadyGregorysToothbrush

I don't know, there's is a level of duty of care. When I worked in financial services we had many people in serious debt threaten to harm themselves. At least one a week. We always, always reported to 101. Every single time.

99% of the time it was a false alarm. But once it wasn't and it was too late once the police got there. We only found out when the death certificate came through several weeks later.

We spoke to the police after and asked if we should be calling 999. They advised no, 101 was appropriate in those circumstances.

You can't be too careful. MNHQ are in a difficult position here.

I think I read that MichaelMNHQ confirmed that they’d contacted police on the now deleted thread - or am I imagining things

I know who Zombie's rescuee was. The point I was making was that was another fuck up when moderators of an internet forum seemingly got a bit too involved in the real life of their users.
The police visited this guy at work? Really? How likely is that?
His user name itself was enough for a chinny reckon tbh.

*Redglitter
*
Not strictly true about IP addresses. It depends on the company. Some IPs can be resolved to a specific address. If that address is a company then normally that companies IT systems can resolve to a terminal or sign in.

Where havd mn confirmed that they contacted the police?

I'm curious why MN work with The Samaritans but not The Freedom Program.

So the bloke posts and then claims that police have turned up at his place of work so could posters please pm him off board? Really?

Sounds dubious as hell to me, and the reality is that no-one can perceive how someone feels from the words they write on a screen. Anyone can write anything and posters will fall for it hook line and sinker.

I think it would be useful if mn confirmed whether they did actually notify the police in this situation because if they didn’t then the answer is obvious isn’t it?

What did the deletion message say?

To be honest, I'm inclined to think the real breach of trust here was the police. There was no need for anyone else at the person's workplace to know what was going on, surely? That was terribly indiscreet.

It’s very, very hard to believe that the police would have behaved like that.

@Tigek maybe you need an appointment with your own local mental health expert or at least counselling for that serious misogyny.

Fucking hell! Between this level of invasion of privacy and people who post 'anti-trans' stuff being harassed by the cops it's becoming a scary place.

'Some women are thick as two six inch blocks.'

Well @Tigek aren't you a charmer. 'idiotic' women too. You need some counselling for that rampant misogyny you've got there.

Like many posters have said though, I hope they can private message a suicidal poster and gauge whether they feel they need to intervene. It's hardly seeing oneposter say user126365364 is suicidal, please call the police. It willlikely be from a thread the poster themselves submitted.

I'm very sceptical about the Police turning up at his work because of anything MNHQ did. Could it be more like someone in rl was worried about him.

AFAIK MNHQ Don't have our addresses & the Police wouldn't be able to trace him based on his posts. Even if MNHQ gave them his IP address it's not going to give his exact address.

We've had calls like this before at work - Police control room - and there has been absolutely nothing we can do.

I would be more in support of MN getting involved inthreada where vulnerable women are frightened to leave their violent husband.

As horrible as suicidal thoughts and actions are (I have had them) it's the persons own safety and therefore decision. Such a terrible shamwbut hopefully they will make the right choice.

Poor kids with violent parents don't get the choice.

Ah, so we were trolled again lol. I suspect someone trying to get pm's of addresses and names of sympathetic idiotic women

He seemed in a very bad place and wanted to use PMs because he was upset about losing anonymity after the police showed up.

I don't think there's much use speculating about his motivations or the responses of other users when you didn't even see the thread, tbh.

‘Drs and counsellors can do the same’

But mumsnet are not doctors or counsellors. They are hosts/moderators/whatevers of a general internet chat board.

If someone posts on here that they are considering harm to themselves or others then yes it should be reported to the authorities. It may be the only way to stop something tragic. Drs and counsellors can break confidence for similar reasons - I have people call me at work asking for help in confidence and yes I would call the police/social services if I was worried as I put safety above the embarrassment of a visit from the police that turns out to be a false alarm.