Harvey

[Peregrine]

I PM'd him in regards to this thread.

I've been getting that sinking feeling for the past little while after I messaged him & posted on his thread. I am genuinely worried that the fellow means to off himself. Any thoughts? input? ideas?

[Jeff]

I've pm'd him as well, and also sent him an email.

His IP looks like he's posting from Manchester. Wondering whether I should contact the Manchester police.

[Peregrine]

I am noticing that the message is still sitting in the outbox that I sent him. That may not be a bad idea, because i am trully not getting a good feeling about this.

[barracuda]

My impression is honestly not one of a suicidal message in his post. I read it as a straightforward rejection of the board activity of the last few days, and in that way not unexpected. If no one had flounced here today I'd have been a bit surprised.

[Peregrine]

I really hope that you are right, barracuda, & that it is a simple flounce but stating that "I decided today that I’d rather die than become a part of some stupid power play somewhere else" has my senses on high alert. It did not feel like a regular old flounce, but I hope that it was.

[Jeff]

Well, flounce or not, I just got off the phone with the Manchester police. So either Harvey's their problem now, or their his. But I didn't feel right about not doing at least that.

[barracuda]

Better safe than sorry. A wellness check never hurts.

[DrVolin]

Better safe than sorry indeed. The language is certainly cause for worry. However, a few months ago, Harvey posted about a series of calamities that had affected him and people around him in rapid succession. Some of it was very grim, including spectacular deaths. He gave enough detail that some of it should have been easily verifiable. I looked into it and didn't find any evidence that any of it actually happened.

[Jeff]

Thanks, Doctor. Hope it's nothing but drama.

At the very least, it was nice to hear the Manchester accent. Female copper: Riiight luv. Now what kinda website is this?

[Peregrine]

Thanks, Jeff. I hope it is nothing other than a little drama, too. Keep us posted if he emails. I fired off an email on his Flickr account, too, so will be watching that one.

[Jeff]

oy...

Maybe this will teach him to choose his words more judiciously. Like, maybe, something other than "I decided today that I’d rather die...goodbye."

Okay, thanks Jay.

The wording of your post had a number of us deeply concerned. So much so, I have to say, I contacted the Manchester PD to alert them to a possible suicide threat. So, you may hear from them.

cheers,

Jeff

...................

Sent: Saturday, March 3, 2012 5:47:13 PM
Subject: Re: RI post

Hi Jeff,

I'm fine, many thanks for the concern. Actually I'm so sorry to have caused you any, that was not my intention. I see difficulties ahead and I'm going to just get on with my life in the time I have left, however long that may be. But I'm happy bordering on content and certainly not in any danger of self harm.

I'm sensing what I think we all are in our own ways. Things are coming to a head soon, one way or another. There'll be some hard times. I guess we're all always chosing where we want to be and I've done that now for myself. There are a lot of good folks at RI and it's been my worry given what so many of them have been through, that every now and then they are a little more guided by that fear/fascination of/for all the dark things we know are out there than is healthy. Life itself is something of a prelude and I kinda wish some of them would get out in the sunshine now and then to enjoy it but that's probably just me projecting.

In any case, I'm leaving a lot of things behind me to go forward. And netizenship is one of them.

I've been reading your essays for years and lurking at the board nearly as long and I though I'm far from the smartest or most erudite, or even educated for that matter, I admire the little ship of truth you've created. It's sometimes a dark and stormy sea, but may the good ship RI always find port in a storm. Thanks for the memories. I mean it. You're one hell of a writer.

Best Wishes,

Jay.

[Peregrine]

Phwew! Thank you Jeff!

[Jeff]

His response to my telling him I'd called the police:

Ah. Well anyway, I'm good. On a positive note at least you cared enough to act on your feelings of concern. So sorry!

[Bruce Dazzling]

Well done, Jeff!

I wonder what ever happened with Harvey's business proposal. Does anyone know?

[DrVolin]

Maybe this is what happened to it.