great perspective Michelle, would be nice if the world listened more continually :)

I feel so sad hearing about things like this... ill bet if one person would have treated them decently and been a friend we wouldnt hear about this stuff happening.
people are so desensitized these days and we dont really think about the fact that we dont know everything going on in someones life

Maybe he didnt decide to do it until that day and got pushed over the edge by those in the chat room. Lots of maybes.

This is a good topic web.

I think its similar to that story of the family that faked being someone online, to make fun of a girl they didn't like. They pretended to be someone who would be her friend, and liked her, and then they ended up standing her up for a date and then making fun of her til she killed herself. They weren't punished or anything. These kinds of things are terrible, but in that case its obvious who was to blame. I think its easy to assume the teen was just looking for attention, and so the commenters acted as if it was just a hoax, I dont think the mean comments were meant with any expectation of the teen actually doing anything. I don't think the comments couldve helped or pushed the teen towards what he'd already decided to do.