Nóirín Plunkett has died
apache.org
apache.org
Nóirín was also a life-long volunteer Medic with St. John's ambulance in Ireland: http://www.stjohn.ie . I'm certain her family would appreciate any condolences or donations in her name.
I spoke with Nóirín's mother and brother this morning, and they know that she had a huge impact on people, and "on the web" (to use her proud mother's words), but I think it's worth making concrete. If you have a story or testimonial about how Nóirín helped or inspired you (and I know there are many), please send it on to colm@allcosts.net and I'll make sure to pass it on.
EDIT: Surprised by the downvotes. I'm leaving it, regardless. The question does not imply any lack of respect for the deceased. Those who think it does are wrong.
I didn't know about their work as a medic. Thank you also for mentioning their family's thoughts.
Rape Abuse Incest National Network: https://donate.rainn.org/
Center of Excellence for Transgender Health: http://transhealth.ucsf.edu/trans?page=ab-donate (please follow the additional instructions underneath the “Donate” button)
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology http://anitaborg.org/donate/
Edit: thank you, surapaneni, for correcting my mistake.
When it comes to avoiding them, the answer involves lots of tax dollars thrown at a demographic with little political power. Suicides will never be eradicated, but they can be reduced with well-targeted mental health programs.
Understanding and solutions are available, it's just that it's a complex problem with no single solution, so the general public isn't really interested in understanding it... and as they don't understand it, they're also not really interested in funding it.
We have a reasonable understanding of the various causes of suicide, though not perfect. And if what you're saying is true, that IT is special and backed by many studies, then we have a reasonable understanding there, too. And a reasonable understanding of what can be done about it.
I guess my point is that while it's normal to express sympathy by using the "it's all a big sad mystery" response, it's not actually helpful beyond being a very short term salve. It's not a mystery when you actually look at it, and there are things that can be done - it's just not socially viable.
edit: some of the things we can do around suicide is promoting the idea of counselling and trying to remove the taboo. Encourage people to call helplines if they're not in a good way, and getting to counselling before they reach that stage helps. Reduce the taboo and let people know that while it's not pleasant talking about this stuff to loved ones, it's better than the alternative. Improve mental health clinical services and subsidise the cost of appropriate medication. Raise awareness of the issue itself without getting into hysteria, so people know that it's there and can look for markers in friends and family, but also that something can be done about it. That it's not unique to feel suicidal. Run outreach programs to demographics identified as at-risk, and do that in a manner that will be socially acceptable to those demographics. A lot of tax dollars need to be spent here, because a lot of people don't have loved ones in their private lives to look out for them, and some who do have loved ones don't have loved ones capable of looking out for them.
There's a lot that can be done, and a lot more that can be done if society is willing to throw in the dollars. It's a hard problem, but it's not an unsolvable ball of mystery.
Suicide is very common. In the UK it's the leading cause of death for men aged 20 to 49. In the US one person dies by suicide every 13 minutes.
Financial stress is a risk factor for suicide, so there's some increased risk for founders there.
We are losing a lot of good people.
I seem to recall that her day job at the time was writing docs for Eucalyptus.
We weren't close, but I can say that she was an interesting, smart, talented, complicated person. Her loss saddens me deeply.
My condolences to their family, either way.
Please respect their identity, HN.
People often use pronouns other than the ones someone prefers for a variety of reasons: sometimes the preferred pronoun is new, sometimes people forget, sometimes people don't respect that person's preferred pronoun.
Without more context, even in that case, it could be either 2nd or 3rd person. Queen Elizabeth, for instance, might put her preferred pronoun as 'we', but you'd still write about her.
In any event, very sad.