Nerd Church - Responsible Reporting Required: How Media Outlets Are Failing To Follow Suicide Prevention Guidelines

(Warning: this post discusses suicide and self-harm. It also discusses poor reporting of these issues, and the danger of 'copycat' incidents.)

(For helplines, see details at the bottom of this post.)


There's been a lot of buzz in the UK over the last week or two over the prevalence of self-harm imagery on the Internet, and its link to suicide.

Now, there's def. issues with that, but there's also more issues than you'd think with the actual god-damned reporting of this issue.

The UK's leading suicide prevention charity, The Samaritans, provides Media Guidelines [PDF] for reporting on suicide.

These guidelines contain advice based on academic research on the affects of different types of news coverage.

I check them whenever I'm talking about this issue, and when I make a conscious decision to bend them, as I did when talking about the death of Chester Bennington, I'm very clear about my reasons for this, and exceptionally careful with every single word I use.

Friday Fics Fix - After the Storm

'“Errgh” Harry groaned, “Is there something wrong with me?”

“Yes, but it’s the same thing that’s wrong with all of us.”'

Ahhhh, how I love Hogwarts eighth-year fanfiction!

Because let's face it, I think that we'd all like to see the immediate aftermath of the Wizarding War, instead of just zooming straight to '20 years later.'

(...Or whatever length of time it was ...I honestly can't remember.)

Like, dude, you missed the hard bits! Recovery isn't something you just skip over!

Comics Wrap-Up - Angels Made of Neon and F**king Garbage

Ohhhhh my little emo/punk/weird heart is happy with the comics-ness this week! XD

2018 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Final Update + 2019 Fanfiction Reading Challenge Sign-Up

Fanfiction time! XD


In no way has this post been thrown together in the odd moments that my hectic life grants me *shifty glances.*

OK, so maybe it has... just don't tell anyone! 😎

I was originally trying to get this post all done and dusted in December, but my December was... not good. So here we are!

Nerd Church - A Few Ruminations on Perspective

You can see exactly the same thing as someone else... and somehow you both see it differently.

Sometimes that's because you were looking at what happened from a different angle - a physically different angle, where you literally saw things differently.

For example, videos taken from different angles lead people to believe different versions of events.

People see details that are blocked from the view of others, but in turn they lose details that others can see.

Friday Fics Fix - True Love, In Honour of Santes Dwynwen

(Warning: this post discusses the story of St Dwynwen, which includes rape/sexual assault)

'Arthur’s mouth has always been Merlin’s weakness, hasn’t it.'

Dydd Gwyl Santes Dwynwen Hapus/Happy St Dwynwen's Day!

Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, her name has a variety of meanings (as most 'wen' or 'wyn' names do,) but the most common translations are 'white wave' or 'to steal purity/fairness.'

Which kind of fits in with the less happy aspects of her story.

Comics Wrap-Up - To Escape This Old World

Comics! Superheroes! Trailers! Links!

Let's do this! :)