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londons_explore

> This article was amended on 14 February 2024 to remove some details for consistency with editorial guidance.

Too gruesome?

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Is the archive at https://archive.is/Q8tZB before or after they did that?

It's before!

A couple I noticed (sorry, not at a computer right now):

> Only with decomposition will they begin to float.

> “There have been people that have jumped off Dartford Bridge and ended up in central London.

Completely unnecessary edits if you ask me.

I expect this was too comply with guidance on reporting on suicide [1]

> Avoid reporting methods of suicide

> Don’t refer to a specific site or location as popular or known for suicides

[1] https://www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/media-guidelines...

These 'top 10 tips' have put us in a strange place re reporting on suicide. The news becomes very cryptic with a lot that's unsaid.

In Ireland, reporting on specific suicide events is almost completely absent as the effect is so dramatic.

Same with rioting in the north of Ireland. I grew up near a hotspot in Belfast and violence often went unreported to avoid the situation growing worse or spreading to other areas.

As a resident of the U.S. I always wonder once the headlines of the latest mass shooting appear if such events would be less frequent if they were never reported in the news.

By definition that's something that would be impossible to know.

Several sites withhold the shooters name, because often times a quest for notoriety is a goal for them. Denying this potentially removes some incentive.

The reverse is also true - since by revealing the name, all the friends and family members will feel pressure from their communities.

Plenty of people would consider the impact on friends and family before such an act.

While true I would hope that as a society we've moved past punishing people for the crimes of their family members.

Dartford is downstream?

I thought the same thing. Of course it is downstream, but I think this is why the person mentioned it: because the journey is surprising.

They're saying that powerful tidal currents caused someone that entered the water at Dartford to end up in central London. A very unexpected result.

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