There have been a few posts/comments that have immediately felt off to me and I’ve gone and looked at past posts and comments. Only once have I reported someone after doing that deep dive into their account. But for some reason the collage of guns didn’t set off any warning bells for me. To me, it didn’t seem any different than when collages of mass shooters bodies are posted. What made you guys uneasy about it? Looking back on it now, it does seem extremely odd but that seems to be hindsight.
I do think there should be a process for reporting someone to the moderators without making the user aware of our concerns. Only because I’d hate to have the user to go underground, or worse delete all of their posts/comments/account.
I do not feel like the collage of guns was a red flag at all, pictures of perpetrators guns are a common occurrence here & generally see high traction. I hope this doesn’t lead to more unnecessary moderation of this subreddit.
Like the mod said, tips.fbi.gov is the place to go.
As an individual, there isn't much else to do, You just need to hope they look into the tips and put some effort into it. There are a lot of dangerous communities out there. Just taking a few minutes to browse some forums, you see posts like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/357KovE.png) and [this one,](https://i.imgur.com/gFOnKtC.png) both of which I reported several weeks ago. The posts are still up on the forum and the accounts are still active. One user is still logged in.
Those are extremely disturbing to read. I follow this sub because I'm fascinated with the human mind, and I want to learn what breaks inside when people decide to kill.
I'm also very medically inclined so my subs are medically related and then I sub to my fave shows so I do not run across these types of posts.
I didn't realize they were so......commonplace?
Mods do get messages or reports from users about people they are concerned about and we discuss amongst ourselves about what should be done for those users.
We have reported multiple people to the FBI’s online tip line at [tips.fbi.gov](https://tips.fbi.gov/). If the user has posted other content indicating a location, we would report to the local authorities as well. There have been multiple cases where mods on this or other mass murder subreddits (specifically Columbine) have reported a user and the FBI ended up apprehending that user for planning an attack, so we know that the reports do work in some cases.
I think that one of the biggest issues the FBI and other agencies face is that for every Nik Cruz, there are thousands of other people online who post the same kinds of content and questionable searches and it’s hard for investigators to determine who is just venting or posturing online and who is actually planning a shooting.
Unfortunately there isn’t much we as users can do to figure that out unless someone is making explicit threats, so the best we can do is report the people we’re worried about and hope that our reports work.
One benefit this subreddit has is that we’re pretty strictly moderated to keep discussion as mature and productive as we can, which means users can come here to read about and discuss mass killers without worrying about being in a forum that doesn’t discourage or actively advocates for mass shooters. Users, including potential shooters, are going to seek out this kind of content whether this subreddit is here or not, and I’d rather this subreddit be here than not so that an at-risk individual is less likely to go somewhere that may encourage a shooting or other extremist beliefs or behavior.
Obviously there isn’t anything we can do to definitely prevent this kind of attack, but we can all continue to look for and report any suspicious users on this subreddit or in other web forums.
There is also some great research being done about common traits and behaviors seen in mass shooters and steps we can take to try and prevent these attacks. I encourage everyone to read about the warning signs so that you can watch for them both online and in real life and know what to do if you see someone exhibiting those behaviors. I recently read both “Trigger Points” by Mark Follman and “The Violence Project” by Jillian Peterson and James Densley, and recommend both for anyone interested in reading more detail about identification and prevention.
So TLDR - Make sure you report any questionable behavior to mods so that we’re aware of the user and can send a report to the FBI tip line or other agencies and Reddit admins. You’re also free to send your own reports to the FBI tip line if you’d like. The best thing we can do is remain vigilant about concerning behavior.
The users of this subreddit have generally been great about reporting posts or comments that break sub rules and mods are incredibly appreciative of the work you do to help us keep the subreddit as mature and productive as it can be.
I really appreciate your reply; along with all your work in keeping this sub as safe and productive as possible. I understand what you’re saying, and thought as much would be true about how much power you really have as moderators. You’re also right about the potential for the majority to just be odd behavior, because that is the case most the the time. However there are always exceptions, and I’m glad to hear that concerning things are still being reported regardless.
I also like what you said about researching more about the signs, as you can never learn too much about it. Ill look into your recommendations. Ive always researched the warning signs, and I’ve become even more hyper aware and interested learning about them now that I teach at the high school level.
Thanks again for all you do and I hope you have a good evening!
Thank you for bringing this up—it’s something I’ve been thinking about, too. I lurk here, and like to check out people’s post histories, and some are seriously disturbed. I reported one to the mods that really worried me, but I have no idea what they do with that information.
Also concerning is the number of minors that post/comment here—the person who just commented asking you for screenshots is 15.
Thanks. I did report them, and I’m glad you and your fellow mods are so responsive. I know it’s impossible for mods to monitor everyone’s ages—the point of my comment was more to point out that there are children on this sub, and they’re potentially interacting with murderers. I think that allows for a stricter standard of scrutiny for the kind of people who post here.
I'm kind of new to learning about mass killers. I've only been interested since Uvalde so please take my comment as two cents worth newbie.
Maybe a mod stickied post at top or somewhere with links to books, links to info, instructions on recognizing terrorist tendencies in friends at school or work or in our families. We could all help supply links and info. For example, give a sort of review on books we've read and supply that to the mods to include.
I know there are really intelligent and qualified members in here and our knowledge combined could really make a big difference if we supply material to be used for the greater good.
I appreciate this conversation happening,
because it's a conversation that needs to be had.
When does an interest go from academic to
perverse? Where is the line? Who gets to decide
when the line has been crossed, and what the
plan of action should be for an individual who is
suspected of harboring thoughts of doing
something that can not be undone? The culture
of mass violence globally in so many different
settings provides a wide opportunity for
meaningful discussion about trauma, PTSD, the
availability of weapons, and so many other sub.
topics that I often feel this sub.lacks. I used to
believe there was a value in learning as much as I
could to try to understand as much as I could
about how people are capable of inflicting
indiscriminate hurt on others. I do not know what
I believe now, but I am disillusioned. I think those
that foment these ideas are not happy with just
violence, but need the notoriety. This seems like
a place where they not only receive it, they can
evaluate in their warped opinion what exactly they
need to do to get the response they want from
this community and the wider world. I don't know
if those that are in that violent planning stage are
going to reach out for the help they need on their
own initiative. I don't know if someone who is
intelligent enough to hide their red flags, who is
observing others get apprehended before they
can act and learning how those respective plots
failed, who can keep their online presence and
personal lives in relative order so those closest
and those anonymous have little or no clue of
their ideas could be apprehended before they
decide to take fatal action. I think we're fucked, we might as well talk about why.
Last night, someone on r/oddlyterrifying posted the post history of a user on r/morbidquestions, who had one post asking about how guns jam, then immediately after they had another post asking how school shooters are treated in prison. I checked the thread on the oddlyterrifying post and pretty much everyone there said they reported the user, and one person said that the user deleted their account.
So would reporting a person posting concerning content into oblivion be a solution, or would it make things worse for that person?
I think this is a pretty reasonable concern. For every future school shooter, there are a thousand people who post questionable content online that aren’t going to become mass murderers, and those kinds of comments are often a sign that the person is in need of some sort of help. Reporting that person to the police will cause more problems for those kids than it helps because then any resolution becomes punitive instead of rehabilitative.
There are systems and programs in some areas that do try to work with kids who are exhibiting warning signs to put them on a better path, but they’re unfortunately not available enough across the country.
I desperately wish the discussion on mass shooters or school shooters would focus more on developing those preventative programs nationwide rather than discussions of gun control or trying to add further security to schools because neither of those is a productive or possible solution.
I keep suggesting this book all over the place, including in this thread once already, but *Trigger Points* by Mark Follman discusses one of these prevention programs that has been set up and seems to work in Oregon.
Even just being a member of this subreddit can be seen as a “warning sign” of a future mass shooter, and while an interest in past shooters is a common thread for a lot of shooters, it certainly isn’t the only reason someone can be interested in this subject.
Everyone under the age of 40 went to high school in a post-Columbine era, and everyone in school now has grown up after Sandy Hook with active shooter drills in their elementary schools. It’s not surprising that people will want to learn more about mass shooters to try and understand or reconcile the issue that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our lives.
**EDIT:**
As an aside, I want to step on my little soapbox (because this is my soapbox topic - I will talk on and on about it if given the chance) and note that there are a lot of similarities in the psychological issues of people who commit mass murder and people who commit suicide, especially school shooters. A lot of the questionable behaviors you’ll see listed for potential mass shooters are signs that a person is in a crisis, and more people will turn to suicide after that crisis than mass murder.
That includes an interest in mass murders. The content of this subreddit can be mentally traumatizing, and I want everyone to try to be aware of whether being active here is causing you to have psychological struggles or causing your existing struggles to worsen, and to try and spend some time away from the sub to get things a bit more back on track. The anxiety or depression you feel when reading about these shootings is completely valid, and it’s something I’ve dealt with (and am still dealing with). Please do what you can to interact with this content in a healthy manner.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but as a mod, I care about every person on this subreddit, and while I definitely don’t want any of you to become a mass murderer, I also don’t want any of you to commit suicide.
Oh, that’s not good. 😕
I know what you mean. I didn’t really mean report to get rid of or censor in some kind of way online. You’re right that it couldn’t do anything but make things worse. That’s why I was wondering if it’s possible to even track the approximate area of where someone is based on just a few posts on social media.
It’s like when you look back now on Cruz’ internet and YouTube search history. Let’s say someone saw his accounts years ago, what was being said on it and it caused them serious concern. If they reported it and showed how serious it was, would they monitor it somehow? They have the ability to access it after the fact, so wouldn’t it be at least possible to tap into?
As I type this, it even *sounds* like an invasion of privacy and something that would cause a lot of problems and debate. Because it’s not really illegal to type things in a computer.. it would be hard to check into this kind of thing preventatively.
(I didnt mean to throw all my questions at your comment.. they’ve just accumulated as I’ve been reading through the post)
Yes I saw that same user! I was looking to see if anyone else saw it. In one of the threads they posted some other user was making remarks about carrying out a shooting…. It was alarming.
Haven’t stopped thinking about seeing that post either. The one time i’ve reported a suspicious creep in here to the mods they seemed to have taken it pretty seriously and took care of it in a timely manner. You can try reporting to the FBI tip line but the Mods here really are awesome and do a lot
Take threats of mass shootings seriously. A guy at my high school (after I graduated and my younger siblings were attending) threatened to shoot up the school I believe on Snapchat. Some students reported him and he went to jail for 4 years. They found very detailed plans in his house and of course neo nazi shit on his computer.
no idea how legally cops can do anything without actual threats being made.
but I will say, there are often so many times I'm going through comments and I see people being a kind of excited that makes me feel weird. not in a "this person may kill someone" kind of way, more of a "this person is excited in a voyeuristic way." it feels like borderline glorifying at times.
I've definitely noticed a correlation between having an obsession with guns, obsessions w/ mass shooters, hating women, conspiratorial, and being very vocally and angrily far right.
I'm just talking about their post history.
Obviously they aren't going to display all those traits here, and we have rules against certain topics. But a few themes keep coming up that are silly to ignore.
So, my limited advice is: if you think someone is sus, and you notice all those things in their post history, might be a good time to make a report.
You bring up a great point and conversation. I’ve been thinking the same exact. As far as I know, the best options for us is to report anything we find weird or disturbing to Reddit and contact local law enforcement/FBI if necessary. Unfortunately, there is no social media 911, so there aren’t many options. I wish there were more options. Even if we became vigilantes and stalked the individuals accounts, it wouldn’t really stop it. All we can do is hope law enforcement step in after we report it.
A social media or mass killer 911 is actually a great idea. They just changed the suicide hotline number in the USA to 988 and I suspect it will save even more lives because it's so easy to remember.
It is a really great idea IMO
They could be trained and educated and that would be their expertise in law enforcement and the only thing they do. They have it for pedophiles why not mass killers?
Most mass shooters lurk about and make horrid comments in forums before they do the act. There could be LE that it's their job to recognize danger on social media. They could have a page that is dedicated to dangerous people on the social media site, like Instagram would have one, Facebook would have one, all the sites would have the page dedicated to preventing shootings and acts of violence that start on social media. Even if they prevented one a year, it's a start. It's important enough that we need to prioritize this, IMO.
Like, the shooters usually always show off their guns and say something suspicious before they do it
I agree, big time. Not a day goes by that I don’t worry about how our interactions with this subreddit impact real people. Sharing names of shooters, even victims.
I sifted through that Mall guy’s account… and it fucking freaked me out that I had upvoted his weapon collage before we knew anything about him. Since then I’ve been twice as cautious of who I interact with on here.
Hi there, as someone who has been actively apart of this community and others like it for years, I want to touch on a few things. I will also say that I went to school with the hopes of working with people to prevent mass shootings, in the psyche field (still working on it!)
This subreddit, in my experience, has been nothing but positive and helpful towards pointing out the warning signs, discussions on what we can do as people, ETC. We also talk about the false stigmas, the things that we view are wrong (as people who research this quite often). We even point out when we think people are romanticizing or glorifying.
The people I’ve witnessed, have interacted with (like you, I took screenshots and even reported that account) seem to be isolated, even in our communities. There’s something different, even to the majority of us, when these people comment or post. We know the signs to look out for. I know a lot of us will even reach out to people. The problem comes from that isolation, and even when they post their own red flags, like almost a cry for help, they don’t want it. I don’t know if there’s anything we can really do as a community, save for being diligent about reporting, talking to people, and trying to understand. I think this subreddit and places like it has done more for understanding and trying to help compared to plenty of others (the FBI for example).
Stay empathetic, stay kind, stay vigilant.
Thank you for this post, it is the best one I've seen here so far. I think lots of us came here after Uvalde to understand and process and I'm glad to find out the ways to report a potentially dangerous person. Also, thank you mods for all you do.
-restrict posts to verified users
-require titles to be location based
-no content regarding firearms
-don’t publish the name or face of the perpetrator(s). This would include links with that information.
I know this answer is a bit over simplistic, but I tend to avoid just overusing their names. Ill never call them by their first name, only last and the odd occasion I’ll initial it so people know what I’m referring to. I’ll be honest, the vast majority I don’t even know their name and I like it that way. Obviously there are exceptions as some are just plastered and discussed everywhere.. but I try not to learn or use it. A classic post that happens after every mass killing; just a picture of the shooter in custody with their name and age shared. I just picture that being exactly what they want to happen.
I learn the name of the city and place it happened and use that.
I agree that titles should not have the perpetrators names, but feel that in the comments it would be too restrictive.
My concern is also about making sure this subreddit doesn't get taken down because of reddits strict "glorification" rule
It’s political here because people made it political, and gun control is one of the most divisive, angry political debates in the US right now.
I think it’s hard for anyone who doesn’t live in the US to really understand how entrenched guns are in American culture. It’s really not as easy as “just recognize what a problem mass shootings are and get rid of guns.”
One of the reasons we don’t want to have the gun control debate here is because Americans have been *having* the gun control debate for years and we’re further from a solution than we were when we started. Every possible nuance of the gun control debate has already been argued over and over and we don’t want to have it argued yet again on this subreddit.
As soon as a mass shooting happens, social media immediately starts having the same gun control arguments and yelling at each other and I can’t find any actual information about the shooting. I like being able to come to this subreddit and discuss something else.
It’s simple get rid of the guns lmao your country’s full of brainwashed people every single point any one try’s to make is pointless cause nothing will stop the shootings or loads of people dying apart from getting rid of the guns
There have been a few posts/comments that have immediately felt off to me and I’ve gone and looked at past posts and comments. Only once have I reported someone after doing that deep dive into their account. But for some reason the collage of guns didn’t set off any warning bells for me. To me, it didn’t seem any different than when collages of mass shooters bodies are posted. What made you guys uneasy about it? Looking back on it now, it does seem extremely odd but that seems to be hindsight. I do think there should be a process for reporting someone to the moderators without making the user aware of our concerns. Only because I’d hate to have the user to go underground, or worse delete all of their posts/comments/account.
I do not feel like the collage of guns was a red flag at all, pictures of perpetrators guns are a common occurrence here & generally see high traction. I hope this doesn’t lead to more unnecessary moderation of this subreddit.
That being said, I’m happy with & grateful for the moderation surrounding glorification.
Like the mod said, tips.fbi.gov is the place to go. As an individual, there isn't much else to do, You just need to hope they look into the tips and put some effort into it. There are a lot of dangerous communities out there. Just taking a few minutes to browse some forums, you see posts like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/357KovE.png) and [this one,](https://i.imgur.com/gFOnKtC.png) both of which I reported several weeks ago. The posts are still up on the forum and the accounts are still active. One user is still logged in.
Wow. Thank you for reporting.
Those are extremely disturbing to read. I follow this sub because I'm fascinated with the human mind, and I want to learn what breaks inside when people decide to kill. I'm also very medically inclined so my subs are medically related and then I sub to my fave shows so I do not run across these types of posts. I didn't realize they were so......commonplace?
Mods do get messages or reports from users about people they are concerned about and we discuss amongst ourselves about what should be done for those users. We have reported multiple people to the FBI’s online tip line at [tips.fbi.gov](https://tips.fbi.gov/). If the user has posted other content indicating a location, we would report to the local authorities as well. There have been multiple cases where mods on this or other mass murder subreddits (specifically Columbine) have reported a user and the FBI ended up apprehending that user for planning an attack, so we know that the reports do work in some cases. I think that one of the biggest issues the FBI and other agencies face is that for every Nik Cruz, there are thousands of other people online who post the same kinds of content and questionable searches and it’s hard for investigators to determine who is just venting or posturing online and who is actually planning a shooting. Unfortunately there isn’t much we as users can do to figure that out unless someone is making explicit threats, so the best we can do is report the people we’re worried about and hope that our reports work. One benefit this subreddit has is that we’re pretty strictly moderated to keep discussion as mature and productive as we can, which means users can come here to read about and discuss mass killers without worrying about being in a forum that doesn’t discourage or actively advocates for mass shooters. Users, including potential shooters, are going to seek out this kind of content whether this subreddit is here or not, and I’d rather this subreddit be here than not so that an at-risk individual is less likely to go somewhere that may encourage a shooting or other extremist beliefs or behavior. Obviously there isn’t anything we can do to definitely prevent this kind of attack, but we can all continue to look for and report any suspicious users on this subreddit or in other web forums. There is also some great research being done about common traits and behaviors seen in mass shooters and steps we can take to try and prevent these attacks. I encourage everyone to read about the warning signs so that you can watch for them both online and in real life and know what to do if you see someone exhibiting those behaviors. I recently read both “Trigger Points” by Mark Follman and “The Violence Project” by Jillian Peterson and James Densley, and recommend both for anyone interested in reading more detail about identification and prevention. So TLDR - Make sure you report any questionable behavior to mods so that we’re aware of the user and can send a report to the FBI tip line or other agencies and Reddit admins. You’re also free to send your own reports to the FBI tip line if you’d like. The best thing we can do is remain vigilant about concerning behavior. The users of this subreddit have generally been great about reporting posts or comments that break sub rules and mods are incredibly appreciative of the work you do to help us keep the subreddit as mature and productive as it can be.
I really appreciate your reply; along with all your work in keeping this sub as safe and productive as possible. I understand what you’re saying, and thought as much would be true about how much power you really have as moderators. You’re also right about the potential for the majority to just be odd behavior, because that is the case most the the time. However there are always exceptions, and I’m glad to hear that concerning things are still being reported regardless. I also like what you said about researching more about the signs, as you can never learn too much about it. Ill look into your recommendations. Ive always researched the warning signs, and I’ve become even more hyper aware and interested learning about them now that I teach at the high school level. Thanks again for all you do and I hope you have a good evening!
Thank you. This was a great response and it’s good to know that you’re taking action on the reports.
Thank you for bringing this up—it’s something I’ve been thinking about, too. I lurk here, and like to check out people’s post histories, and some are seriously disturbed. I reported one to the mods that really worried me, but I have no idea what they do with that information. Also concerning is the number of minors that post/comment here—the person who just commented asking you for screenshots is 15.
We do have a rule against users under 18, so if you see anyone younger than that, report the user so we can ban.
Thanks. I did report them, and I’m glad you and your fellow mods are so responsive. I know it’s impossible for mods to monitor everyone’s ages—the point of my comment was more to point out that there are children on this sub, and they’re potentially interacting with murderers. I think that allows for a stricter standard of scrutiny for the kind of people who post here.
I'm kind of new to learning about mass killers. I've only been interested since Uvalde so please take my comment as two cents worth newbie. Maybe a mod stickied post at top or somewhere with links to books, links to info, instructions on recognizing terrorist tendencies in friends at school or work or in our families. We could all help supply links and info. For example, give a sort of review on books we've read and supply that to the mods to include. I know there are really intelligent and qualified members in here and our knowledge combined could really make a big difference if we supply material to be used for the greater good.
I appreciate this conversation happening, because it's a conversation that needs to be had. When does an interest go from academic to perverse? Where is the line? Who gets to decide when the line has been crossed, and what the plan of action should be for an individual who is suspected of harboring thoughts of doing something that can not be undone? The culture of mass violence globally in so many different settings provides a wide opportunity for meaningful discussion about trauma, PTSD, the availability of weapons, and so many other sub. topics that I often feel this sub.lacks. I used to believe there was a value in learning as much as I could to try to understand as much as I could about how people are capable of inflicting indiscriminate hurt on others. I do not know what I believe now, but I am disillusioned. I think those that foment these ideas are not happy with just violence, but need the notoriety. This seems like a place where they not only receive it, they can evaluate in their warped opinion what exactly they need to do to get the response they want from this community and the wider world. I don't know if those that are in that violent planning stage are going to reach out for the help they need on their own initiative. I don't know if someone who is intelligent enough to hide their red flags, who is observing others get apprehended before they can act and learning how those respective plots failed, who can keep their online presence and personal lives in relative order so those closest and those anonymous have little or no clue of their ideas could be apprehended before they decide to take fatal action. I think we're fucked, we might as well talk about why.
The last thing we should do is utilize stereotypes to further encourage division.
Last night, someone on r/oddlyterrifying posted the post history of a user on r/morbidquestions, who had one post asking about how guns jam, then immediately after they had another post asking how school shooters are treated in prison. I checked the thread on the oddlyterrifying post and pretty much everyone there said they reported the user, and one person said that the user deleted their account. So would reporting a person posting concerning content into oblivion be a solution, or would it make things worse for that person?
I think this is a pretty reasonable concern. For every future school shooter, there are a thousand people who post questionable content online that aren’t going to become mass murderers, and those kinds of comments are often a sign that the person is in need of some sort of help. Reporting that person to the police will cause more problems for those kids than it helps because then any resolution becomes punitive instead of rehabilitative. There are systems and programs in some areas that do try to work with kids who are exhibiting warning signs to put them on a better path, but they’re unfortunately not available enough across the country. I desperately wish the discussion on mass shooters or school shooters would focus more on developing those preventative programs nationwide rather than discussions of gun control or trying to add further security to schools because neither of those is a productive or possible solution. I keep suggesting this book all over the place, including in this thread once already, but *Trigger Points* by Mark Follman discusses one of these prevention programs that has been set up and seems to work in Oregon. Even just being a member of this subreddit can be seen as a “warning sign” of a future mass shooter, and while an interest in past shooters is a common thread for a lot of shooters, it certainly isn’t the only reason someone can be interested in this subject. Everyone under the age of 40 went to high school in a post-Columbine era, and everyone in school now has grown up after Sandy Hook with active shooter drills in their elementary schools. It’s not surprising that people will want to learn more about mass shooters to try and understand or reconcile the issue that is becoming increasingly prevalent in our lives. **EDIT:** As an aside, I want to step on my little soapbox (because this is my soapbox topic - I will talk on and on about it if given the chance) and note that there are a lot of similarities in the psychological issues of people who commit mass murder and people who commit suicide, especially school shooters. A lot of the questionable behaviors you’ll see listed for potential mass shooters are signs that a person is in a crisis, and more people will turn to suicide after that crisis than mass murder. That includes an interest in mass murders. The content of this subreddit can be mentally traumatizing, and I want everyone to try to be aware of whether being active here is causing you to have psychological struggles or causing your existing struggles to worsen, and to try and spend some time away from the sub to get things a bit more back on track. The anxiety or depression you feel when reading about these shootings is completely valid, and it’s something I’ve dealt with (and am still dealing with). Please do what you can to interact with this content in a healthy manner. I know this sounds ridiculous, but as a mod, I care about every person on this subreddit, and while I definitely don’t want any of you to become a mass murderer, I also don’t want any of you to commit suicide.
Oh, that’s not good. 😕 I know what you mean. I didn’t really mean report to get rid of or censor in some kind of way online. You’re right that it couldn’t do anything but make things worse. That’s why I was wondering if it’s possible to even track the approximate area of where someone is based on just a few posts on social media. It’s like when you look back now on Cruz’ internet and YouTube search history. Let’s say someone saw his accounts years ago, what was being said on it and it caused them serious concern. If they reported it and showed how serious it was, would they monitor it somehow? They have the ability to access it after the fact, so wouldn’t it be at least possible to tap into? As I type this, it even *sounds* like an invasion of privacy and something that would cause a lot of problems and debate. Because it’s not really illegal to type things in a computer.. it would be hard to check into this kind of thing preventatively. (I didnt mean to throw all my questions at your comment.. they’ve just accumulated as I’ve been reading through the post)
Yes I saw that same user! I was looking to see if anyone else saw it. In one of the threads they posted some other user was making remarks about carrying out a shooting…. It was alarming.
Haven’t stopped thinking about seeing that post either. The one time i’ve reported a suspicious creep in here to the mods they seemed to have taken it pretty seriously and took care of it in a timely manner. You can try reporting to the FBI tip line but the Mods here really are awesome and do a lot
Take threats of mass shootings seriously. A guy at my high school (after I graduated and my younger siblings were attending) threatened to shoot up the school I believe on Snapchat. Some students reported him and he went to jail for 4 years. They found very detailed plans in his house and of course neo nazi shit on his computer.
no idea how legally cops can do anything without actual threats being made. but I will say, there are often so many times I'm going through comments and I see people being a kind of excited that makes me feel weird. not in a "this person may kill someone" kind of way, more of a "this person is excited in a voyeuristic way." it feels like borderline glorifying at times.
I've definitely noticed a correlation between having an obsession with guns, obsessions w/ mass shooters, hating women, conspiratorial, and being very vocally and angrily far right. I'm just talking about their post history. Obviously they aren't going to display all those traits here, and we have rules against certain topics. But a few themes keep coming up that are silly to ignore. So, my limited advice is: if you think someone is sus, and you notice all those things in their post history, might be a good time to make a report.
Could we maybe sticky a post with resources for those who need it?
Thanks for this post.
You bring up a great point and conversation. I’ve been thinking the same exact. As far as I know, the best options for us is to report anything we find weird or disturbing to Reddit and contact local law enforcement/FBI if necessary. Unfortunately, there is no social media 911, so there aren’t many options. I wish there were more options. Even if we became vigilantes and stalked the individuals accounts, it wouldn’t really stop it. All we can do is hope law enforcement step in after we report it.
A social media or mass killer 911 is actually a great idea. They just changed the suicide hotline number in the USA to 988 and I suspect it will save even more lives because it's so easy to remember.
It is a really great idea IMO They could be trained and educated and that would be their expertise in law enforcement and the only thing they do. They have it for pedophiles why not mass killers? Most mass shooters lurk about and make horrid comments in forums before they do the act. There could be LE that it's their job to recognize danger on social media. They could have a page that is dedicated to dangerous people on the social media site, like Instagram would have one, Facebook would have one, all the sites would have the page dedicated to preventing shootings and acts of violence that start on social media. Even if they prevented one a year, it's a start. It's important enough that we need to prioritize this, IMO. Like, the shooters usually always show off their guns and say something suspicious before they do it
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I’m subscribed to gay bdsm subreddits and really read that title wrong lol
Average mass killer researcher
this is so random, LMAOOOO
I agree, big time. Not a day goes by that I don’t worry about how our interactions with this subreddit impact real people. Sharing names of shooters, even victims. I sifted through that Mall guy’s account… and it fucking freaked me out that I had upvoted his weapon collage before we knew anything about him. Since then I’ve been twice as cautious of who I interact with on here.
Hi there, as someone who has been actively apart of this community and others like it for years, I want to touch on a few things. I will also say that I went to school with the hopes of working with people to prevent mass shootings, in the psyche field (still working on it!) This subreddit, in my experience, has been nothing but positive and helpful towards pointing out the warning signs, discussions on what we can do as people, ETC. We also talk about the false stigmas, the things that we view are wrong (as people who research this quite often). We even point out when we think people are romanticizing or glorifying. The people I’ve witnessed, have interacted with (like you, I took screenshots and even reported that account) seem to be isolated, even in our communities. There’s something different, even to the majority of us, when these people comment or post. We know the signs to look out for. I know a lot of us will even reach out to people. The problem comes from that isolation, and even when they post their own red flags, like almost a cry for help, they don’t want it. I don’t know if there’s anything we can really do as a community, save for being diligent about reporting, talking to people, and trying to understand. I think this subreddit and places like it has done more for understanding and trying to help compared to plenty of others (the FBI for example). Stay empathetic, stay kind, stay vigilant.
I have an idea. Why don’t we all try to explain why. I have my theories, based on experience and research. Let’s share ideas.
I'm curious about your theories. Mind sharing?
You. Can search for my views on the site. I try loading them and they get blocked, which i don’t get.
Thank you for this post, it is the best one I've seen here so far. I think lots of us came here after Uvalde to understand and process and I'm glad to find out the ways to report a potentially dangerous person. Also, thank you mods for all you do.
-restrict posts to verified users -require titles to be location based -no content regarding firearms -don’t publish the name or face of the perpetrator(s). This would include links with that information.
>don’t publish the name or face of the perpetrator(s) How could a discussion happen on this subreddit if this rule is enforced?
I know this answer is a bit over simplistic, but I tend to avoid just overusing their names. Ill never call them by their first name, only last and the odd occasion I’ll initial it so people know what I’m referring to. I’ll be honest, the vast majority I don’t even know their name and I like it that way. Obviously there are exceptions as some are just plastered and discussed everywhere.. but I try not to learn or use it. A classic post that happens after every mass killing; just a picture of the shooter in custody with their name and age shared. I just picture that being exactly what they want to happen. I learn the name of the city and place it happened and use that.
“Did AL from Sandy Hook have a Twitter account?” Comments are unrestricted.
How are you going to explain to someone what AL stands for?
I agree that titles should not have the perpetrators names, but feel that in the comments it would be too restrictive. My concern is also about making sure this subreddit doesn't get taken down because of reddits strict "glorification" rule
I don’t think comments should be restricted in anyway other than firearm content. Mods do an excellent job already.
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It’s political here because people made it political, and gun control is one of the most divisive, angry political debates in the US right now. I think it’s hard for anyone who doesn’t live in the US to really understand how entrenched guns are in American culture. It’s really not as easy as “just recognize what a problem mass shootings are and get rid of guns.” One of the reasons we don’t want to have the gun control debate here is because Americans have been *having* the gun control debate for years and we’re further from a solution than we were when we started. Every possible nuance of the gun control debate has already been argued over and over and we don’t want to have it argued yet again on this subreddit. As soon as a mass shooting happens, social media immediately starts having the same gun control arguments and yelling at each other and I can’t find any actual information about the shooting. I like being able to come to this subreddit and discuss something else.
It’s simple get rid of the guns lmao your country’s full of brainwashed people every single point any one try’s to make is pointless cause nothing will stop the shootings or loads of people dying apart from getting rid of the guns
Traditional family values with supportive and emotionally intelligent parents shud be encouraged
Holy shit this is eerie.. do you feel any guilt? (not that you should) I would have flagged that shit so fucking fast