EV,

That is a very good question, and I think you're great to be concerned about others that way. I appreciate those who have answered also. I have wondered the same thing, and I'm aware of at least one person who said he tried SI after hearing about it here. Although I have hurt myself in one way or another since I was a little kid, and joined this forum because I was learning about what SI was and I needed a place where it was ok to talk about it and sort it out, I even escalated after a while and I think that I was influenced by what I read about. The danger exists, and I think your idea about a warning not to start is a good one. I also think that people who hurt that much are probably going to be destructive anyway, if not by cutting maybe with drugs or eating disorders or something else, and warnings probably won't talk them out of it. Overall, I know that this forum helps me much more than any hurt I could attribute to it, and I hope that that is true overall as well.

Oh, and CCL, I look for triggers too, and wanted you to know that I understand your point there about sometimes triggers being helpful. At times I get stuck and can't move forward without something pretty significant happening to motivate me. Sometimes getting triggered helps get you moving sooner than you would otherwise, or helps you to stop being stuck. It can also help you to become aware of issues to deal with that might not have been discovered otherwise. So, depending on what you do after you get triggered, yes, I do think it can be helpful.

Just my 2 cents, or is that more like 14?
Rap