Radar,
I did indeed read your story, admittedly after I had made my last post, and I know where you are coming from. I do, too, and I will email or phone you if you wish. I don't rate either of us as fakers. However, my point in all this hullaballoo was never to deny the genuinely needy ones from help, I sought to shame the fakers, the attention seekers who make threats and later carry on as though nothing had happened.
Let me expand on this a little, uncomfortable though it may be, and yes, it does press buttons that we don't like. Suppose that someone, for whatever reason, has an axe to grind with a former lover. Seeking to get some retribution, how often does it happen that the rejected one will accuse the former lover of an act of molestation, maybe even rape?
It happens to a lot of innocent people! But, and this is my point, is it not so that a false cry of rape eventually demeans the real victims, the real sufferers, whilst the attention-seeking "victim" plays the Prima Donna and luxuriates in all the attention?
So it is with suicide threats. Why should histrionic fakers detract from the genuine sufferers who really need help? I keep repeating, despite all the accusations of being cold, hard, unfeeling etc that we must test the level of intention by approaching the person with a practical and no-nonesense attitude, if we are to guage the genuineness of the persons problem.
Listen everyone, I know that there are real sufferers out there who need helping. Please don't label me as an arsehole because I am suspicious of persons who prey on your good intentions.
Englishman.
Bring on the dancing girls!