NationStates Jolt Archive

Let's say there are four people: your best friend; an acquaintance; a stranger on the street; a person on an internet forum.

They make certain threats to do things. How would you respond to threats to:

Steal something
Kill themselves
Kill others

Would you ignore them? Try to talk them out of it? Tell the authorities? Tell them to stop attention-whoring?

(At no point during these threats does the person visibly seem to have a weapon of any sort.)

Let's say there are four people: your best friend; an acquaintance; a stranger on the street; a person on an internet forum.

OK, for utility, I dub them Sir A, Sir B, Sir C, And Sir D.

Steal something = A, B, C, D: "Meh"

Kill themselves = A, B, C, D: Take it seriously, perhaps slightly less so in the case of the internet, but I won't dismiss it out of hand.

Kill others = Now's where it gets confusing - because a threat to kill someone can be taken out of context. If my best friend goes "I'm going to kill that mother fucker", i'm not going to take it seriously as an intent to actually kill someone, and nor would I if some random on the internet threatened to kill me. I'd have to judge it on a case by case basis. If I had reasonable suspicion that they were a threat to others, i'd probably get help.

Actually, the utility wasn't at all necessary there, was it?

I'd assume the stranger on the street was a little crazy and ignore them (you get a lot of them round here :P). I'd offer the person online a little advice then tell them to stop attention whoring.

As for the other two, if they were threatening to steal something I would leave them to it and let them sort out any mess they got into by themselves. I'd try and talk them out of killing themselves, and if they were geniunely threatening to kill others, I'd call the police.

Borrowing from Kanabia...
A: Ignore; try to get them to talk about why; ignore.
B: Ignore; get them to talk; ask why.
C: Ignore; ignore; get clear.
D: Ignore; ignore; ignore.

Borrowing from Kanabia...
A: Ignore; try to get them to talk about why; ignore.
B: Ignore; get them to talk; ask why.
C: Ignore; ignore; get clear.
D: Ignore; ignore; ignore.You'd ignore a threat to kill others from your friend but not from an acquaintance?

Meh, kill them all and ask questions later.

Steal something

Friend: Ask why. Argue about property rights.
Acquantaince: Watch him around my stuff. Ignore him.
Stranger: Ignore him
Netguy: Ignore him

Kill themselves

Friend: Ask why. Accept his decision.
Acquantaince: Accept his decision.
Stranger: People I don't know die every day.
Netguy: people I don't know die every day.

Kill others

Friend: People I don't know die every day.
Acquantaince: People I don't know die every day.
Stranger: People I don't know die every day.
Netguy: People I don't know die every day.

People I don't know die every day. I try not to get worked up over it.

A stranger on the street and a person on an internet forum will be ignored in all three cases; well, maybe I'll call police in case of a stranger threatening to kill someone.

My best friend/stealing -- I'll try to talk her out of it; if it fails, I'll try to give her an advice how not to get caught.

My best friend/suicide... actually I already did that. I shouted into the phone, then begged and cajoled -- and I managed to talk her into retching and vomiting the tablets out.

My best friend/murder -- talk her out of it.

My acquaintance -- talk him out of committing whatever he wants to do.

Forum Weirdo:

1
2
3

Friend:

1 Don't do it
2 Don't do it
3 Shove it


Stranger:

1 Say "Good for you"
2 Say "Any particular reason why"
3 Say "You Loser" (Or if they threaten me, carry the threat out on them)

Aquaintance:

1 Say "Good for you" - And then 'unaquaint' myself with them
2 Say "How Selfish"
3 Say "So long as it's not me then do it!"

I usually giggle.

Generally, if someone threatens, then they don't mean it. They're just trying to scare you. If someone really wants to steal, kill, or maim, they just do it. They don't talk about it first.

I usually giggle.

Generally, if someone threatens, then they don't mean it. They're just trying to scare you. If someone really wants to steal, kill, or maim, they just do it. They don't talk about it first.


Why do you insist on doing the same thing I would do?
This is getting spooky!

I usually giggle.

Generally, if someone threatens, then they don't mean it. They're just trying to scare you. If someone really wants to steal, kill, or maim, they just do it. They don't talk about it first.
Indeed. You should always worry about the angry person who doesn't say anything at all.

I usually giggle.

Generally, if someone threatens, then they don't mean it. They're just trying to scare you. If someone really wants to steal, kill, or maim, they just do it. They don't talk about it first.What if the threat is their way of saying that they're looking for a reason not to do something, but can't think of one?