Overview
4chan User’s Suicide Attempt refers to a livestreamed video in which a 4chan user known as “Steven” sets his college dorm room on fire in a self-professed attempt to take his own life in November 2013.
Background
On November 30th, 2013, an anonymous 4chan user started a thread claiming he would be ending his own life on a live video feed.
Tonight I will be ending my own life. I’ve been spending the last hour making the preparations and I’m ready to go through with it. As an oldfag who’s been on 4chan since 2004, I thought I would finally give back to the community in the best way possible: I am willing to an hero on cam for you all.
The user subsequently joined a video chatroom on the website Chateen, which quickly filled up to 200 viewers. In front of the online audience, he swallowed several unidentified pills with vodka and set a fire in the corner of the room before crawling under his bed. At the end of the video,[1] firefighters can be seen entering the room and pulling him out to safety.
Notable Developments
Identity Speculation
On November 30th, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette[4] published an article that a man had been pronounced dead at the scene of a fire in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On the following day, the @YourAnonNews Twitter feed posted a link to the article, speculating that the deceased man was the suicidal 4chan user.
Suicidal 4chan user killed himself yesterday by setting his room on fire. Event streamed online. 200 people watched http://t.co/vYgi9lFlw5
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) December 1, 2013Also on December 1st, the Guelph Mercury[2] reported that a 20-year-old man had been injured in a dorm room fire at the University of Guelph campus in Ontario, Canada. The same day, CBC News[3] published an article about the incident, quoting the university’s vice president of student affairs who revealed the fire had been deliberately set by the injured student.
News Media Coverage
In the coming days, several news sites published article about the livestreamed suicide attempting, including The Daily Dot,[5] The Independent,[6] The Daily Mail,[7]Gawker,[8]IBI Times[9] and Complex.[10]
User Identity
On December 4th, 2013, The Daily Mail confirmed the identity of the user to be Dakota Moore, a 21 year old student at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada who was taking a degree in Criminal Justice and Public Policy. Friends of the user have express their sadness regarding the tragedy and condemn the 200 viewers who witness the event[11].
External References
[1]Liveleak – OP killing himself(NSFW)
[2]Guelph Mercury – One person hurt in University of Guelph residence fire
[3]CBC News – Student to blame for fire
[4]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Man pronounced dead at scene of 3-alarm fire in Spring Garden
[5]The Daily Dot – 4chan user sets himself
[6]The Independent – 4chan Suicide Attempt
[7]The Daily Mail – Young man stages horrifying online suicide
[8]Gawker – 20-year-old livestreams suicide attempt
[9]International Business Times – 4chan User Stephen Films Suicide
[10]Complex – This 4chan user live streamed his suicide
[11]The Daily Mail – ‘Since when is suicide fun?!’ Friends of student who tried to kill himself live on internet hit out at ‘sick’ trolls mocking seriously injured 21-year-old