The survey was just 21 people "exclusively contacted in BIID internet forums". How many people who cut off a limb and regretted it would stick around the forum that fed their compulsion to do it?
> How many people who cut off a limb and regretted it would stick around the forum that fed their compulsion to do it?
Maybe many more then you would think. First of all of there are others with regrets they are most likely also found there. Second to warn others. Thirdly to vent.
I agree that the evidence is not the highest quality but i have a hard time imagining a more involved study design that would pass by any ethic board.
> First of all of there are others with regrets they are most likely also found there. Second to warn others. Thirdly to vent.
I don't find that the least bit credible. The proposition forum administrators would tolerate someone "warning others" against the core uniting aspect of their community is not realistic. Generally anyone who questions orthodoxy in such niche communities face vitriol and get banned quickly. Apostates do not hang around religious conversion forums talking about deconversion, gender transition desisters are not welcome on transgender support forums etc.
I wonder if it's similar to Amazon ratings, where review distributions seem to skew toward people who either love the thing, or hate it? Presumably there's actual research on this. ... Okay here's something about the J-shaped distribution (mostly 5 stars, some 1 stars, little in between) in reviews [1]. (Edit: here's another, more recent summary [2] of polarity in reviews.)
Would we expect the same in something as intimate as amputating pieces of your own body? Hmmm.
> Maybe many more then you would think. First of all of there are others with regrets they are most likely also found there. Second to warn others. Thirdly to vent.
And how would you find those posts after they were banned and deleted?
oh, I've run into one. a very unpleasant and mentally unwell person - I think his motivation was purely sexual, and not identity-driven. he creeped me out.
I personally know two, one who used the dry ice method to destroy their legs, and another who achieved paralysis. both are quite happy now, except for the pain and suffering they went through (particularly the person who paralyzed herself, since she caused meningitis which led to horrid nerve pain - but even then, months later, she's happier now that it's done.)
freemint|3 years ago
Maybe many more then you would think. First of all of there are others with regrets they are most likely also found there. Second to warn others. Thirdly to vent.
I agree that the evidence is not the highest quality but i have a hard time imagining a more involved study design that would pass by any ethic board.
lin83|3 years ago
I don't find that the least bit credible. The proposition forum administrators would tolerate someone "warning others" against the core uniting aspect of their community is not realistic. Generally anyone who questions orthodoxy in such niche communities face vitriol and get banned quickly. Apostates do not hang around religious conversion forums talking about deconversion, gender transition desisters are not welcome on transgender support forums etc.
shanusmagnus|3 years ago
Would we expect the same in something as intimate as amputating pieces of your own body? Hmmm.
[1] https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1562764.1562800
[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002224372094183...
MrPatan|3 years ago
And how would you find those posts after they were banned and deleted?
throwaway4bid|3 years ago
I personally know two, one who used the dry ice method to destroy their legs, and another who achieved paralysis. both are quite happy now, except for the pain and suffering they went through (particularly the person who paralyzed herself, since she caused meningitis which led to horrid nerve pain - but even then, months later, she's happier now that it's done.)