Online suicide and the dark psychology of internet insult forums
Online suicide and the dark psychology of internet insult forums Shutterstock John Synnott , University of Huddersfield ; Calli Tzani Pepelasi , University of Huddersfield , and Maria Ioannou , University of Huddersfield Leon Jenkins was 43 when he took his own life in July 2018. He livestreamed his suicide on an internet forum where users can freely – and viciously – insult, berate, provoke and abuse each other. The idea is to make people leave the site when they can take no more. Gregory Tomkins and Kevin Whitrick also broadcast their suicides live on the internet. All three were active members of online insult communities. There are thousands of people who log on to such platforms for the sole reason of abusing others in an attempt to force them to leave the thread – a distressing online power struggle of domination and submission. Reviewing this case, it seems that at least two of these men had something in common: Leon Jenkins...