The edits are perfectly fine. You did preserve the content very well. Thank you for blogging about this as otherwise I might not have found out much of what had happened to my friend and how he ended his life.

I think I know the individual who committed suicide. I have been looking everywhere for more information on his passing, and it looks like I found it here on this blog finally. I saw in the comments a request for more info, so I hope you don’t mind if I share a bit with you.

He was a young male student at Swinburne. He had some apparent mental issues, but he was harmless, creative, intelligent, and had great passion and energy for his interests. He was a believer and follower (likely the only one) of a crackpot theory called “Timecube,” until recently.

He suffered a rejection recently and it was apparently was too much for him, and as a result he quit following Timecube. He seemed to have dipped into Christianity for a couple weeks (BIG mistake if you ask me) and then disappeared from the Internet altogether around February 9th.

Then on the 14th of February I heard through the grapevine that he had taken his own life, but no other details. This didn’t seem like something he would do, and at first I didn’t believe it. I thought he had faked his own death. After much searching and calling I finally found some details… a friend of his from Melbourne told me that he stepped in front of a train. With that information I eventually found this blog post that I am now commenting on.

I am devastated that this happened. I live in the United States and only knew him through the Internet, but I know enough to say for certain that this young man was bright, motivated, and full of life. He had passion for his interests. Although he was depressed over the falling out with “Timecube”, he hadn’t expressed anything that indicated a wish to die; that’s why I didn’t believe it when I first heard it… it just didn’t sound like something he would do. But unless two Swinburne students stepped in front of two trains on the same day, this must be him.

He had a large body of work that he had published online, which I am now trying to preserve and archive as a remembrance or memorial of sorts. Although he had trouble fitting in among his peers, he is nevertheless known worldwide. He will be missed by many people across the globe, from Europe to America and of course Australia.

I hope this helps you understand a bit more about why this happened. I am still trying to make sense of it all myself. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Craig: I made some edits to this but tried to preserve the content as best as possible.

I was really upset with how they handled the situation and the fact that they weren’t helpful in the least. I ended up walking 7.5km home. At no time was it explained that trains were cancelled, or what was going on. Neither did they say anything about replacement buses or trams.

This is so confusing. No one knows anything for sure. No one at the station would tell us. But you could see something under the end of the train. It was horrible.

I called my friend to find out how to get home, but ended up catching two trams and a train. Both totally PACKED beyond belief, with another friend from the TAFE.

I don’t believe that suicides should be reported in the news, but i do think that it’s only fair that some form of news be published stating that there was an incident, or accident, at Glenferrie station, at this time, on this day, and that’s why the trains were held up.
Otherwise rumours just keep spreading.

The buses to replace the trains were going to take an HOUR just to get to Glenferrie.
That is so not good organisation.

There should definately be something in the news, or at least an email for swinburne students about it. I mean there was over a hundred people on the platform when I got there.

Rumours were originally that it was a dog, then a student who’d committed suicide, then right before my friend and I got on the tram we heard it was a ten year old boy playing on the tracks. which is virtually impossible. Anyone that knows Glenferrie station will understand.

Platform 2 of Glenferrie station is now totally creepy for me.
I so don’t wanna catch a train through there again.

Craig: editted out some comments about Connex

As for the Family and Train driver.. do you really think it would be a positive thing for them to have such a tragedy replayed in the news and in the papers? Unlikely.

>>>>>>>>>
Either it is not reported because the reporting may encourage copy-cats, or it is not reported because suicides on train lines aren’t newsworthy. Maybe both…
>>>>>>>>>

Look up the Code of Practice for the ABC, for The Age, for Fairfax Media, any media reporting organisation. There is a common code of practice not to report suicides. There are two reasons for this, to deny those engaging in self harm the notoriety they seek and thus harm their families further, and to prevent copy-cat activity.

In fact, suicide is now an out-word. The new term to describe this is self-harm.

Craig:
* ABC -> http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/codeprac04.htm (Section 4.6: “4.6 If reported at all, suicides will be reported in moderate terms and will usually avoid details of method.”)
* Fairfax -http://www.theage.com.au/ethicsconduct.html (Section 18: “18. The Age will not publish individual cases of suicide, unless issues of public safety or the wider public interest justify it. Care should be taken when reporting methods of suicide and, wherever possible, public information on where to gain help must accompany such reports.” )
Interestingly, the main search term people used before clicking on a link to my blog contained the word “suicide”. No-one it seems used “self-harm”. This is according to my blogstats.

I have written to Connex asking why there weren’t trains running to Burnley if that’s where the buses were running from. – no point in a bus if you can’t get there.

I’m annoyed that suicides generally aren’t reported, it’s nice to know why you’ve had to walk home. (as sad as the situation is). Like you I searched everywhere yesterday for something about it and there was nothing.

I wonder how long it took for them to start running trains again? It might have been about 6:15 when I left Richmond.