unfortunately we cant control what the administrators of websites do. all we can do is control our own actions. my actions when I encounter posts like this any where on the internet is report them to the website's administrative team and then go read posts that more fit what I am looking for.

I dont believe sites like yahoo answers should ban the posts when someone posts suicidal questions.. here in the USA Americans have a constitutional and civil rights to write and speak any thing they want to. its called freedom of the press and freedom of speech. granted those rights are not about the internet because when those two rights came into being there was no internet but the courts uphold these rights when internet issues about what someone can and cant say on the internet appear before them in cases of slander/libel.

if yahoo bans the topic of suicide, what next "painting" because we now have the sometimes violent sport of "painting", or maybe they should ban the topic of cats or dogs because someone who got bit by a cat or dog might get triggered by it, or how about "guns" because someone may be looking for information on what to do about their friend who shot their self and someone reading may not like the topic of guns and dont know what to say to someone who needs information about guns in a situation like this.

I do believe that mental health websites such as PC should have limitations of what can be posted about suicide on their "community" boards. but I dont feel they should ban posts about suicide in their "ask a question, ask a therapist" page. On the community forums here every single person on here has probably at some time or other tried suicide or felt suicide was the answer. mental health communities such as the likes of here deal primarily with aspects of mental illness. so the potential of sending our peers on a wide scale into Suicide thoughts, actions is much greater than say Yahoo answers where they are primarily for the general public. the odds of someone reading on Yahoo answers about someone wanting to off their self is very much less. not that it wont happen just has a lesser chance of happening. like with any other topic people need and want to know about suicide.

where does all that leave us.. with the fact that we cant control others, all we can do is control our own actions.

if you know those kinds of postings are a sore spot for you, a trigger for you, leaves you feeling frustrated, helpless then theres no reason to read them.

if you know those kinds of posts interest you and you can at the very least tell the person they are not alone, or have other tips, advice, insights for those that post they want to commit suicide then read and answer those posts.

me I choose to report them if there is a way to do that and then go finish what ever I was looking for to begin with, most of the time , I just dont bother reading about the suicide postings. I get enough of that kind of thing in my job, my down time doesnt need it too. I guess Im just not that interested in trying to control what others post on the internet, free speech, free press and all..