alt.suicide.holiday ("a.s.h") is an umoderated USENET newsgroup. "Unmoderated", in USENET terminology, means that there is no person or group with the authority to approve or cancel posts. It does not mean that people within the group may not show disapproval of posts which are at odds with the way the newsgroup operates. If you are unfamiliar with general USENET principles, try reading news.answers for a few weeks.

The original charter of the group was to discuss suicide methods and reasons; as it was believed that there were more than enough good reasons connected with holiday times to kill oneself, the name alt.suicide.holiday was chosen.   It was assumed that traffic on the newsgroup would only occur around American holiday periods.

The newsgroup has evolved into a partial sanctuary where people can discuss suicide openly in an atmosphere which is not condemnatory of suicide, as much of "Western" culture is. It is only a "partial" sanctuary as, being unmoderated, the group has no mechanism to bar posts which seek to introduce condemnatory viewpoints to the newsgroup.

Although a.s.h does not directly encourage suicide, it is viewed by some as encouraging suicide by failure to discourage suicide and by providing information about effective means, among many topics discussed.

a.s.h WWW operates under the same general principles. To store the more memorable of posts, to be a reference center for the many diverse topics that a.s.h hosts, and also to give a place where people can find links to related information.

Newcomers to this site, or to a.s.h should not view all the posters as suicidal, although some are. It is strongly suggested that persons who want to post to a.s.h read the FAQ and the "debate" in full before posting, however.

Acknowledgements:

falcon was the originator of the ashweb.

Thomas Jones (ferric) was the second maintainer and continues to graciously provide space for the ashweb.

Contributors to the ashweb are mentioned where their contributions are, unless they have requested anonymity.

Last update: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 22:09