The alt.suicide.holiday newsgroup message and charter description is below.   Today's group has drifted only slightly from the description; some of the methods talk, albeit not all, has moved off to alt.suicide.methods, and the group as it stands right now is slightly more angstful than originally intended.  Still, given that the group has been around since 1991, it's amazing how little it has changed in nature, especially since it's a given that people will drop out of the group, not to mention life, rather abruptly.

Original charter:

From bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us Fri Aug  2 01:06:19 1991
Path: rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!catnip!bandy
From: bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
Newsgroups: alt.config.ctl
Subject: newgroup alt.suicide.holiday
Date: 21 Nov 90 17:08:57 GMT
Sender: bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
Lines: 15
Approved: bandy

With the holidays coming up, this newsgroup will be a good resource
for discussing methods and reasons.

Please note that this is NOT alt.angst.  Alt.angst is for weenies who just
can't get around to doing it.

As you can see, this is an unmoderated group and if past experience holds
true, there should be a moderate amount of traffic around Thanksgiving, peaking
around Christmas and a drop-off after New Year's.

February has the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Washington's and 
Lincoln's birthdays and let us not forget Valentine's Day.

	Andy Beals
	bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us

From news@catnip.berkeley.ca.us Wed Nov 27 00:18:02 1991
Path: rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!lll-winken!catnip!news
From: news@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
Newsgroups: alt.suicide.holiday.ctl
Subject: newgroup alt.suicide.holiday
Message-ID: <newgroup-a.s.h-on-26-nov-91@catnip.berkeley.ca.us>
Date: 26 Nov 91 13:29:27 GMT
Control: newgroup alt.suicide.holiday
Sender: bandy@catnip.berkeley.ca.us
Lines: 15
Approved: news

This is the annual newgroup message for alt.suicide.holiday.

As we all know, the suicide rate raises around the holidays and this
newsgroup is the place to discuss methods and reasons.

For those of you outside of the USA, our "Thanksgiving" day happens in
just two days.  It is a time when we're expected to give thanks [that
we're here in the USA] and to spend lots of time with our families -- a
very good reason for suicide.

For the rest of you, Christmas and New Year's are both just around
the corner.

For your newsgroups file:
alt.suicide.holiday          Discussion about suicide around the holidays.

Last update: Wednesday, September 16, 1998 20:29